AmSher collects debts with persistence, respect

When it comes to collection agencies, David and Martin Sher are not exactly Moose and Rocco.

In fact, the Sher brothers promote their 20-year-old company, AmSher Receivables Management, as being a "fun" collection agency.

Their advertisements even make jokes about the sometimes unsavory reputation of their profession.

One ad states, "Sometimes when people hear the term 'bill collector,' they instinctively cover their knee caps. What's that all about?"

Another proclaims, "Thugs and goons are just so, like, last century." And a third promises, "No one named Guido, Vito or Big Mo works here."

This kindler, gentler approach to bill collection apparently is working for AmSher.

Revenues have steadily increased over the past six years, from $2.46 million in 2000 to $7.86 million in 2005.

In addition, the number of employees at the company has doubled from 60 to 123 in just the past three years.

The key, David Sher says, is to "treat people with dignity and respect" and understand that most of them sincerely want to pay their debts.

"Every call we make is an unwelcome telephone call," Sher says. "No debtor has ever answered the phone (saying), 'Hot dog, it's the bill collector.' ... We try to use a lot of tact and empathy. We're persistent, but not overbearing."

Going national
The Shers began using this approach while working for their father's retail store, the old Mr. King Furniture. The store's niche was that it would sell to people regardless of the quality of their credit.

It was David and Martin's job to ensure that payment was made.

"We had customers who many other people refused to sell to because their credit quality was not good enough," David Sher says. "We were able to find a way to collect from people who other businesses felt like they couldn't collect from."

"We were dealing with much more difficult credits than most other retail business. So we spent an inordinate amount of time talking to credit collection professionals, reading as many books as we possible could, trying different things to see if we could maximize our recovery."

"After years and years of hands-on experience and a tremendous amount of research, it dawned on us that if we could collect our own receivables that way, then we might do well for others."

So in 1986, the brothers started AmSher. The company serves clients in a wide variety of industries, most notably medical, banking, retail and cellular phones.

The company is licensed to collect debts in all 50 states, and while the majority of AmSher's clients are local businesses, approximately 60 percent of its overall revenue is now derived from national accounts.

"We hired national sales people and particularly targeted that area, trying to expand the number of national clients," Sher says.

The company recently branched into what it calls AmSher Outsourcing.

"That (part of the company) is not about collecting bad debt. It's when clients give us receivables to collect in their name, so we're totally invisible," Sher says. "That's where we're getting a lot of our growth. That's the part of the business I think is going to show the biggest growth in this next year."

AmSher is being recognized nationally. It was chosen by Inc magazine as one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States.

The National Chamber of Commerce and Nations Business selected AmSher as a Blue Chip Enterprise Company.

And AmSher is one of only 30 collection agencies certified by the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

Commitment and loyalty
The brothers also have co-authored two books - "How to Collect Debts and Still Keep Your Customers," and "Championship Collections: How to Squeeze Blood from a Turnip" - and they have spoken at a number of seminars.

Despite all of the company's recent success, AmSher was faced with a serious crises two years ago that could have put it out of business.

On the morning of June 17, 2004, building inspectors unexpectedly informed Sher that the part of the building they were located in was going to have to be evacuated immediately because of fire safety issues.

"Our clients depend on the cash flow we generate and closing down would have put us out of business," Sher says.

Most of AmSher's employees were located on the second floor of the building and the inspectors gave Sher permission to move the operations to the first floor, though that was only a temporary solution.

A new site was found the following afternoon.

So while some employees, working all weekend, ran phone and cable lines to the first floor of the old location and set up picnic tables for their collectors, others began the move to the new location.

"We had employees arrive Monday, after having worked all weekend, who didn't leave until Thursday night. They slept on the floor or on desks," Sher says.

"We had collectors moving furniture and PCs in the middle of the night, IT guys building cubicles and administrative staff lying on the floor of our new location pulling phone cables through cubicles."

Within six days of deciding to move, AmSher was up and running at its new location.

The company now enjoys 16,000 square feet of office space and 200 parking spaces at Beacon Ridge Tower on Beacon Parkway West.

"Our staff was unbelievable. They were willing to do whatever it took to make a successful move," Sher says.

"Not only did they work nonstop, but they were optimistic and supportive. We would have been put out of business if it had not been for the commitment and loyalty of our teammates."

© 2006 Birmingham Business Journal