Latest Entries »

Auto Repossession Industry Business Partners

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
February 3, 2012

Going into the auto repossession costs money – actually a lot of money. I know it can be tempting to call up an old friend or family member and bring them in as a business partner to get the funds you need to get your repo business going. I have yet to see a partnership, where there were not some HUGE bumps in the road. Often times the auto repo company had more than just some bumps and went off the road and crashed in a ditch because of the partnership that was formed.  Having a business partner can cause friendships to end, family members to never speak again and often times a divorce form a partner you are married to is the end result.

This happens because it is nearly impossible for two people to have the same vision and mission for the repossession company. Anything that has two heads is a monster! I have seen co-owners almost come to blows over the brand of printer that was purchased. I know one man that lost his best friend because his friend thought being a business owner meant less work and not more work and decided to only contribute about 3 hours a day to their new repo business. One partner was out repossessing cars 80 hours a week, while the lazy partner was hardly putting any miles on his take home wrecker and was lucky to pick up 3 cars a week. I know of one father and son repo team that have not spoken to each for nearly 10 years. Not only that, when their partnership blew up, they went out and each started an auto repossession business of their own. Now father and son are competitors in the same city and when asked how the other is doing they go into a swearing tirade about the other person.

My first advice, is to pass on the partnership even if means the delay of launching your repo business venture. However, if you are still sold on a partnership, let me give you some advice. Documentation! Documentation. Documentation! Everything detail about your partnership, each of your responsibilities, your business plan and how the repo company is going to be run needs to be in writing. I am not talking about a 3 minute napkin plan the two of you came up with while having lunch at Chic-fil-a either. Everything needs to be done under the advisement of a licensed attorney that can direct you on the correct way to preserve the company and partnership you are setting up and also put it all in writing. You also need to develop a company handbook that will be your indisputable “Bible” on how things will be done. if it is followed to the letter, there will be less disagreements.

Secondly, you need to make sure that the two of you see eye to eye on every aspect of the business and other areas as well. I look at every business relationship like I am looking at a possible spouse. I am married now, but when I used to date I had a strict screening policy. When I first dated someone, I watched for little things that irritated me or things they said or did that I did not like. I knew that if there were little problems in the beginning, there were going to BIG problems later. If I saw the smallest problem with a girl I was on a date with, I made it the last date! I actually ended a date I was on while looking  at the menu because the girl revealed to me she was vegan, card carrying PETA member. I was a hunter and love my rib eye stakes, so I suggested we go home immediately! She was not happy, but my motto in love is better to cry once, than cry every day for the rest of your life! I do not believe in that theory (I say it is a lie) that opposites attract and make for good relationships. If you are going into business with someone, you need to be like minded. You need to think the same way in nearly every way – business, personal, political etc.

I wish you all the luck in your auto repossession business venture. I will again advise you to pass on a partnership in your company. If you go against my advice, do it cautiously. And remember, partners share everything. The risk of investing, the responsibility, the sweat and labor, the stress and headaches and most of all the profits. For me, I am not willing to share the profits, so I will handle the rest all on my own!

To learn more about running a profitable auto repossession business, click here and click and read the auto repossession business articles int he left column.

Join our repoman forum here and list your auto repossession company in our repoman directory here

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Dressing for a Sales Call for your Auto Repossession Company

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
February 2, 2012

Absolutely Not!

So you have been making some sales calls and finally got an appointment with the collections manager of a lender you are trying to get repossession business from. What should you wear to the meeting? I have seen some real fashion disasters worn by auto repossession company owners going to meet with a lender. I once was visiting one of my clients and one of my competitors dropped in unannounced to try and get some repo orders. He showed up in jeans with the knees torn out of them, a wife beater T shirt, a wallet chain and a pair of flip flops. He had a dirty ball cap on that said “Porn Star”.  I am not sure if he had bathed or brushed his teeth that morning, but he smelled like recycled summer sausage! I have told this story before and been told I am a great story teller. I wish it was just a story, but it did happen. Needless to say, he never got one order from my client and was soon up for repo himself.

