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Just for Moms
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WAHM >
Stay at
Home Mom Work Ideas >
Selling a Service>
Start Your Own Collection Agency Business from Home
Make Money from Your Website - Start Your Own Collection
Agency Business from Home
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A collection agency helps businesses collect money from past
due accounts. As a collector you would contact people who owe
money to your clients via mail and telephone, in order to
ensure payment.
No, you're not the "break your arms and legs"
guy if people don't pay...You are an investigator who finds
people who have seemed to gone missing before paying their
debts. |
You are a negotiator that arranges for payment plans
that suit the needs of both the debtor and debtee. You are a
person who helps businesses make sure that they receive the
money they are entitled to.
This is a low overhead business. You don't need to keep
inventory, you don't need to ship items. It is ideal for a home
office.
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Says Michelle Dunn,
owner of
Mad Agency and work at home mom, "Working
from home is very rewarding in so many ways, such as flexibility,
control of your income and time, being there for your children,
and many others."
Collection Agency Business Supplies
"One tip on running an collection agency from home is to have a
separate office space with a door if possible. This is a very
sensitive issue, with regards to the people you deal with and the
laws you must follow," cautions Michelle.
You will also need:
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- Business Cards & Brochures for distribution to potential
clients and contacts. In your brochure, be sure to include your
services and why you are a unique collection agency.
- A word processing program and lots of paper for all the
letters you are going to be writing.
- There is collection software available, but it's not a
necessity. A spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel will keep
you organized as you get started. |
A Collector's Skills & Attributes
- Investigative Skills: Often the people who owe money to
your clients, will have seemed to have disappeared. You will need
to use your investigative skills to find new addresses and or
phone numbers for these individuals.
- Organization: You need to be extremely organized. First,
you need to be able to manage all your clients and be on top of
their collection needs. Second, you need to be able to keep track
of what contact you have made to the various debtors and what
action they have promised to take on their overdue accounts. You
also need to be able to provide this information to your clients.
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- Empathy: Your job is not to intimidate.
It is to produce results for your clients. Most debtors are not
bad people, they are people who have found themselves in very
difficult situation. You will often get better results if you
can empathize with a debtor than if you bully them.
- Negotiation: Many times, debtors will not be able to
pay the full amount owing all at once. You will need to
negotiate a reasonable repayment plan that ensure the debt is
paid in a reasonable time frame.
- Persistence: You will be empathetic and use good
negotiation skills, but be persistent and don't be soft. Many
times, you will have troubles locating a debtor. Once you locate
him, you may have difficulty getting a response. Even when a
debtor agrees to pay, you may have to follow up a number of
times to ensure that payment is made.
- Customer Service Skills: You need to ensure impeccable
customer service for your clients. These are businesses that
need to have their debts cleared up. You need to give there
accounts proper attention, be available for questions and ensure
that your clients feel comfortable with the results you provide.
A Collection Agency's Rates
Generally, you get paid when you collect. You can charge about
20-30% of what you collect.
Getting Your Business Off the Ground
- Connect with various smaller businesses in your area:
Let them know about your services. It is better if you speak
with them personally, rather than sending something in the mail.
Outline all the features of your services, why you are unique
and let them know the bonuses of you being a small business
venture yourself. Being small means they will receive more
personalized service and they can contact you directly any time
they need assistance.
- Of course, you need a website: This is where your
current and potential clients can go "visit" you and find out
more about your services. It also provides you with the
potential of finding clients that are not in your immediate
area. A website could also help you expand your business, find
other collectors to work accounts for you all over the country.
Website Tips
- Establish yourself as
an expert in your field and increase your search engine
rankings:
You can do this by adding useful information to
your website visitors. This can include tips on collecting,
when to call a collection agency, how to choose a collection
agency...anything collection-related.
- Start a Newsletter:
Publish a regular newsletter for your
clients and offer subscriptions right off your website. Again,
this will help establish you as an expert in your field and
helps you promote your services.
- Include Testimonials &
Statistics About Your Collection Rates:
This will be a growing section to
your website as you gain more experience. To be more
effective, make sure the people who offer testimonials are
willing to be contacted by potential clients.
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