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A lot of people don’t know there is a second part to the saying, “Jack of all trades.” The second part, “and master of none” is meant to illustrate that you can’t be good at everything. Bettina Hagey does a good job of taking that maxim and saying, “hold my beer.” Wearing multiple hats at her job, she leans into both the operations and training side of her role. Read on to learn more about Bettina, where you are likely to find her — happily — at the end of every month, and what she does when she needs to disconnect.
Name: Bettina Hagey
Job Title: Head of Quality and Training
Company: Credit Control Corporation
Length of time at current company: 5 years
Length of time in industry: +20 years
How did you get your start in the industry?
By accident like most everyone else! After 12 years out of the workforce as a stay-at-home mum, I went to the local contact center, aptitude rich, skills poor. Found a fascinating industry all about numbers and playing the angles!
What is your career highlight so far?
I have a couple of interesting highlights that I’m proud of, but I’ll provide a recent one because it illustrates what can be gained from listening to agent feedback. We have a client that doesn’t do a great job at point of service identifying how they participate in the process, so both their billing company and us, have trouble establishing our legitimacy when trying to collect on balances in this day and age of scammers. Our agents very clearly articulated to us that consumers were difficult to manage on calls, often challenging if we were legit and that included disregarding our initial statement of account that announced our participation. Taking that feedback we communicated with our fellow vendor to ask how they were handling it, and using their feedback and their experience, modified our statement to provide detailed information about the client, their part of the process, who we are, and why we are contacting them. Since implementation of the new letter, we’ve seen a 57% increase in the number of customers responding to contact attempts and a 55% increase in the average daily collections on the line of business! Agents have answers!
When or how are you most productive?
Month end, elbows deep in reports and Excel spreadsheets…it’s a great way to be reflective on the performance and determine what could/should have been done when goals are missed.
Which industry professional do you admire most?
Brian Newman, Director of Operations at CCC and long-time mentor, for an endless supply of insight, strategy and teachable moments. He lives and breathes the industry and has a relentless drive for “better’”. He understands our industry’s inherent frailties and great strengths, which allows him to continually create new opportunities for the companies he works for and the people who work for him.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
LOL… I think everyone has always relied on my ability to write presentations, RFPs, quarterly reviews, and tons of training materials over the years.
What do you like most about this industry?
Its variability and changeableness, the need to be able to decipher and take advantage of patterns. The significant opportunities it allows for people who show talent, drive, and commitment.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
Its public reputation. Both in terms of a better understanding and appreciation of the professional nature of the work our agents perform, and of the collection industry in general – we provide an essential financial support to many industries, often silent partners in their ability to stay in business.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Data Analyst or some project or relationship management role. Something where I get to use my analytical and people skills.
Describe a typical work day.
The size of the company allows me a hybrid role that keeps me connected to Operations and allows an effective connection into the quality and training side of the house, so every morning starts with “housekeeping”, reviewing yesterday’s performance, completing my reports and connecting into today’s strategy. Intra-day, I provide updates and support to our collections team to create that daily buzz of excitement and support a competitive landscape. Most days I also have ongoing projects I have to work on – updating training materials and/or SOPs, keeping our agent tools accurate and relevant, evaluating performance and identifying opportunities for development. And then some time each day is spent on the future – what will we need to keep improving, what does the past tell us that can lead us to understand what will happen next, and how can we prepare for it?
What is your guilty pleasure?
Nascar
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Pick the hill you are going to die on.
What are you currently reading?
“Sword of Honour” by Evelyn Waugh
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
That what I love most about this business is the need to be a constant learner. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’m still learning new things every day. And, to succeed in this business, you need to be bold, open to challenges, and brave enough to take calculated leaps forward.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Joann Needleman & Manny Newburger together! – Like Vanity Fairs Proust questionnaire. 😉 Those two together are highly entertaining. Erudite, direct and a lot of fun.
