The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success.
One of the primary objectives of these profiles is to give people in this industry the chance to get to know one another a little better. But it’s ultimately up to the participant to determine how much he or she wants to share about themselves. Full credit should go to Jim Beck then, for opening up in a way that not many people do. But that is one of the things that makes Jim special — his willingness to help, even at the expense of his own privacy. Read on to learn more about Jim, his unique answer for why he loves working in this industry, and where he gets his best ideas.
Name: Jim Beck
Job Title: Chief Operating Officer
Company: MRS BPO
Length of Time at Current Company: 3.5 years
Length of Time in Industry: 22 years (that is a bit scary)
How did you get your start in the industry?
I started in collections at First North America National Bank (Circuit City). I started in “bucket 2 collections”. I was fresh out of college and had no idea what I wanted to do, but was offered a job in a call center with a promise of management experience. I met a ton of great people, many of which are still in the industry today. I also learned a lot about managing people and managing a budget. I eventually became an Analyst for Circuit City, which gave me a really great background in analytics.
What is your career highlight so far?
I view my job as excelling at two main things, people and process. I am most proud of the impact that I and organizations for which I have worked, have had on people in this industry. I look around and coworkers or former employees are doing great things within our organization and other organizations. The influence and impact I have had on a few of them is by far the biggest highlight of my career so far. On the process side, I am the most proud of the work that I did during a very tough time in 2008-2009. I was able to lead a team that allowed the organization I worked for to remain profitable and deliver results in one of the most trying times I had seen in the industry. I felt a great sense of responsibility to ensure that the company I worked for remained successful in such a hard time for our industry and the people in it.
When or how are you most productive?
Mornings. I get the most work done by far. I have the best thoughts and ideas when I am running or on my bike. It allows me to block out the noise and think about challenges and how to overcome them.
Which industry professional do you admire most?
I really admire Sumit Bahadur from NCI. He is super smart, has great attention to detail, and is a really good operator.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
I do not think I do anything better than anyone else, but I do a lot of things well. I consider my strengths, reading people and managing processes, but there are plenty of people that do these things better than me.
What do you like most about this industry?
I really like the fact that you get scorecards monthly. I am super competitive and being in an industry that you know if you are winning or losing is one of the best things about this industry.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
It is really hard to answer these questions with just one thing… But, the reputation of the industry does not match the reality or what so many of our hard working Agents and employees do. I really think that our agents are hardworking and are dedicated to finding solutions for our client’s customers.
Describe a typical work day.
Right now it is six hours of Regulation F meetings with clients and our internal team, but typically I get to think through how to improve our delivery and performance for our clients and work with my team to execute on that plan. When I get the time to do this, and analyze some data to improve processes I enjoy my job the most.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
I would probably be a lawyer.
The Getting to Know Series is Sponsored By:
What is your guilty pleasure?
I could give up everything except coffee. I think that the first cup of coffee in the day is my guilty pleasure.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Jason Howerton filled my ear full of advice for 10 formative years in my career. Probably the best advice he gave me was to stop doing keystrokes and start working through people.
What are you currently reading?
“John Adams” by David McCullough
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
I have a kidney disease that impacts many people, called Polycystic Kidney Disease. This impacts 600K people in our country and is the 4th leading cause of kidney failure. There is a 50% chance of passing this disease to your children. I am okay and managing this well, but raising awareness about this disease is important to me. You can find more out at https://pkdcure.org/what-is-pkd/
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
John Watson, from Indebted.
The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success
