Collector - May 2015

Getting a fellow professional’s input on a problem or decision is always helpful to gain perspective and move forward, especially in the ever-changing credit and collection industry. Sometimes the advice you receive can help guide your business for years to come.

Collector recently asked some ACA International members: What is the best business advice you’ve ever gotten?

Brad Klein, president, Paid in Full

I was encouraged to become active with ACA International and, on a local level, the Arizona Collectors Association. I joined ACA in 2002 and started serving on the Arizona Unit board in 2006.

Access to critical industry information from these organizations, the people I’ve met through them and the advice they’ve given me throughout my career have been instrumental in taking my company from a fledgling start-up to where we are today.

Matt Laws, president/CEO, Wakefield & Associates Inc.

There have been many excellent pieces of business advice I have received and implemented over the years. However, without question, the best business advice with the most positive impact for our company was to surround ourselves with the smartest and most talented people in the credit and collection industry. It’s imperative to have a group of all-stars in every position in your company.

Richard Perr, attorney, Fineman, Krekstein & Harris

The best business advice I have ever received was to never forget that you

Career Advice

ACA members describe helpful advice they have received from mentors and colleagues during their careers

are working for your client.

As much as we may have opinions about how the client can best go about achieving their goals, it is the client’s choice and the client’s goals. We do not substitute our judgment for our client’s.

And when the client makes a decision, you do everything in your power to support the decision and to ensure it succeeds.

Kenneth Ross, president, Evergreen Professional Recoveries

The best business advice I ever received was, “Don’t just put a Band-Aid on it, fix it.” If you take this approach, with honesty, integrity and hard work, you will succeed in whatever you do.

This holds very true with the ever-changing landscape in the collection industry. If you don’t fix the small problems, they become large ones. Have a plan execute it, and stay on course.

After 27 years in business, I always surround myself with the best support possible, and most of my management staff have been with me for more than

20 years.

Michael Ryalls, president, RGS Financial

A great mentor taught me
something that is seemingly simple, but
critically important: “How do you
communicate an issue, requiring a
decision, to a coworker or supervisor?”
The answer is to describe the issue,
outline the options to consider, give
your opinion on the best solution and
ask for a decision. How this is done
makes all the difference in how you are
perceived to your colleague or
supervisor.