How to Work in Tandem With Your Collections Vendor

The clients who see the best results from working with Aldous & Associates are the ones who work their collections accounts from their end in tandem with our efforts. That process can look different for each business.

While it may seem best to hand off collections to a third-party, and it often is a good idea, it’s also beneficial for your business to stay involved. How can your business work together with a third-party collections company?

Start the Collections Process

It’s beneficial for companies to start with the first-party collections process, wherein a company uses its own employees to collect unpaid debts, prior to handing the account over to a third-party. Sending a customer directly to a collections company as the first approach could alienate the customer.

Instead, start with a friendly exchange that provides reminders. Starting this way shows the customer that you’re understanding and want to keep the relationship. This is a much better way to reach customers who:

• Forgot a payment
• Had a problem with a credit card or bank account
• Are going through a hard time

You’re more likely to create a positive experience through gentleness and understanding. The person will likely think well of your brand, which provides benefits even if you lose them as a customer.

You can take a few steps that progress in significance as you go along. For instance:

1. Send a simple reminder that the payment wasn’t made or it failed
2. Send a follow-up communication that includes information on payments and potentially reminds the person of benefits and commitments
3. Warn the person that the final step will be to send the person’s account to a collection company if the payment is not made by a certain date

Then, if the person still fails to make the payment, it’s time to send the account to third-party collections. You first exercised all other options.  

Carry Out Collections as a Team

Another option is for the business to work hand-in-hand with third-party collections at the same time. We encourage our clients to do this when they work with us at Aldous & Associates.

In addition to recouping as much of the money owed as possible, one of our goals is to maintain a good relationship. This is more likely to happen when the business works with the collections company. Using a collections company allows the business to remove itself from the more sticky aspects, such as making the gentle reminder that the lack of payment will go on the member’s credit report if they fail to pay within a certain time frame.

At the same time, the business can be the “good cop” who:

• Is understanding
• Reaches out with friendly reminders
• Attempts to retain a relationship

Even after the account is sent to third-party collections, we always encourage our clients to accept payments directly from a customer when the customer reaches out. This is the best, quickest way to recoup the payment, and it offers the business an opportunity to provide good customer service and potentially continue a relationship.

A Combination of Methods

Of course, companies can do both steps in tandem with a third-party. They can begin the collections process with first-party steps like sending reminders. Then, if the person fails to pay and sends the account to third-party collections, they can continue to stay part of the process and communicate with the customer.

Regardless of how businesses work together with Aldous & Associates, we like to work in tandem so that we stay on the same page and help each other toward the same goal.