Dean Kaplan Just like newlyweds who never imagine divorce, when you first start a relationship with a new client you probably don’t expect to one day be firing him or her. But, it happens and just like with divorce, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and embarrassment can often get in the way of legalities. Every situation is different, … Read more
We are excited to announce that The Kaplan Group’s 3rd Annual $1,000 Scholarship has been awarded to Audriana Rodriguez, a senior at Florida International University! Three years ago, The Kaplan Group, a commercial collection agency, created the annual scholarship hoping to encourage young students of today to consider pursuit of a career in the … Read more
One of the most common excuses we hear in B2B debt collection is a business is struggling to collect from its customers and therefore can’t pay its vendors. Typically the business owner will commit to paying when they get paid, but the problem has been going on for months and there is no end … Read more
Every business owner has experienced the pain of a late or non paying customer. The Commercial Law League of America research shows that as soon as an invoice goes delinquent, the chance of successfully collecting declines by more than 1% per week. If an invoice is 90 days past due, the chance of collecting … Read more
Airtech Corporation is an Arkansas based distributor of HVAC equipment with annual revenue of $35 million. Despite giving net 30 terms, their average days sales outstanding (DSO) was running at 60 days. Management recognized there was a significant problem and with changes in technology and procedures was able to reduce DSO to 42 days and … Read more
The Kaplan Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that the 2015 Kaplan Group Annual $1,000 Scholarship has been awarded to Pedro A. Rodriguez, a junior Business Management major at Miami Dade College. The scholarship was introduced in 2014 and was designed to promote career opportunities in commercial debt collections and credit management to young adults … Read more
The website how-old.net can take any picture of a person you upload and estimate the person’s age. I uploaded two different photos of myself, taken 6 years apart, and it correctly guessed my age both times. Try it yourself – it’s free. What is also amazing about this technology is that 2 developers put … Read more
We recently were contacted by a prospective client who was owed over $30,000 for a consulting project. They had a solid contract with their customer and proof that they had performed the work. They had written acceptance of the work product from their customer and a written promise to pay. But six months had … Read more
For decades, a common sales mantra was to “Always Be Closing.” The Internet and social media have made this an outdated and potentially dangerous approach. Always Be Helping is the updated mantra, and it applies not only to sales, but credit and debt collections, as well as professional and personal interactions. ABC meant that … Read more
All too often, when a small business is up for sale, the net result for many of their vendors is bad debt expense. If you hear that one of your customers is selling their business it’s time to be very careful with outstanding receivables and new orders. WHY WOULD THEY SELL THEIR BUSINESS? If … Read more
Article by: Jeanne Lee of Anytime Collect Managing invoices and collecting them on time is not an easy job. It requires a significant investment of your time and energy and even then many of your invoices are likely still going beyond terms, being written off as bad debt, or being sent off to a … Read more
Article by: Kathryn Brown What You Need to Know About Credit Profile Number and Synthetic ID Fraud There are numerous fraud schemes out there – if there is money to made, there is going to be fraud of one kind or another. One type of fraud that is becoming more prevalent is Credit Profile Number … Read more
According to a study at Duke University, 40% of our actions are out of habit, not actual decisions. If all your habits are good, this makes life much easier. But, if you are like me and have some bad habits, this statistic helps explain why changing the Habit Loop is so difficult. This is what … Read more
My son graduates from UCSB in 20 days under a black cloud. He knew 2 of the six students killed by gunfire on Friday, and at least one of the hospitalized. What should be a joyous time for our son and family is now filled with enormous sadness as we think about those who lost … Read more
Michael Lewis’s latest bestseller ‘Flash Boys, A Wall Street Revolt’ is a non-fiction tale of Wall Street intrigue, unfairness, and salvation. The story itself has nothing to do with credit and collections, and yet it highlights the traits that make some people great at managing credit risk or successful debt collection when things go wrong. … Read more
Article by: Bertrand Mazuir Any commercial relationship based on mutual commitments shared between the seller and the buyer. The buyer undertakes to pay the price of the service or equipment delivered on the date specified in the contract and invoices. However, he frequently has a high propensity to forget, at least temporarily, this commitment. Several … Read more
You have been calling your customer about a past due invoice for the last month. After a couple excuses and a couple broken promises, now no one answers the phone or returns messages when you call repeatedly. What does this mean? Have they closed? Has office staff been reduced to the point there is no … Read more
Last week I read an article on LinkedIn on how to be more productive. I’m always looking to learn and try new things. The one productivity tip that resonated the most for me was this: Before you go home today, write down the top 6 things you want to accomplish tomorrow; Cross out the bottom 5; … Read more
“You’ll Get Paid When We Get Paid” This is one of the most common ‘explanations’ we get while providing commercial collection services. How the debt collector responds to this assertion can have a big impact on understanding what is really going on and figuring out how to get paid even if they don’t get … Read more
How One Credit Manager’s Creativity Made The Big Sale Possible Most credit managers have been in this situation: the company wants to make the big sale, the buyer is ready, but their credit situation doesn’t make a standard transaction possible. Bud Rule, who has 40 years of credit experience, recently shared this story of a … Read more
