First Financial Asset Management Boosts Collections By Using Global Connect Voice Broadcasting

Today?s collection agencies are focused on increasing their bottom line results through greater portfolio penetration and increasing right party contacts. The collection and recovery industry is more than ever a highly competitive environment with increasing challenges in managing cost structures. Labor, telephone and letter generation are your major cost drivers. Agencies are searching also for ways to maximize collector productivity. Using the Global Connect voice broadcasting system offers innovative solutions to help control all of these line items. While many agencies report success, few have actually done the homework to prove the value of their system.

First Financial Asset Management in Atlanta, Georgia, has used the Global Connect voice broadcasting system since December 2004 and has operated it as a stand alone service and also in conjunction with an auto dialer. The following details some of their experiences and results.

Voice Broadcasting Combined With A Dialer Produced Shocking Results

While in the midst of a system conversion, First Financial?s dialer was disabled before they installed their new dialer. During this interim period, they were introduced to the benefits of using Global Connect?s voice broadcasting system at a trade show. Since there were no upfront costs involved, it was an easy decision to test voice broadcasting while their dialer was inoperable. Although they were pleased with the system and were able to implement it in just a couple of hours, they suspended its use after the new collection system with its auto dialer was installed.

According to Alan Minard, First Financial?s General Manger, ?Then our numbers started to drag, so we tried running Global Connect again. I knew we were increasing contacts and our collections were improving, but I just didn?t have the statistics. I needed to justify this additional expense to our owners which is what prompted me to do a detailed analysis.? They knew intuitively that their contact and connect rates had increased. Minard reviewed a random sample of 10% of their accounts during their ten-day heaviest period of the month. ?It shocked me on how much we were doing,? says Minard. ?We extrapolated the sample?s results and found out that our net collections exceeded our Global Connect fee by a factor of 10.

Currently First Financial uses Global Connect along with their auto dialer. ?We definitely use both; we can?t just use one or the other. Our best strategy is to pick out the best times for each and understand how each system operates most efficiently?, continues Minard. In their case, they like to use the dialer in the morning and use Global Connect during prime time nights when they have the greatest likelihood of connecting with people. When asked to be more specific on the need to continue with voice broadcasting after their dialer was installed, Minard says, ?All I know is that our phones ring off the hook with Global Connect but when I run a dialer my phones don?t ring off the hook.?

Increased Collector Productivity And Employee Cost Savings

First Financial recently experimented with running a small balance portfolio of approximately 6,000 accounts by just using voice broadcasting. Normally that number of accounts would require 2-3 collectors dedicated full time to plow through that number of files. Additionally, there would be the dialer and phone costs. For this portfolio, Minard elected to use Global Connect?s system to completely replace the collectors and was able to run it in an hour. By setting up an ?open? portfolio, the debtors could call in and talk to anyone and that collector receives credit. This way, a dedicated staff is not needed; they can be working on other things and still get credit for the calls they field. He estimates that they collected 10-15 times the amount of money over the cost of Global Connect?s fees. With the full time employee costs of $6-7,000 added in, the savings are even more phenomenal. First Financial not only collected more money and saved employee costs; they accomplished this in hours, not days. Painless Set Up With Outstanding Customer Service

Setting up Global Connect?s voice broadcasting system was painless for First Financial. ?It took no time at all, since it?s all web-access based. It literally took us about an hour to do it all ? it actually took us longer to build our own Excel files than it did to set up Global Connect.? However, they did need to make sure their phone system was set up correctly. Minard also praises Global Connect?s customer service and particularly appreciates their willingness to build their messages for them.

While First Financial?s overall experience with Global Connect?s voice broadcasting has been exceptionally good, they do advise other firms to be mindful of the time of the day they are using it. According to First Financial, it can be most cost effective if you play with the portfolios and determine when you will get the heaviest volume of callbacks. They also advise that you make sure there are enough open call lines and collectors on call to catch the calls. While Minard states, ?I wouldn?t go a month without Global Connect?, the proof however, is in the numbers. In closing, Minard stated ?If you do an analysis, you?ll find out it will collect money for you.”