Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.
--Robert C. Gallagher

The inevitability of change is a law of nature, unfortunately the law does not always pinpoint the how, where and when of change. CMA’s Collection Division is lucky to have 250 plus Collection Survey respondents highlighting a path for change.

One of the main things we found through the survey is that we do not communicate enough with our membership base. The lack of communication happens on three levels:

• Communication about accounts assigned to collection
• Communication about CMA Collection Division and its services
• Communication about our successes

To change this we have already instituted Customer Service training for all Collection Division employees. We have educated each employee on how to use anscers.com to place accounts for collection and review account status, so everyone in the department will be able to answer your questions. CMA’s Marketing Department has formed a Guerrilla Marketing group whose task will be to determine unique ways to spread the word about CMA Collection Division and its services.

The survey identified a need to personalize our service and message to clients currently using CMA Collection Division. In response, the Sales Department has designed a Collection Needs Assessment procedure to help define what is most important to our clients. Status reports, service, aggressiveness etc. will be particular to each client depending on their requests.

There was some very good news that came out of the survey. CMA Collection Division fits the profile of  the collection agency that appeals the most, Professional. Suggestions provided to the question “Please tell us any other changes CMA Collection should consider to encourage your use”, are either already in place (and we need to communicate them to you) or can be easily adapted to our service.

We would like to thank the members of the Strategic Planning Committee who designed the survey and collated the results. The Strategic Planning Committee is made up of CMA Members who volunteer their time and effort to better CMA.

If you would like more information about using CMA Collection Division please contact Jeff Walls, Collection Specialist at 714-838-9237.