The American Repossessor

QUALITY…PROFESSIONALISM…INTEGRITY… all go hand-in-hand for any business or industry sector – and in this instance I am gearing these comments to the Repossession Industry.

One thing I have found in the line of work that I do, is that you can try to instill these things into your clients i.e. repossession companies, but getting them actually following through is quite another matter. In other words “you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink”!

For most company owners, they think they know best and it is not until they actually experience the CHANGES that are often needed to develop and grow their companies and the results of those CHANGES, that they really understand just how much more profitable they could become.

Recently I wrote an article for the TowPartners magazine ‘The Advisor’ which is predominantly for the target audience of the repossession companies (many of which do delivery towing services too) that subscribe to TowPartners called The Cost of CHANGE and in that it looks at many differing business elements that CHANGE plays a key role in. We are in a Recession and though many feel that the Repossession Industry is immune to this, that is not the case. There are many struggling repossession companies out there and when it comes down to it, it is ‘the survival of the fittest’ that will weather the Recession, just like any other industry.

Companies have to be in a ‘strong place’ to survive any downturn in the economy, but particularly more so for us as the automotive industry really was not prepared for ‘this’ Recession, as we have all seen and continue to see in the media.

One  client repossession company of mine that are located in a State that has strict repossession laws like no other, when I first began working with them two years ago in June, they were  at an income level of $55,000 and this year they are at $169,000 and if they keep doing what they are doing, they are projected to increase that number to $220,000 in June 2010. Even with legal restrictions they increased their repossession rate 6-fold.

How did they do that?  CHANGE! And that included restructuring the way they do business, how they train their Field Agents, their training of the Account Executives, introducing new policies, procedures that support the company development and growth, thus introducing much needed improved infrastructure, both in the office and in the field. They now have a branding that runs throughout all their marketing, from a logo, to company information sent to clients, to all their stationary (letterheads, business cards, fax header sheets etc) to their website. With their new image and their improved services to their clients, they are armed to continue to develop and grow profitably.

Over the last 2 years not only have they increased the work from their existing client base, they have added numerous large clients increasing their open order status from low hundreds to beyond the thousand range and increasing daily. Clients see the company perform and have increased their workload to them because of that performance. There is no doubt that this company has also attracted business from other repossession companies and will continue to do so in the future too.

Their website is not a typical repossession company website – far from it! And if you don’t know what I mean by ‘typical’, take a look at some on the internet and you will see what I mean – photos of trucks, offices, spinning e-mail sign, list of certificates re insurance, bonds etc.  For example, why do you need to show your certificate of insurance when all you need to do is include the verbiage explaining what insurance you have, particularly as this does not need to be included on the site as it has it’s place within the marketing Company Information  you would send to a  prospective new client.

Clients already know that we use trucks and that we have offices. Of course they need to know that your fleet of trucks are new and reliable and that your offices are large enough to house your company services, but there are other ways to do that. Give them something different, something new!

Your website needs to be different, attractive to the eye and maintain the reader’s attention and NOT say the same things that many other repossession company websites do. You need YOUR own  company identity and branding and NOT that of someone else!

Remember, your website is part of your marketing and is easily accessible by prospective clients.

There are so many repossession companies in the industry that to maintain your existing business, seek new business and survive, you have to be different and ‘add value’ to what you do.

DIFFERENT means CHANGE…and CHANGE is often feared but you don’t need to fear it, you need to embrace it. If there are 20 repossession companies within your immediate area, all of whom are competing for the same clients and work as you are, ask yourself this……why should the client select your company to do business with?