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Getting Clients in The Repossession Industry

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  • Getting Clients in The Repossession Industry

    05gettingclientsintherepossessionindustry01.jpg
    Getting Clients in The Repossession Industry

    In my opinion getting clients in this industry is easier than keeping them. I believe that almost every lender is contemplating dumping their current adjuster and bringing on a new repossession company. If they are not thinking about it today, there is a good chance that they will be tomorrow. The key to getting business is to always be promoting your business.

    I would call potential clients at least once every month. You should regularly drop a business card and a brochure in the mail to them. This is to keep the name of your company in the back of their mind, so they think of you first when they are ready to change repo companies. I was always big on advertising and using small gifts to win clients. You can effectively promote your company by sending the collections manager several gifts with your company name on them. Imagine the collections manager gets a bad report about their current contractor. He is upset and goes to his office and pours a cup of coffee into one of your company coffee mugs. He them sits down at his computer and he begins to use his mouse on a mouse pad that has your company name and logo on it. Then he picks up one of your company pens that you sent him. The next thing he will do is pick up the phone and call you to talk about bringing you on as a contractor!

    Giving away polo shirts, baseball caps and t-shirts displaying your company name and logo are a sure fire way of increasing business. Most office dress is casual these days and collectors appreciate receiving a nice polo shirt as a gift. If you give every customer service representative a polo shirt or a ball cap. Then I can promise you that on any given day that you will be the most advertised repo company in the office. The best way to get business is to have your name out their. In the repo industry, it would be ineffective to rent a billboard to advertise your business. You have to create your own “billboards” on a collector’s desks, on coffee mugs, and also on the clothes that they wear. You can argue that all of that advertising can be expensive. It can, but I can promise you that it pays for itself.

    Some repo company owners only give gifts when they already have the client. I think this a good thing to do. Even better is a giving a gift for no reason at all. That will make the collections manager think. If you get your name out there and make a follow up call every month, then I can almost guarantee that you will be repossessing for that lender in the future.

    Employees at financial instructions come and go. I was able to land some big money contracts because someone left one lender to work for another company and took one of my coffee mugs with him when he cleaned out his desk. Later he was having coffee with his new boss and they ended up having a discussion about my company. Within the week, I was signed on and doing so many repos for the new company that I had to go out and by a new wrecker and hire another agent. This may not happen overnight, but I promise you that it will happen over time.

    05gettingclientsintherepossessionindustry02.jpgYour Best Advertisment Is Company Merchandise
    Giving away polo shirts, baseball caps and t-shirts displaying your company name and logo are a sure fire way of increasing business. Most office dress is casual these days and collectors appreciate receiving a nice polo shirt as a gift. If you give every customer service representative a polo shirt or a ball cap. Then I can promise you that on any given day that you will be the most advertised repo company in the office. The best way to get business is to have your name out their. In the repo industry, it would be ineffective to rent a billboard to advertise your business. You have to create your own “billboards” on a collector’s desks, on coffee mugs, and also on the clothes that they wear. You can argue that all of that advertising can be expensive. It can, but I can promise you that it pays for itself.

    Some repo company owners only give gifts when they already have the client. I think this a good thing to do. Even better is a giving a gift for no reason at all. That will make the collections manager think. If you get your name out there and make a follow up call every month, then I can almost guarantee that you will be repossessing for that lender in the future.

    Employees at financial instructions come and go. I was able to land some big money contracts because someone left one lender to work for another company and took one of my coffee mugs with him when he cleaned out his desk. Later he was having coffee with his new boss and they ended up having a discussion about my company. Within the week, I was signed on and doing so many repos for the new company that I had to go out and by a new wrecker and hire another agent. This may not happen overnight, but I promise you that it will happen over time.

    05gettingclientsintherepossessionindustry03.jpg
    Your Appearance Matters

    I was able to land most of my clients the first time I spoke with them. Giving out gifts was just one of the marketing tools that I used. Another way I was able to secure contracts with lenders, was by having a strategy of how I was going to present my company to them. I wanted to convey to the lenders that my company was different than other repo companies that were in my areas of service. I never promised that I could recover every repo that they sent to me. As a mater of fact, I told them that if a company tells them that they can pick 100% of their delinquent collateral, then they were lying. I would let them know that I was not going to lie to them and make promises that I could not keep. During the meeting, I would inform them that my company did have a high success rate at recovering collateral that was issued to us. I had some graphs and pick up percentages that indicated our high rate of success. I would also let them know that we had an almost nonexistent occurrence of damage to vehicles, but also inform them that any company that executes a large number of repossessions has a possibility of damaging collateral. I then assured them, that if we ever do damage a vehicle, that we would be honest about it and promptly repair the damage. I shared with them that our drivers are some of the most thoroughly trained agents in the repossession industry and tell them about our drug and alcohol policy and randomly drug testing. I would then provide them with photos of all of our recovery equipment, secure outdoor storage and also indoor storage for motorcycles, boats and “high end” vehicles.

    When presenting your company, you should always dress appropriately. Leave the Metallica shirt at home. You do not have to wear a suit, but I recommend that you wear some nice Dockers and a polo shirt. You are the owner of a company and not a repoman when you are making a sales call.

    If you are poor salesman, then you have to work on that. The way to overcome poor salesmanship is to have an awesome company to promote that you believed in. You need to have a well prepared sales packet and a strategy on to show them that your company was different than all of your competitors. If you can be different, better and more professional, then you will get the client.

    Please fell free to start a thread in the forum if you have any further information on this topic that you would like to share.
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