Roger Weiss once dropped from the ceiling of his office dressed in full combat gear. The president and chief operating officer of CACi understands the stress his 320 employees endure, and he does what he can to break the tension with unexpected silliness every once in awhile.
As debt collectors, some of their pressure comes from flawed public perceptions of being cruel and overdemanding. To combat the false stereotypes, CACi became the first Missouri agency to sign a trade association’s Collector’s Pledge. The agreement promises to treat clients with dignity, respect and understanding — principles that Weiss and Chief Financial Officer Shawn Farris have been enforcing since they bought the company.
“Flip the boat upside-down and start with a clean slate,” says Weiss, whose company reported 2008 revenue of $12.3 million. “Realize change in one area typically catalyzes change in most areas.”
Smart Business spoke with Weiss about battling negative stereotypes and rewriting public perception of your company.
Nip negative perceptions in the bud. The keys to combating negative stereotypes are to realize that they exist [and] realize what they are. Do a self-assessment to see if any truly apply.
You have to step outside yourself. Take a look around at the culture and at the front-line employees and observe: Do I see any of the characteristics of the stereotypes being emulated? I have to do a paradigm shift and look at things from the perspective of a consumer and say, ‘How would this affect me? How would I react to it?’
By wanting to eliminate those negative characteristics, you have to know what you want to replace it with. Identify the perception that you would like to have associated with you; build your practices around the positive perception.
As an example, one of the negative stereotypes is, ‘A debt collector is overdemanding.’ To me, overdemanding means they don’t care about a person’s personal situation or finances. What we coach our collectors to do is use empathy and put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. It helps reduce the characteristic of being overdemanding, and it replaces it with the characteristic of empathy.
You’ve got to take (stereotypes) head on. You have to say, ‘What am I going to do to eliminate this?’ each and every time.
