Everyone loves a good story. And when it comes to bogus, harassing, and zombie debt collectors, you can bet those stories are warmly embraced. Even if you are relatively new to the collections industry you know that not a week goes by without some news outlet reporting on our industry—and seldom in a positive manner. Sure, there are agencies raising money for charities, donating to good causes, and working hard to put positive energy in the world, but sadly, those stories simply don’t garner the love they deserve.
In the future, our industry will likely continue to see an increase in negative media coverage, but this additional attention won’t necessarily come from the traditional mainstream media Goliaths. Instead, it will come from the consuming public through social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, online forums, and personal blogs. While consumer use of these types of outlets to voice frustrations may not be anything new (I remember reading rants about companies in chat rooms on AOL as far back as 1997!), they are increasing in popularity, and today the hundreds of social media outlets provide customers with an abundance of convenient and easy-to-use avenues for sharing their thoughts and frustrations with millions of fellow consumers.
Recent statistics indicate that there are more than 400 million active users on Facebook, (with more than 50 percent checking in every day), and more than 20 million on micro-blogging outlet Twitter. And let’s not forget about the thousands of readily accessible blogs and forums. Indeed, the avenues are open for business and people are exploring those routes.
Two years ago I was watching the evening news when a story aired about a woman whose bank had increased her credit card interest rate. The customer used her laptop and webcam to record a nearly five-minute long rant about how a major player in the banking industry had increased her rate even though she was a customer in good standing. She then uploaded the video to YouTube. Seemingly overnight the video went viral and within days she was contacted by the bank with offers to reduce the rate. To date that video has over a half-million hits. Clearly she got the bank’s attention.
Last year you may have read the The Wall Street Journal’sarticle about how Swiss food giant Nestlé was getting cyber-bullied over allegations that it purchases palm oil from a company that clears rain forests to make way for palm plantations. The result: Nestlé’s Facebook fan page got doused in negative comments and group membership ballooned to more than 96,000 members, Twitter lit up with less than ideal tweets, and grassroots videos were posted on YouTube. The company has since re-examined its sourcing practices, and invested much time, money, and energy to deal with the social media onslaught.
Clearly, there is power in social media.
The world of debt collections is not exempt. Consumers are already taking their fight online and making their voices heard, even going so far as to upload recorded telephone conversations so that fellow consumers can have a listen. There’s the growing Facebook group, “I Hate Bill Collectors” with over 200 members, and recorded calls on YouTube which have garnered over 30,000 hits. Each day forums fill with rants about the industry and how aggressive collectors run rampant.
Our industry has always been on the lookout for those consumers who bait collectors in an attempt to secure a settlement or initiate a lawsuit, but now social media channels are leaving many companies vulnerable to Cyberspace. For collection agencies that means collectors who behave in a way that is unbecoming of a professional can have their dirty laundry aired in front of a worldwide audience. And, in addition to a possible settlement or lawsuit, the increased exposure can be costly and require considerable energy to clean up.
With no signs of slowing down, the increased popularity should be a warning to all agencies to ensure that training and quality assurance programs are in top shape. If you’re running a bare-bones program, now is a good time to re-examine and overhaul the quality monitoring life-cycle in your shop before it’s too late. While it might not eliminate all worry, a proper quality assurance program can greatly reduce errors, promote compliance, increase collection results, and lead to higher levels of customer and client satisfaction. It sends staff, clients, and consumers the message that your company is interested in doing things right. It means that there will be fewer opportunities for customers to expose and exploit.
The bottom line is this: Today’s collectors have to be compliant, professional, and ethical. Anything else could cause a social media onslaught that your firm wants nothing to do with. It shouldn’t take the fear of exposure to encourage you to enhance—or in some cases implement—your quality assurance program. The program should be implemented because it helps ensure compliance, fosters commitment to client objectives, and can lead to increased collection results.
Question: What are you doing to educate your collectors on how consumers are using social media to fight back against collectors?
