Were You Going Upstairs or Downstairs?

As the old saying goes, “You know you’re getting old when you are going upstairs or downstairs, stop halfway and then can’t remember if you were going up or down.”

Do you ever forget to buy the parts to fix the leaky faucet, schedule the carpet cleaner, call the day care center to notify them of your need to pick up Johnny early? Do you purposefully procrastinate the task hoping it will just go away? I never do that…(ha ha). Sound familiar?

Why do we have such a hard time remembering things? I think we have so much to remember these days; our heads are so full we can’t concentrate on what comes next — even though we have every possible electronic device to remind us. Sometimes we just forget to check our reminder systems or just ignore all the reminders we get. I wonder sometimes if some of us have scheduled into our iphone/ipad when to go to the bathroom next.

I’ll bet many times we just ignore commitments in hope no one will notice. I’ll also bet that debtors do the exact same thing. They commit to making a payment or a series of payments, and then hope that no one notices when they don’t meet that commitment. They are testing you, right? Read More »

Posted in Debt Collection | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Create your best moose

Recently, I finished a painting of a moose that is now on display in a Jackson Hole, Wyoming art gallery.  As my art students watched my progress, I would often get questions from them such as

  • What technique do you use to paint the water?
  • How do you paint the rugged hair on the moose?
  • What brush was used to create that effect?

To the surprise of many, the answer to most of the questions asked is “I don’t know!!!!”  I figure it out as I go along. Often, it is a process of trial and error. Finding out on my own what works and what does not. There are some “how to” books that may give some suggestions, but they are of little help. I have my own process for coming up with the best solution. Read More »

Posted in Debt Collection | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Need a collection attorney? Try using free referral services.

This is a guest blog post from the National List of Attorneys.

If your office sometimes needs to forward claims to a collection attorney, finding the right lawyer or firm can be a daunting, risky task. Google “attorney network” and you’ll get a whopping 9,610,000 results. Narrowing the search to “collection attorney” trims it down to 5,780,000. Not much help! You can get help when you know about and use the free attorney referral services offered by the National List of Attorneys.

Free Screened Referrals & Insured Claims

The National List (NL) helps collection agencies find quality legal representation for their specific collection, subrogation and bankruptcy needs with no referral fee.

Before making a referral, NL evaluates and narrows down the list of member attorneys to ensure there is no misunderstanding of the firm’s industry work standards, account placement volumes, technology, security, and financial requirements. Then they follow up to make sure that the relationships established are profiting both sides. Read More »

Posted in Collection Industry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tailored System Configuration

No two dialers are the same. Some might fit your company as well as the jersey does on this young kid. Or make as much sense as an overweight, out of shape guy crammed into a pink tutu. As you begin dialer vendor research, make sure you take the following advice into consideration:

Choosing a predictive dialer developed specifically for your industry is ideal.

When researching for a predictive dialer system, it is always wise to choose one that is industry specific because it is designed with features you need to succeed. Collection-specific features aim to maintain compliance, allow you to use your own collecting process and keep agents productive. In addition, there are two kinds of services: One is a site-premised system (the system resides in your facility) and the other is a web-based dialer (the dialer resides at the vendor’s site and is accessed via a secure internet connection). Read More »

Posted in Predictive Dialer | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Use Your Time Wisely


We have a limited amount of time in this world. We have to squeeze in as much as possible, determine what is most important and make the best of the time we have.

The same is true for your dialing technology’s time. As a big part of a collections strategy, it’s best to get the most out of your dialer time, even when you’re not in the office.  To me, this is the best thing. It’s like doing two things at once! For instance, you can use IVR Messaging to call people to remind them of an upcoming payment while you’re out to dinner with family or friends.

Enjoy calling time flexibility and control with IAT’s calling periods. You can set times to call for each campaign; or on the IVR dialing resources in CT Center. You can tell the dialer to start calling at whatever time you choose and stop at whatever time you choose. We call these calling periods. Read More »

Posted in Dialer Experience | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
  • Experiencing the Benefits of SmartDial

    Experiencing the Benefits of SmartDial®

  • The answers you need are found with a single SmartDial®

    FAQs for You

  • "I cannot thank your team enough for helping me to learn and integrate your dialer. I have gone from knowing nothing about this system to recently creating two inbound queues and changing the current hold music to holiday music. I have been very pleased with your prompt, valuable service."

    Donne Viau, Telephony Administrator
    MiraMed Revenue Group