John Murray says it's not unusual for people to cringe when they hear about his line of work.
JOHN MURRAY: I'm used to whenever I go to a party and they say "What do you do?" I say "I own a collection agency" and people kind of go…."Oh-h-h…" But, in order to be in this business, you have to have a thick skin.
It's known as the "Accounts Receivable Management" industry. John Murray started out in the collections department of BP Oil when it was headquartered here in Cleveland, calling people about their overdue bills. He didn't really enjoy the work, but he was good at it and, ten years ago, he and a partner started their own business --- JP Recovery Services.
JOHN MURRAY: It's relatively recession resistant. In other words, if the economy goes bad, like it is right now, we actually get more business.
In contrast to the common image of a burly guy with a bent nose who pounds on the doors of debtors, the collectors on John Murray's staff spend most of their days JP Recovery mostly spend the day on headsets, staring at computer screens and negotiating with people who have fallen behind on healthcare payments. Murray says a high tech device now commonly used in the telemarketing industry has transformed his business. It's called "Predictive" or "Power" Dialing.
JOHN MURRAY: If you're a collector on the phone, two-thirds of your calls are going to be "no answers" or busy signals or disconnects. Probably one out of three are you going to get a live person on the phone.
SOUND MONTAGE UNDERNEATH: phone dials…phone rings…busy signal…busy signal…busy signal…
But in the new world of technology, the collector is not so much working the phones as the phone is working the collector. At the beginning of a day, contact numbers for a cluster of people who haven't paid their medical bills is loaded into a central computer, which automatically dials calls until it gets an answer.
SOUND MONTAGE UNDERNEATH: multiple phone dials…phone rings…busy signal…finally someone answers, "Hello?"
JOHN MURRAY: They'll say "Hello" and then the call will be shunted over to whatever collector is available.
It's kind of like the collectors are waiting at the receiving end of a conveyor belt of calls ready to catch the hot prospects as they come off the line.
JOHN MURRAY: The reason it's called a "predictive dialer" is because what it tries to do is predict when a collector will become available to take a call. So, if you have ten collectors and their average call-length is two minutes, the system will know, "Okay, I've got three people who are about one minute, forty-five seconds in their call. The odds are very good that someone will be available in 15 seconds. And then it will start dialing and pass the next call to whoever's available.
John Murray says collectors don't spend more than three or four hours on the predictive dialing system, because it tends to burn them out. If they stick with it though, Murray says bill collecting can turn a tidy profit. Murray claims he has a low turnover, because he pays a good salary plus a commission. Take Jim McCartney.
JIM MCCARTNEY: I've collected for JP Recovery Services for ten years, and I've personally collected for twenty years.
And over that time, McCartney has become something of an amateur psychologist
JIM MCCARTNEY: What I like to do is: if I've got someone who's been upset, they start yelling over and over again, "You did this," and "you did that", and "you're not listening to me". You just wait until the person calms down [PAUSES]…they take a deep breath [HE TAKES A DEEP BREATH]. Then you have a chance to interject: what's the real problem?
Bill collectors in general have a nasty reputation. Consumer protection agencies get more complaints about them than any other business. Some agencies can be very aggressive, even abusive. But from the collector's vantage point….the abuse usually comes from the other direction. Jim McCartney says he He admits that sometimes the calls get to him, but he tries not to take it too personally.
JIM MCCARTNEY: One thing that I've learned is to basically have Teflon coating. And this took me years to really get over --- to understand that the people who are upset with you are not attacking you.
JOHN MURRAY: It's a tough job, really,
Especially for new collectors, says John Murray.
JOHN MURRAY: You're sitting there, you're on the phone all day, you're dealing with objections, sometimes people curse you out. When you first get started, it's not unusual for people to get under your skin or get you all riled up and you go home and you're all stressed out from the day.
But if you can put up with the stress…and remain professional in your own conduct….Murray says it's not a bad career and, of course, somebody has to do it. He now has nearly 100 people working for him --- one of the largest employers in the Westside suburb of Rocky River. Business is good. And until something gets the economy moving again, it's likely to get better.