I have had many people tell me that all they wear is Harley Davidson shirts, jeans and boots and they are not changing who they are for anybody. That is great, I used to wear “biker wear” a lot myself. In all  my years in business, I found one thing out – people react to what you are wearing. If you show up anywhere in a ketchup stained tank top and shorts, you will be treated a whole lot different than the man that is wearing a pair of dockers, a button down shirt and some casual shoes. I came to this revelation some years back in my daily trips to my bank to take care of personal and business transactions. If I went in the bank looking like I just fell off the mattress, I was treated exactly how I looked. I was barely greeted, there was no smile, no chit chat and even the customer service was substandard. However when I entered the bank in casual business attire or once in awhile wearing a nice suit jacket and tie, they fell all over me. They greeted me, they smiled, they were in a hurry to assist me and sometimes they told me I was looking fine! Some of you may say that they should treat all customers the same, and that is 100% true. But the reality is, that it does not happen that way. Shortly after I made my discovery that your appearance will determine how you are treated,  that particular bank approached me and offered me an unsecured business line of $60,000 to use for payroll if some of my clients were slow to pay. Was it because of how I dressed when I went in there? I would say it was definitely  a big part of it.

I am not saying you need to wear a suit all the time, but I am saying to dress for the occasion. If you are going jogging, wear a jogging suit, T shirt and tennis shoes. If you are going on a poker run on your “hog”, put your leather chaps on and a Harley Shirt – but do not forget to wear a pair of jeans under those leather chaps! And if you are going to meet with a lender, dress appropriately if you want your auto repossession to grow.

So, I ask again. What is appropriate dress for meeting with a lender? Is it a suit? I would say no. You are  a repossessor and honestly, I can’t ever remember meeting a client that was wearing a suit. You do not want to dress better than the client you are meeting, so I am suggesting you wear casual business attire. Maybe a pair of dress pants or khaki dockers with a nice button down shirt. You will also want to make sure your have showered, slapped a little anti-perspiration on, combed your hair, brushed your teeth and ironed your clothes. Below are a couple examples of what to wear and what not to wear when you are trying to get clients to use your auto repossession business or visiting clients that already use your repossession service.

This woiuld be appropriate.

This is not cutting it!

Please do not EVER dress like this!

This would also be fine.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Auto Repossession Industry – the Past, the Present and the Future

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
February 1, 2012

The Past: People have been borrowing money and buying things on credit for a long, long time. Back in the day, many lenders felt very comfortable sending out a bank employee to collect on past due accounts and often times repossess collateral. There was a time where auto repossession insurance, bonds, associations and licensing did not even exist. The practice of in house auto repossessions is a rarity in this day an age, but once in a while it still happens.

At some point (I am told in the mid 1950’s – old timers feel free to comment) lawsuits, assaults and the hassle of doing it themselves became an issue and lenders began using outside contractors to  perform their auto repossessions. This system worked quite well for years and years and deep business relationships developed between lenders and the local repossessor. This relationship resulted in loyalty and trust between the two and owning an auto repossession business was quite profitable. The lenders were happy to pay fees for professional services and not only paid for the basic repossession, but also for other services the repossessor performed. These fees included key cutting, mileage, storage, investigation and skip tracing, condition report and photos, transport to auction and often times extra for accounts where a lot of time was spent in getting the collateral picked up. They nearly always paid a close fee.

One major lender (that I will not call by name), in my opinion, broke the local adjusters down by bringing up the dreaded “C” word – contingent only. An all inclusive fee was forced upon the repossession company owners by this company and by not collectively saying “No”, this industry began to slide down a slippery slope. Other lenders slowly but surely began to follow this contingent only trend and although some stood their ground and said “No”, a majority did not. This allowed the lender to adapt a practice of setting the repossession fees, rather than the repo company owner setting his own fee.

In 1990’s, debtors became more mobile and and more lenders were having their “paper” spread across all 50 states. There were also a lot of mergers and acquisitions of smaller banks and large nationwide banks became the norm.  Lenders began to add more adjusters to their vendor list and this is where I believe the personal relationship between lenders and local adjusters began to vanish. Juggling thousands of agents became a daunting project and emails, faxes and proprietary systems replaced the old fashion telephone update.

