By Have you ever noticed how much of your life is a balancing act? Do you eat that piece of cheesecake for dessert even though you might feel guilty afterwards? How about the second piece? Do you spend the extra money on a cooler smartphone? What if it meant you might have to cut back on your expenses in other areas? Do you hit that snooze button one more time, or do you take an actual shower instead of having to run through the sprinklers?
Collection agencies face similar questions and dilemmas when it comes to balancing between being competitive and being compliant. There is no blueprint for being compliant in today’s uber-litigious and hyper-regulated world. So many agencies throw tons of money at anything labeled as a compliance solution, often at the expense of other areas of the business. This is not to say that agencies should downplay compliance - not in the least! Managing the dynamic between being competitive and compliant is often overlooked but is incredibly important. Compliance has become a competitive differentiator in today’s ARM industry. While clients definitely want agencies to recover as much money as possible, they also want to make sure they don’t end up on the local news for being too aggressive while trying to get their money, or outright violating rules when attempting to collect. Peace of mind matters almost as much as recovery rates and right-party contacts.
Check out December's AccountsRecovery.net webinar on this topic by clicking this link. This was a great webinar!
Beyond that, compliance has become a measure of a company’s maturity and dedication to collecting the right way. It’s an indicator of how an agency approaches its work and how serious it is about making sure it’s doing right by consumers and clients.
It can be hard to look at a client’s collection scorecard and see other agencies that have a higher recovery percentage or that have recovered more money. This can be even more trying without knowing whether those agencies are focusing as much on compliance as you are, which can sometimes cause an executive to consider bending the rules to help boost performance. This is the dark side of managing the balance between compliance and competitiveness, but going down that rabbit hole will likely only lead to problems, just ask Anakin Skywalker...
Who doesn't love a good Star Wars reference?
