There is both good and bad news with the current economy. Of course, we are all aware of the bad news that is repeated to us daily by the media. The good news is that there are more talented people, then    every before, looking for jobs.
  
Hiring:
 
Before we start searching, the first thing we need to decide is what talents are important to us. In my case, I look for collectors that can sell. I believe that to collect money efficiently, the collector must be persuasive in dealing with the debtor. The collector must be an efficient and encouraging salesperson, showing the debtor that it is to the debtor's benefit to pay off the debt. We also want our staff selling the idea that it is better for the debtor to pay now rather than later.  On the other hand, if collectors try to dictate terms to the debtors, or are being rude or abrasive to them, collector complaints will increase, collector morale will decrease and monthly collection totals will drop.
  
I like to find my future collectors in action at their current jobs. I have hired waiters, waitresses, car salesmen and telemarketers. I try to stay away from potential hires that were former collectors-unless they come with very good references. We do not want their bad habits spreading throughout our department.  My ideal candidate has dealt with difficult situations and is comfortable with hearing the word "no." This is why; I make it a habit to carry business cards, even when I am just out running errands. For example, in the past month I needed a new cell phone. After arriving at a wireless store and watching the store manager in action with customers and employees, I made my pitch to him about coming to work for us.  I have done this dozens of times and it has resulted in hiring a great staff. If you decide to run an ad, you want to make sure you are attracting the right candidates and giving the right message to the potential hires. Again, you should decide what type of experience and education your ideal candidate should have. I construct my interview process with potential hires in this same way. First, if someone is interested in working for us, I have them submit their resume. I then have one of my supervisors schedule a phone interview.  We want to hear how they sound over the telephone. We want to hear how they pronounce words, the pitch of their voice and so on. We then bring them in for a personal interview.
 
During this experience, they fill out an application an interview with another supervisor. After that we have those complete two instruments. First we need to make sure that, intellectually, they can handle the job. That might sound strange but Dr. Rick Faulk tested hundreds of collectors and determined that under a certain level of intelligence, a collector has an 85% chance of failing in that position.  We also want to know if they are in the high range of intelligence. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t get the job; we would just want to observe them and make sure that we challenge them so as to avoid boredom in their work. The second instrument will give us an idea of how completive, aggressive, goal oriented and loyal they are. This instrument may even discern if they are a security risk. There are over nine personality categories that are explored with the instrument that we use. Each one has their own acceptable range. As an example you would not want to hire a collector that is too aggressive or one who is too passive in their communications. At this point the supervisor determines, based on all of the steps of the interview process so far, if the process should continue. If so, they then meet with our collection manager. We want to make sure everyone is in agreement that this person would be a great candidate. If you decide to follow the hiring path I have just described, it might be more difficult to find the right candidate. However, I feel that the effort expended is well worth it. Since our firm has implemented these steps, we have not had to terminate a collector for performance reasons.
  
Training:
 

From the first day the new collector steps into your office, you have the opportunity to set the expectations.  Any behavior that you don’t correct will become an approved behavior.  You might be asking yourself what does this mean?  As an example, if you hire a new collector and they are constantly coming back from lunch late and you don’t say anything, that will become an approved behavior.

The first day for a new collector is taken up with firm orientation. The second day, they immediately dive into the FDCPA. Each new collector understands that their employment is conditional upon passing our FDCPA test along with our firm test.  We set the expectation that following the FDCPA is more important to our firm than is collecting a million dollars. We also set the expectation that violating the FDCPA will result in immediate discipline. Since we split up our collection staff by status of a file, a new hire will not learn the legal side of our business. We simply teach them how to speak to a guest (debtor), how to use our computer system and the pre-legal side of our business. This will take about two weeks before we typically feel comfortable bringing them out to the floor. When they qualify to progress to the post suit side, they would go back into training. One of our practices is paring up a new hire with one of our senior collectors. This allows them to ask questions and to learn what it takes to become successful at our firm. All in all, training should be relatively easy if you hire the right candidate and have a sound training program. I enjoy having training program exit interviews with new hires to see what they liked and didn’t like, for it gives me further insights.
  
Motivating:
  
Hopefully, you have hired someone that is already motivated. This can be surmised from the instruments the collector has completed. What a lot of us in this industry forget is that collecting money is a repetitive operation. Collectors are constantly going through the same motions, day in and day out.  We enjoy making it exciting for our collectors and try to break up the monotony of the daily routine.  Keep in mind that whatever you focus on will change the behaviors of your collectors.  You can do this a lot of different ways. Extrinsically motivated collectors will respond to hourly, daily, or monthly contests. The more internally driven collectors may respond enthusiastically to going to court with one of your attorneys.  I enjoy spending time with my collectors. Therefore, most of our contests revolve around a company outing.   We have raced go-karts, played pool and this month, we are going bowling.  Of course, everything we do is very competitive, which fosters another level of excitement. We decide each month which behavior we want to influence and design our contest around it. We have made our own board games where collectors move their pieces by means of an accomplishment. We also play our own versions of popular game shows.
 
I believe that we need to keep in mind that every survey and study that inquires into what motivates people shows that employee recognition always trumps money. As you put together a motivational program, it is essential to include employee recognition by announcing names at a monthly meeting, handing out certificates and especially, stopping by and wishing them a good day, a happy birthday or a "Thank You" for a job well done!
 

All of these ideas have served our firm well. We hope that they are helpful to you as well.
 

About Rausch, Sturm, Israel, Enerson and Hornik
 

William Sturm, Jr. is the CEO of Rausch, Sturm, Israel, Enerson and Hornik.  Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, the firm has offices in eleven states and offers national coverage for collection matters.  Contact www.wiscollect.com.