The Present: In a day technology the personal touch this business used to have is all but gone. We now have mobile phones, VOIP systems, land lines, fax lines, email, instant messenger programs and yet I see less communication in this business than ever before. I see lenders that have no idea who the adjusters they use really are. Often times there is no contact information or issuing customer service representative name on a repossession order. Without that, how can an agent call to request more information or give an update? Recovery rates are down, fees are down, operating costs are up and a majority of repossession company owners are not taking a stand to keep this industry great.

The Future: The future is yet to be seen. You, the auto repossession company owners of today are this industry’s future. To start, you need to conduct yourselves honestly and professionally at all times. You can write the future of this industry by educating yourselves and learning to to be better business owners. You need to work united together to mold this industry into whatever you would like it to be. This means taking a collective stand to work for fees that make your company profitable and worthwhile.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Should Your Auto Repossession Company Have a Company Handbook?

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
January 26, 2012

The answer is yes. You need to have some sort of company handbook to set some standard operating procedures (SOP) for your auto repossession business. Having a company handbook will save time in your daily operations because it lessens having to answer the same questions over and over again. It will help create uniformity and set a standard in your company as well as prevent disagreements on how things need to be done.

If you have an SOP for your company then there will never be a question of what is expected of your office staff and repossession agents. They can sign that they received and read the handbook. This holds them accountable for their work performance whether it is good or bad. Your employees will not be able to claim ignorance about a rule when you have to take action on a violation of a rule found in the handbook. This can help protect you and your company from unemployment claims as well as possible legal action. You can combat claims of favoritism if you simply enforce the written policies of your company equally with all of your employees. It will put everyone employed with you on level ground and this helps create a happy and well running work environment. A well drafted company handbook will not only protect you, but also protect your employees as well.

Having a company handbook is also a valuable tool in marketing your auto repossession services to potential clients. It shows that you company is a professional, efficient company that has guidelines on how to serve them from the acceptance of the repossession order to delivery of their collateral to auction. You can actually share with the lenders your step by step written guide on how you get the job done and minimize their (and your) window of liability.

Your handbook should detail all the procedures you want in place for running your collateral recovery operation. It can lay out such things as hours of operation for your office, to medical and sick leave, to drug testing  of employees. It can map out the recovery process you want your repo agents to follow in the field and how you want your office staff to stream information to your lender clients.

You want to be sure you cover all areas to avoid lawsuits from debtors. One area in particular would be the storage of a debtor’s personal property, how it is inventoried and what documentation you have the debtor sign and file upon receiving his personal effects. One suggestion I have for you that was rule at my company was the storage of liquids. We always disposed of liquids – chemicals, bleach, laundry detergent, gasoline etc. We did not want a hazardous material spill or chemical reaction to occur at our office. Another suggestion I have for you is to have a rule regarding the storage of firearms and what procedure is set for returning guns to a debtor. One of our members and contributing authors, Bill Meinhardt, posted an excellent suggestion in the our auto repossession forum. Bill posted this:

“I always unloaded the weapons and rendered them temporary inoperable with plastic pull ties” in a thread titled Guns and ammo in car – what’s your policy?

I suggest all of you that do not have a company handbook to get one. it will professionalize your repossession business and help things to run smoother at your company.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Loyalty

