The cliché of the entitled millennial employee is more than a little worn out. I’m fortunate to have a birds-eye view of a lot of different companies and their employees and I know for a fact that millennials are just as capable and dedicated as their older coworkers. But, having managed employees in many different … Read more
Many business models rely on auto renewal contracts. Auto renewals provide a business with a reliable cash flow and they provide clients with reliable service. No one wants to come in on Monday morning to discover that the software they depend on is no longer available to them. However, auto renewals are also a frequent … Read more
The Kaplan Group is pleased to announce that Karli Study has won our 5th annual $1,000 Scholarship! Karli is in her third year of law school at Widener Commonwealth School of Law in Harrisburg, PA. Karli’s winning essay is reprinted below and was in response to the following prompt: SHOULD YOU SUE A CUSTOMER? Let’s … Read more
As a collection agent and a business owner, I spend a lot of time in negotiations. I’m fascinated by how negotiation tactics vary from situation to situation. I try to learn from negotiations outside of work and apply them to my work, and vice versa. Ask my kids, I’m very good at using active listening … Read more
Economies are cyclical. For every upturn, there’s a downturn. When there is a downturn, unqualified collection agencies tend to spring out of nowhere. In 2011, during the Great Recession hundreds of un-trained collection agencies entered the market. Predictably, complaints about collectors’ abusive practices reached all-time highs. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2011, the … Read more
Whether you own or lease, real estate is a huge expense for any business. If you are planning on remodeling your space, or building a new facility, the expenses can skyrocket. Quality construction costs money, but that’s no reason to throw away money by failing to plan properly or negotiate with your contractor. Negotiation is … Read more
Working from home, either full-time or part-time has become a popular option for both employees and business owners. More and more companies are becoming 100% remote. Workers like working from home because it saves commuting time and money and can provide a great work-life balance. Employers like the ability to attract top talent (no matter … Read more
Entrepreneurs report rates of depression and stress that are significantly higher than those of other people. According to the Gallup Wellbeing index, 45% of entrepreneurs report being stressed. Thirty percent of entrepreneurs report being depressed, compared to only 15% of the general population. It’s important that business owners and CEOs be aware of the risks … Read more
If you Google “hiring negotiation” you’ll see hundreds of articles about how to negotiate a higher salary when given a job offer. You’ll also get a lot of articles from the employer’s point of view about how to negotiate a lower salary. But what so many of these articles overlook is that the negotiations involved … Read more
If you’re the owner or CEO of a company, you’re probably familiar with what happens when you have a struggling employee. You sit down with the struggling employee and assess what they’re doing wrong. You ask them to improve and then, six or eight weeks later you assess their improvements. Sometimes things get better, sometimes … Read more
Write Offs Can Be Part Of A Profit Maximization Strategy No one wants bad debt. Everyone hates it when you do not get paid. But, is it possible that never having had a bad debt is a sign of a problem? Absolutely! Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard these comments from a few CFOs: … Read more
An article posted recently called Fake collectors are trying to scare you into paying debts you don’t owe explains the rise in recent years of fake debt collectors attempting to scare Americans into paying debts they don’t owe. Just this year, federal authorities shut down two fake debt collection scams based in California, claiming they … Read more
The Bradenton Herald Today recently published an article called Ask Doctor Debt is a Debt Collection Resource for Active Military Personnel, which explains the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The SCRA is an act which was created to ease the financial burdens on members of the U.S. Military who are on active duty. According to … Read more
When you receive a phone call on your cell phone from an unfamiliar number, do you answer the call? Soon you may not want to since debt collectors may be able to call using cell phone numbers. Right now, these calls are largely prohibited, but the President and Congress are considering allowing these calls to … Read more
Most people are not aware of just how important debt collection services are to the business world. They assume that the average business customer pays their bills on time. While for the majority of businesses this is true, there are times when a business either cannot or will not pay their bills and someone has … Read more
As a collection agency, we often have debtors attempt to avoid dealing with us by trying to hide behind rights provided by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA applies to consumer debt but not to business to business debt collection. Successful commercial debt collectors need to know which rules apply to their … Read more
What Services Should You Demand of an Outside Collection Agency?Originally published May 1, 2000, in CreditToday, by Jerry Kaplan There are a lot of collection agencies out there that would be happy to get your business. You might be using one or more of them now. But are they giving you the services that you … Read more
