As someone who believes in networking, I thought I would pass on a few of my thoughts on contracting for services. I have used the services of many people on this board and throughout the industry from coast to coast and border to border and have always tried to maintain a good reputation while doing so.
1. Never allow your personal or professional reputation to be besmirched over matters of money or performance. Ask a fair price for your services and pay a fair price when contracting the services of another agent. Always pay upon the completion of the contract, in cash would be preferable, but if the contracted agent agrees to accept a check, never write a check that can't be cashed immediately. Remember, you are the one who asked for and accepted their help. The reponsibility to pay is yours and not the bonding company, the indemnitor, or any other third party.
2. Never denigrate the services of the person you contracted. You asked for their help. As the agent in charge of the case, you always reserve the reponsibility to terminate their involvement at any time, but you should never bad mouth them, especially if your assignment was completed successfully. They are not there to be the primary agent. They were hired to assist you.
3. Whenever possible, you should give the contracted agent as much advance notice as possible that you will be in their area and might need their assistance. Last minute requests are usually a sign of poor planning and do not speak well of your professional status.
4. Avoid giving yourself titles of little or no meaning. Referring to yourself as an elevated rank or title is considered by many old hands to be an indicator of a wannabe or rookie. If your name alone isn't sufficient to command the repect that you think you deserve, work harder to establish your reputation instead of arbitrairily designationg yourself as a "special" anything, or CEO or any other ridiculous title.
5. Be respectful of local agents when you come into their territory. It is quite possible that they have more knowledge of the local environment than you and will probably be more helpful if you do not come off as a "know it all". When hosting another agent, either by invitation or circumstance, be a generous and gracious host. Buying a cup of coffee or even dinner should be a given, especially if you are imposing on their time. Being gracious will make it less of an imposition and will most likely lead to relationships that just gets stronger with time and experience.
There are probably many other things that I'm leaving out, but hopefully you get the idea. Am I the most liked recovery agent in the business? Maybe, maybe not, but my reputation has never been seriously questioned in the twenty-six years that I have been in the business. I have never signed a contract to recover a skip nor has anyone ever asked me for a contract. Would i refuse to sign one? Probably not, but it has never been an issue. Let us hope that everyone involved has learned from their mistakes and are able to recover from this unpeasant incident.
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Anyways, there are many good folks on this forum and even though I probably won't be in this business much longer I've enjoyed meeting some and conversing on the phone with others. BTW, Jeff, was a huge help to me just a few hours ago!!