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
January 25, 2012

I read a quote recently that said, “The man who inspires loyalty will never die alone or at least his death will not go unnoticed.” I  have known a slew of people in my life that have demanded loyalty from the people around them. Some of them were business owners demanding loyalty from their employees. Others were pastors expecting complete loyalty from their parishioners.  I knew one chief of police that demanded 100% loyalty from the police officers that were under him at his department. I even have known some husbands that expected undying devotion from his wife and children. I guess there is nothing wrong with any of the above scenarios is there? The problem that I saw in many of those situations was the loyalty was expected to flow up to the leader, but was not reciprocated back down to the followers. Loyalty in any relationship needs to be a two way street. It needs to eb and flow between the king of the castle and those that dwell in his domain. In each of the above relationships, I saw a police chief, a pastor, a husband and a business owner demand loyalty from those under him, but these men did not return the loyalty they so fervently demanded to those around them. How can we, as business owners, be loyal to those members of our organization? We can be patient, understanding, attentive, and forgiving to our employees. We need to see them not just as employees but as human beings that have personal lives, struggles and the ups and downs that life dishes out. Of course when you are running a business, you must have expectations of your employees, right? Definitely, but your responsibility as the person running the company is to make sure that your staff received the proper training for the job they were hired to do. You need to make sure that what you expect from them is patiently explained and taught. You need to not get angry or explosive when a mistake is made and to take the time to retrain them on what they did wrong.

I remember being in the office of a “mom and pop” repossession company a few years ago. They had a decent office, they had some nice looking wreckers, and they even had a storage lot with  a decent amount of collateral stored there. The owners greeted me with a big, friendly “hello” and invited me their office. As soon as I walked in, I could feel that something was not right in the office. All of their staff greeted me with a smile, but for some reason it lacked in sincerity. As I was sitting talking with the owners, I could hear a phone ringing and ringing in the main office, and one of the owners seemed to get stressed all of the sudden. He quickly answered the phone and was very abrupt with who I suspected was a client calling for an update. As soon as he hung up, he exploded into a loud tirade and chewed out the girl that did not get the call. She explained she was on the phone with another lender and he blew up even louder using some of the vilest profanity. He then came back in my office and loudly told me (so she could hear) how worthless that girl was and he was gunning to fire her. A few weeks later, I heard that girl quit and over the next several months, that company went through a string of office workers. This was because the explosive behavior of the one owner caused a high turnover rate in their office. That company is still running today, but in my opinion, at only 50% of the potential it could be running at. Sadly, I know of many repo companies where this scenario is played out day in and day out.

Employees treated with loyalty and respect will be loyal to you. I had one big, strong, muscle bound guy working for me, that probably would have charged hell with a bucket of water for me. When I sold my company and retired, he cried on my last day at the office.

I sometimes joke about death and funerals and it relates to the above quote – “The man who inspires loyalty will never die alone or at least his death will not go unnoticed.” When I am joking about the topic of funerals, I always say this: Some people will die and will have loyal friends that will fight to be pallbearers to carry the beloved’s casket. Others had better be cremated, because they will be lucky to have one person willing to tote the urn that their ashes are kept in. Loyalty – expect it, but also give it.

Feel free to comment on this article in our repossession agent forum

If you are currently a repoman or a repossession company owner, please join our repoman forum and visit our home page here

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Branding Your Auto Repossession Company

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
January 24, 2012

Are you branding your auto repossession company? Before you answer, let’s take a look at some of the essentials of branding. A successful brand needs to:

