Tales from the Trenches of Debt Management
I love writing these blogs…and thank you so much for the kind words I receive each month from those of you who take the time to read them. This month’s theme? The start of the 2024 baseball season. BATTER UP! Or is it BETTER UP?
Baseball is the first sport I came to love. I began my NY Yankee fandom as a young child watching Mickey Mantle play! My dad took us to games and my early math lessons came from keeping a scorebook and later calculating averages. Who knew that these early lessons would help me as I managed collections call centers in my career?
Think about it…Collections is a team sport. As new collectors join your team, they are often paired with experienced agents to accelerate their competency. It’s also quite analogous to rookies being called up from the Minors to the Big Leagues and being mentored by seasoned veterans! Leaders work to put their collectors where they can be most successful (dialer, workout, etc.). Schedules are built to determine who works when, and on what part of the portfolio. But just as in baseball, debt management relies heavily on statistics to drive performance.
Debt management leaders continually look at key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine who’s doing well, and who may need additional training. Baseball, in turn, is the ultimate statistics-driven business, as those who excel ultimately get elected to the Hall of Fame. Your goal as the leader is to field the best team possible so you can deliver the results your stakeholders (YOUR FANDOM) expect.
In the offseason, baseball managers and owners look at their opportunities and prioritize where they need to make investments to better results. While debt management doesn’t have an offseason (wouldn’t THAT be great), leaders are always looking across the people, process & technology spectrum to determine where investments must be made to field the best team…all to better their next batter up. Quite often, what may have worked well last year will simply not suffice this year, as more is expected just as it is expected in baseball.
Do you have the tools to field the best team to excel in the debt management game? If you are using antiquated technology, the answer may be no. You wouldn’t expect Aaron Judge to come to the plate with a wiffle ball bat. Why do you allow your collectors to work with a system that’s out of date and does not let them hit one out of the park?
To field your best team, you need a real-time, debt management solution that allows you to create workflows in real-time based on current conditions. You need a solution that allows you to be flexible in how you manage your resources and your portfolio. You need a solution that puts you in the best position to WIN the finite dollars of your customers.
This year in baseball and in debt management there will be winners and losers. We at Telrock Systems are here to help you win. Our cloud-native SaaS solution, Optimus, solves the two biggest challenges related to technology: conversion and integration. Let us show you how. Give us a call to talk about your challenges.