Automating the Cash Collections Process – Workflow Wizards
Hopefully you have first read Part 1 of this series and know about “Mary” and the gremlins called Workflow Wizards. In this blog post we’ll look at how Mary uses her tools to get more done without wasting time.
Today is Wednesday, July 13thand Mary takes a quick look at her Collections Calendar, she notices that there are no high priority calls scheduled. There is a Review for Payment reminder scheduled for ABC Company and there are 125 collections letters due for new “Level 1” clients that have just appeared in Collections for the first time from the Workflow Wizard. Mary quickly checks ABC Company, clicks on the Billing-Payment History icon and notices a payment for $85,000 was received this morning. Mary knows that the Collections software will automatically send a “thank you for your payment” email to the client and there is no further follow up required from her. The Workflow Wizard has automatically updated the status of ABC Company, taking it out of Collections and canceling the remaining activities on the Collections Calendar. In this case the Workflow Wizards automatically remove clients from the collection process, saved all the history and deleted any scheduled follow-up items from the Calendar.
Mary needs to send out 125 highly specific mail-merge collections letters and personalized Reminder Statements. She clicks on her Mail-Merge Workflow Wizard and selects a predefined business rule that states “for all clients/matters where the AR balance is both over $2,500 and
30 days past due” and where the “matter is classified as a Wills and Estate matter.” This business rule will send a Collections letter or personalized Reminder Statement to the collections contact for each client. Mary just clicks “run” and within a few moments the screen
shows that 85 mail merge letters are waiting to be printed, and 40 emails with letter attachments are queued to be automatically sent out. Mary knows that each client file shows which clients get hard-copy letters, which get emails with statements attached and which clients never get letters through the automated Workflow Wizard. She also knows that some clients specify that image copies of the outstanding bills accompany any letter or Reminder Statement which will be automatically generated by the system. Upon completion, the Workflow Wizard logs a note into the client file indicating the collections letter was sent today by Mary Mailing Wizards automatically generate customized mail merge collection letters, reminder statements or emails based upon firm defined business rules.
Mary remembers how difficult all of this use to be.
Before Workflow Wizards Mary wasted time trying to determine who to call, had no set pattern, mistakenly called clients who had just paid and found it difficult to track past collection activity. In addition she had no way to email or send out collection letters. Needless to say, the firm was frustrated too not meeting their collections forecast. Mary now likes her job and is highly motivated to exceed the firm’s expectations. She is proud to run her report each week for the Executive Director showing her collections activities and best of all, the RESULTS.
