MOBILE, Ala. -

Verification is more important than skip-tracing. Yes I said it, and I know that many of you may be shocked to discover that I could actually hold anything in higher regard than my much-esteemed art of skip-tracing.

But let’s take a broader view of the landscape — many, many miles of landscape.

An average nationwide assignment is 38 miles one way from your location. You’re typically given multiple addresses to run down due to too much skip-guessing and not enough skip-tracing, or verification.

Multiply the number of addresses that you have to chase down by the sky-rocketing cost of fuel, insurance, labor and a multitude of other incidentals, and you come to realize that the only thing that is not on the rise is profits.

So when faced with the reality of the numbers, simple math tells you that it is not profitable to leave your office unless you have a valid reason, and this is where your front-end verification becomes more important than your back-end skip-tracing.

Profits come from that first night’s recovery. Obviously, the ratio of profit diminishes on an account that has been worked for weeks or months, depending on your contract and area of expertise.

The data that you use for your front-end verification needs to be spot on, and not have you throwing darts in the dark. There are many good data providers in the marketplace to choose from. 

It is no secret that I work for and advocate MasterFiles. It’s not simply a matter of being a part of MasterFiles. I honestly believe in the product and have used it over many years to earn my living.  I have sat in your chair so I understand the challenges you face each day and what you need to make your job easier and make money.

Since I have real-world experience with your situation and your needs, I recently helped our R&D division with a new product that can make the difference in front-end verification with just a simple click of the mouse. 

The name of this product is the “mini profile.” Your time is simply too valuable to dig through page after page of information in order to locate the key pieces needed to move forward with the file.

The “mini profile” provides you with all the addresses reporting to the subject along with any working phones at each location. It also delivers the property records and all details of the most current address reporting to the subject, along with the locations of any other properties he may own. 

The report conveniently includes all neighbors surrounding the most current address, and provides any working phones for those parties as well.

Within seconds of receiving an assignment you will know the age of the address in relation to the subject and who has a working phone at that location. You also have access to a past or present landlord to verify residency or get additional information on the skip or verify if the subject owns the property. You have the name of the subdivision and the relevant characteristics of the property, such as if there is a garage at the location.

Lastly, you get a list of surrounding neighbors to contact all in real time. Now you can make an informed decision as to whether the account needs to be dispatched to the field, and the field agent can take the report with him to do some basic skip-tracing on site, giving you a better chance of a first-day recovery as opposed to just another dry run.

By using the “mini profile” on the front end you will reduce costs and increase profits by having the current information at your fingertips in a concise, reliable report.  Logically this will give you more time on the back end to concentrate on those harder to locate accounts.

If you would like more information on beefing up your front-end verifications, reducing cost and boosting profits, please feel free to subscribe to SkipGuru.com at no charge to you or your staff.

It is my way of paying it forward.

Alex Price is currently national sales and training manager with MasterFiles and has been a trainer to the American Recovery Association and former advisory board member to Time Finance Adjusters and the Society of Certified Recovery Agents. He recently rolled out a skip-tracers national certification program. More details can be found at www.MasterFiles.com or by contacting Price at (251) 366-6779 or alex.price@masterfiles.com.