  1. Be different. Forget about all the cliche claims that other repo companies make. Be unique in ways that really matter to lender.
  2. Make promises that you can deliver on. Never make claims that you can’t live up to. I know several repo business owners that are unable to be honest with their lenders about service. Some regularly accept assignments that are way, way out of their service area and they do this thinking they will make their client happy. They always promises to be diligent on running those long distant accounts, but are lucky to get around to even doing a first run. The bad news is, the client won’t be happy. The owner would better off to to tell the lender that they only provide quality service and in this case they can’t do that. They could then give the client the name another repo company right in that area. The lender will appreciate the honesty.
  3. Interact with you clients. Get to know them personally and develop a deep, long lasting relationship – a bond if you will. Be genuinely interested in them personally instead of just being interested in their business.
  4. Communicate regularly with your clients. In a day and age with landlines, cell phones, text messaging, email, twitter, Facebook etc, there is no reason why you should not stay connected with your clients. Don’t forget the US Postal service for getting a Christmas card or birthday card delivered right to your client.
  5. Have a catchy company name, logo and motto. I was told recently by a vendor manager of a large lender that said a cool name and motto sticks out in their mind when someone does a sales call. She said the staff in the vendor department sit around talking at lunch about the coolest name of the companies that had made sales calls that day. You don’t have to change your name, but you can always add to it. For example, there are several auto repossession companies in America that bear the name Bulldog Recovery. If there are twenty of them nationwide, how would an owner of one of them get their name to stand out in a nationwide client’s mind over the rest. How about a catchy motto? “Bulldog recovery ~ We take a bite out of your past due accounts”. Corny? Maybe, but that Bulldog Recovery will stand out from the other Bulldogs.
  6. Get your name out there physically. Get packets, brochures and business cards in the hands of every possible client out there. Do not send an expensive gift to one person in a department, but rather send something that brands your company to every customer service representative that works for your clients. If your name is on every desk of a recovery department on coffee mugs, post it notes, pens etc, who do you think will come to mind when they need a car picked up in your service area? Check with your client to see if this is allowed. Most will allow it, if it is a small gift to every employee and not just one person.
  7. Get you name out there in the cyber world. Hello! It is 2012 and if you do not have a website, get one built. You need to drive traffic to that site. The way you do that is to advertise on ALL the online auto repossession company directories on the internet. Am I plugging our site? Sure I am. If I said I was not, I would be lying. However, I am also plugging the 4 or 5 other directories out there as well.  You need to be on ALL of them, not just ours. The successful repossession companies out here advertise in the directories and the ones that struggle do not. You also need to write some auto repossession articles on your website, a blog you set up as well as other repossession industry related sites that will allow you to do so. Why? To brand yourself as an auto repossession expert and professional.

Your brand will reside in the hearts and minds of your current clients as well prospective lenders. A strong brand is invaluable as you battle to build a broad client lender base. It is so very important to spend some time investing in, researching, defining, and building your brand.Your brand is the source of a promise to your lenders. It is the foundational cornerstone in the marketing of your auto repossession business. Google, Coke, Ford, Dairy Queen and many other successful companies brand themselves. You know their names because they branded their companies. Besides knowing their name, you need to learn from them in the area of branding.

You can make a comment here on this page or if you are a member of our auto repossession business forum you can also comment here

Please visit our homepage for more articles on how to run a profitable auto repossession company here.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Losing Money Is Not Good Business Sense

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
January 23, 2012

One of the main reasons an auto repossession business will fail is to not charge enough for your auto repossessions. It really seems simple enough, but I constantly talk to auto repossession company owners that tell me they are in the red every month. I can see why when they tell me their repossession fees. If you own a proper auto repossession business – one that has the correct insurance coverage, a real office, storage lot and decent equipment, then you need to charge a rate that makes you money. Remember, you are not in business to make yourself to make a living. You are in business to make money, to prosper, and to be a successful entrepreneur.  You will not stay in business very long if you are just making ends meet. You need to turn a profit and save for your company’s future.  One day, you will need to replace the current wrecker you have. Or you you might have to finance the expansion of your repo business by opening a satellite office, hiring more staff and purchasing new wreckers. You will not be able to achieve any of that if your business is just surviving month to month.

So the question is, “What should your charge?” You need to look at several things. One is what is your successful competitor charging? Your competitor that runs a proper repossession company. You should evaluate and match his rates, rather than some fly by night company that can’t afford to get a burned out headlight fixed in their 1984 sling truck. You should also look at what your business expenses are going to be and charge a fee that not only covers those expenses, but makes you a healthy profit. I keep hearing talk of repo fees at $200 for an involuntary! I can tell you what successful, profitable auto repossession company owners say about the $200 rate – ‘I would not turn the ignition key in my wrecker for $200 a car”.  You need to look at the fact that if you work for rates that cause you to lose money, then you might as well not be in business. I know it is hard to not go in and undercut your competition. I know it is tough to say “no” to a lender when they call and ask you to lower your rate because “Rat Recovery”  is doing repos for $25 cheaper than you.

