M&A (Sounded like a good Idea at the time.)
The dust is starting to settle after the execs are
through with their wheelin' & dealin". Everybody's
starting to breathe easy and relax. Not you! Now
you are starting to see the trickle down of what was
considered the "little thing" during the negotiations.
You, and your already strained staff, have a whole
new Aged Trial Balance to tackle. In these
scenarios, there are many issues that present
themselves during the integration process. The one
that's dropped on your desk is the collection of newly
acquired, outstanding debts. Unless upper
management is increasing your budget and allowing
you to "ramp up" to meet this challenge, there are
bound to be difficulties. Let's face it; your staff isn't
exactly standing around the water cooler waiting for
something to do!
Let's begin with a few questions:
1) How many accounts are already assigned to each
of your staff?
2) How much money will you lose by reassigning
employees that already efficiently keep the cash flow
engine running by keeping in touch with 0 to 60 day
accounts. We have to face it; there are just so
many minutes in each day!
3) Will you lose employees due to over burdening?
4) If you do get the green light to ramp up, who will
train the new employees? You can bet that the new
A/R portfolio is going to come complete with a whole
new set of problems. Keep in mind that time spent
involved in training the staff is money you will not
recover.
These simple questions pack a big punch! The
bottom line is "time is money". If you use your own
employees to clean up another company's Trial
Balance you may be wasting time. Using a
professional, contingent based outsourcing partner to
collect those debts is a win win situation. It's the
quick and affordable way to work the accounts. You
will have the benefit of a focused group of
professionals working on your newly acquired
accounts almost immediately. No interviewing, no
wasted time, no training. I would hazard a guess
that the investment in using a third party agency is
far less expensive than all that goes into hiring, not
to mention salary and benefits!
Your folks can continue to concentrate on what they
know best - their own receivables and the fresh
receivables from the new business. As our CEO has
often been quoted as saying:
"Outsourcing problem accounts to a competent
professional agency is not an admission of failure; it
is evidence of managerial maturity"
