Providing Creative Solutions to Common Problems
Golf clubs are an important social institution and a major part of members’ lives and businesses. It could be argued that no other institution in America serves as broad a range of services as your local golf club. In addition to a sports venue, a golf club also serves as a social hub, event venue, and meeting space. You are just as likely to witness a Sweet 16 party, a wedding, or a high-stakes business deal as you are a simple swing of the club. However, golf club dues are often one of the first expenses families cut when financial difficulty arises. People may also try to cancel events to save money, even when a contract has been signed. To properly serve your guests, you still need to collect those outstanding bills. Southwest Recovery Services can help you do that.
Golf clubs are, by definition, inherently social institutions. As such, disputes over money can be difficult to navigate. You know you need to collect your payments, but you also have to preserve your relationship with your members. Even if you can be fairly confident that the member who owes an outstanding debt won’t return, they likely know other members. If dealing with you is unpleasant, they will talk to their friends about it. That kind of gossip can spell disaster for our club.
It may be tempting to delegate collection to administrative employees, but that can also lead to trouble. Lower-level employees may be less aware of the complex social relationships between club members and the need for discretion. Additionally, they may not be familiar with basic debt collection best practices and legal considerations. If they make a mistake out of ignorance, it could damage your ability to collect the debt. Finally, when administrative employees spend time calling members and trying to collect payments, they are spending time on a task that is not part of their job description. This means that there may be important tasks not being completed, which can cause other areas of your business to suffer.
Professional debt collection has many advantages for golf clubs.
Collectors have been trained and have years of experience in debt recovery best practices. There may be different approaches that work better in different industries, and professionals have taken the time to learn those differences and know how to apply the right methods to collect your debt.
We also add a layer of separation between you as the club management and the person who owes the debt. We operate as an extension of your company and do our best to keep the collection process friendly and civil. However, some people will simply never be happy about being contacted by a recovery agent. When you involve an outside agency, they are the ones that receive the force of that member’s dissatisfaction. Your club becomes more of a neutral party.
Professional debt collection may also save you money. Southwest Recovery Services is a contingency debt collection agency, which means you pay us nothing upfront. We get paid when the former member pays their debt. By that time, you may find that our fee is well worth the time and headache you save trying to collect in-house.
Southwest Recovery Services has a discrete, friendly approach to debt collection that is a perfect fit for companies like golf clubs. It is possible to recover the debts you are owed without damaging your reputation. We would love to talk to you about how we can help. Give us a call today!