It is also tough to have to go down to your local lawyer’s office and file bankruptcy on your auto repossession business. It is a lot tougher to have to announce to your office staff, repossession agents and other employees that they no longer have a place to work. It is real tough to lose your life savings that you excitedly invested into your new business venture. What will you do? Go work for one of your competitors? Sure, that may be an option, but I can tell you from experience, that once you have been a business owner, it is quite hard to go back and work for someone else.

The truth of the matter is that you can be successful in this business! You can do it through hard work, honesty, integrity and most of all, good business sense. That good business sense entails knowing that you have to make a decent profit to survive in any business. If you are doing a great job for your clients, then you are worth paying a “great” fee. We, as an industry, have gotten ourselves in a mess by constantly lowering our rates, when we should have been raising them all along. I can tell you that 20 years ago, the auto repossession industry was a profitable business. Lenders were paying more 20 years ago, than they are paying now. They were also paying for more services back then and there were no “freebies”! Each and every company owner needs to take steps to over correct this downward spiral of the industry we have so much passion for.

You can comment on this auto repossession business blog article here

Please join our auto repossession forum if you are a repoman or auto repossession company owner.

Read more articles about running a profitable auto repossession business at our online auto repossession industry magazine.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Auto Repossession Business Tip 4 – Avoid Burn Out

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
November 13, 2011

Over the last couple of decades, I have seen auto repossession companies come and go. Both friends and competitors have closed their doors before my eyes for a variety of reasons. Some closed their doors due to money management and poor business practices. Others closed their doors as a result of illness or old age. I often heard divorce and personal problems cited as reasons for throwing in the towel. Out everything I have heard, I would say one of the most frequent reasons for closing an auto repossession business was just plain tired and giving up. Time and time again, I have had repo company owners tell me they were burned out and closing doors. They were tired of battling with staff, clients, debtors, and other headaches that come with owning an auto repossession. If you, as the owner is burned out, your business will also become burned out. Your office staff and repossession agents will catch vibes you put off and business will suffer. Never let your employees see you down. For your sake and your businesses sake, you need to always be on top side. Having a positive attitude will be contagious and will lead to your business running better. Of course this will lead to higher profits and business growth. I have been in the offices of both types of companies – the “burned out” one and the “on top side” one. The two are farther apart that the East coast is from the West coast and it is the “on top side” business that is raking in the cash. Not only is the business making money, but the staff and owner are having a blast doing what they love! In the “burned out” office, you can slice and dice the thick tension, see the pain in everyone’s face and loosely predict the date and time they will bankrupt. Most of us got into this business with a great love for the auto repossession industry and the life that goes with it. If you get burned out, you will lose the love for this industry and just like a marriage – the relationship will come to a painful end.

Feeling burn out coming on? Spend some time with your family or get involved in a charity!

Tips and more info on how to run an auto repossession business are found here and here

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Tip 3 – Just say “No”!

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
November 3, 2011

In an earlier post, we talked about learning to respond to word “no” and how to be persistent in this business. Today’s tip was inspired by Bryan McCollister, Owner of Faith Financial, Fort Worth, Texas. It also deals with the word “no”, but in a different way. You should not only learn how to overcome the obstacle word “no”, but you need to learn how to say “no” as well.  Saying “no” could be used in response to a request for free storage or maybe for doing work on a contingent basis or possibly for a low fee for repossession work.  Far too many auto repossession companies are taking any business they can get without weighing the costs.  These “eager beavers” jumping at any work that is thrown at them are the reason why auto finance companies are expecting every agent to work for pennies and provide free services. These same lenders are in the business of making money and yet expect you to work for free. They would not be providing auto loans to people if they were not making money and you should not do work for them if you are not make money.

When I talk to people in the auto finance world I often ask them a couple of questions that make them squirm. The first is, “Would you do your job if you were only going to get paid if the people paid up or the car gets recovered?” Another is, “Would you come in to work on Saturday and Sunday if you were not going to get paid for those hours?”  None of them every say they would and then I compare that to freebies that auto repossession company owners are often asked to do by clients.

