There can be no coincidence about the rise in the number of Debt Collection agencies and the effect the current financial downturn is having on not only members of the public but also firms of any size, but particularly small ones. The financial downturn coupled to the fact that the financial institutions are still reticent to offer financial aid to firms could well have placed some small firms in the position of waiting for accounts to be paid and not being able to get a loan to tide them over.

Any new Debt Collection organisation is unlikely to have an office that a client can go to for a face to face talk, but are more typically to have onluy an internet presence and may work from home, going out to visit customers. There could also bedodgy Debt Collection agencies that are only taking advantage of the current situation and looking for customers that they can take advantage of, rather like sharks surrounding a sinking ship. This could well put a small organisation with an unsettled debt on its books in a difficult position, for how will they be able to tell upstanding Debt Collection agencies from dodgy ones if their only option is an internet search? They could be able to find another organisation who has used a Debt Collection organisation in the past and can recommend it, or they could try Business Link to see if they can recommend one or more to investigate. Unethical Debt Collection agencies could well want money up front as well as a percentage of the debt when it is repaid to pay for the work they propose to do, whereas upstanding Debt Collection agencies could just need the small organisation to agree to the final percentage of the debt.

But in reality would a small organisation want to give away what could be a significant sum as a percentage of an overdue account to the Debt Collection agencies, when they could take on the Debt Collection activity with their own resources by examining the market in Debt Collection Software. They could well find that a good Debt Collection Software package wound cost under £100 as a one-off purchase, which could be a lot less that the Debt Collection agencies fee. Of course by taking on the Debt Collection activity with their own resources that will need to allocate sufficient resources to the project, in particular the members of staff they will trust with the important work of writing Debt Collection Letters. A good Debt Collection Software package will come complete with instructions that can explain the intricacies of the Debt Collection activity and hopefully have some worked examples of how the Debt Collection activity can be made to finction best. There should also be extensive help for members of staff writing Debt Collection Letters since these not only form the heart of the Debt Collection activity but they are also the main point of contact the small organisation has with the large organisation once the Debt Collection activity. It is essential that the small organisation presents a professional front via the Debt Collection Letters since they want to have the large organisation pay the account as soon as possible but also they want to sustain the commercial relationship they have built up, since this can so easily be harmed by one bad action such as Debt Collection Letters full of emotional and threatening language.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!