This is a repost from the early days of this website. Since it is still the advice I give to every client, I’ve brought it back to the top.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to distinguish my law firm from all the others you can choose from to collect your unpaid receivables. My best answer may be in the following story…
On a recent Saturday morning, while cleaning up some things in my office, I got a call from a man in Germany who wanted me to collect a debt in Oregon for his company. Curious, I asked where he got my name. “Joe Smith recommended you.”
We talked some more about what he needed done, and made arrangements for him to send me the file. I asked him what Joe said that inspired him to call me in Massachusetts from Germany about a case in Oregon.
Joe was the accounts payable guy for a company against which I had collected a debt. He said that Joe told him that last year he was charged with managing the accounts payable for a company that had a mountain of debt. As a morass of collectors, lawyers, and angry accounts receivable people dogged him daily, I was the one person he remembered and the first person he paid when money came in.
Thrilled at this response, I asked if Joe had told the caller why he found my approach compelling enough to put my claim at the top of the pile.
“You did exactly what you said you would do. If you said you would call Tuesday, you called Tuesday. No one else did. So when the money came in you got paid first.”
Collecting overdue debt often requires romance, sometimes requires hardball, but always requires vigilance. Early action is critically important. According to the Commercial Law League of America, when an account receivable is past due, even after only three months, the probability of collection drops to 72.3%. After six months, your chances of collection decrease to 56.1%. At one year past due, there is a mere 29.7% chance that the delinquent account will be collected.
It is that balance between vigilance, early action, romance, and – when called for – hardball that my firm offers. Excellence and judgment in all these areas is what differentiates our work. I’d like the opportunity to show you what my law firm can do. Contact me so we can get started!