About 10 years ago, I used to do work for a client that paid well. We got $325 a car, plus keys plus transport with a cure fee if we got the debtor to pay up. We picked up about 100 or more voluntary repos a month that made it a guaranteed $30,000 a month account for us. We were very happy to do their auto repossession work because we were making a nice profit. I recently spoke with an auto repossession company owner in my old area that is currently during the same company’s work. He is doing their invols for a whopping all inclusive fee of $265 a car. He must make keys, transport the cars to auction, and does not get a cure fee for that price. I know he is not making money, he knows he is not making money and you know it too. He should have said “No” to that account from the start. The cost of business has gone up since I did auto repo work for them.

How is it possible that this lender’s fee has gone down and not risen to $450 per repo plus keys, transport with a cure? That question demands an answer and the answer is some poor soul needed work so bad, that he was afraid to say “no”.  Lenders weigh the decision on whether or not to put you on their vendor list and you need to do the same when thinking about doing work for a client. If you are not going to make money working a client then you need to just say “no”.

I am not talking about making a living either! A person makes a living at a job, but business owners need to make money – not lose money. Weigh the costs before bringing on a new client and if you are not going to make good money, then you need to turn them down with a confident “No”!!!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Tip 2 – Get At Least One New Client Every Month

Filed Under: Uncategorized by admin — Leave a comment
October 26, 2011

Some auto repossession company owners will never get a “yes” or a “no”. That is because they do not take the time to pick up the phone to call any potential lender clients. I know you are all busy repossession cars, making keys, dealing with debtor’s property, talking on the phone with your current clients, and managing your employees. If you own an auto repossession business and just read the above “too busy to call potential clients” list, I am sure you can add a thousand more reasons! However, if you are not always building your lender client portfolio, then you will eventually lose ground. In the future, one or more lenders will stop using your repossession services. This will happen regardless of the wonderful service you are providing them. I have talked to countless auto repo company owners that have lost clients that they did their work for many years. Theses clients loved them and they had long relationships with them. They lost them as clients due to mergers, a collection manger retiring, the lender making the decision to go the forwarder route etc.

I know of one owner that saw his best client vanish when a bank president’s son decided to go into the collateral recovery industry.  When I had my repo company, I received calls every week from lenders looking to give me business. I was making a lot of money and had more than enough work and could have sat back and took the new work when I got the calls. Luckily, I knew that a business that was not growing was dying. I made it a point to sign on new lenders every month, even if it was just one. How did I do that? I decided to call a certain number of potential lender clients every day. Some of the calls I made were first time calls and others were follow up calls to the lenders that were not looking for new agents. Set yourself a goal to call and TALK to five possible clients every day. I capitalized TALK, because leaving five voice mails does not count. Dial clients until you have spoke with five and able to get them your company packet either by email, fax or snail mail. If a lender declines your services, tell them you would like to check back with them in a month or another time that they agree to. Also get their name, direct line (if they have one), an email address and a fax number. Anyone that has been in this business for any length of time will tell you about a time they spoke with a collection manager that seemed interested in using them and was never able to get them back on the phone again. Your services will be declined by many and you need to contact them back in the future with a follow up call.

As your “no” list grows, keep making your five fresh calls a day and add 1 to 3 follow up calls to your daily sales routine. I keep hearing owners telling me that do not have time to make sales calls. If you are thinking this as you are reading this, then you need to make a commitment to make time to grow your business. I have been in the business and besides working hard I spent a fair amount of time horse playing with my agents and staff, drinking coffee, taking long, long lunches, visiting with friends and even watching TV in my office. I had a lot of good times running my company, but I had to prioritize my time. We can always find time for the things we enjoy doing. I enjoyed being successful and making money, so I made time to make that happen. Do not get discouraged when you are making your sales calls. Remember, each “no” is one step closer to your goal!

Are you looking to build a successful auto repossession company? Join our repo industry forum here

You can also read informative auto repossession industry articles at our online magazine here and list your repossession business in our repossession company directory here

Online repossession magazine link http://repoindustry.com/

Auto repossession industry networking forum http://repoindustry.com/forum/index.php

List your repossession agency here http://repoindustry.com/pre-registration.php

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment
Powered by WordPress | Theme: Motion by 85ideas.