Adam Parks (00:01.291)
Hello, everybody. Adam Parks here with another episode of Receivables Podcast. Today I'm here with my new friend, Jodie Bedoya with eMatrix, who is joining me from Australia. I know a lot of you have seen successful companies that have developed their technology and processes in Australia and brought them to the US marketplace, including InDebted. And Jodie's looking to do very much the same thing working for the major banksin Australia and now getting ready to enter the US marketplace coming to RMAI for the first time in February. How you doing today, Jodie?
JODIE BEDOYA (00:37.42)
I’m really excited to be here. Thanks Adam. And I'm ready for the RMAI with my flats. Apparently it's a little bit bigger than Australia over there, so a long way to walk I believe. Although we have deserts here.
Adam Parks (00:49.385)
It is quite the distance. The Aria is not a small hotel by any stretch of the imagination. I think someone's giving you good advice. But for anyone who has not been as lucky as me to get to spend a little bit of time with you and see your 5 Minute Pitch here on Receivables Info, could you tell everyone a little bit about yourself and how you got to the seat that you're in today?
JODIE BEDOYA (00:57.911)
Yeah.
JODIE BEDOYA (01:11.042)
Yeah, thanks Adam. Weirdly, I studied Japanese and wanted to be a Japanese interpreter. when I was a bit of a global financial crisis at the time, couldn't get a job. And so I got a job at Toyota Finance and because I spoke a bit of Japanese and my boss one day said to me, I'm going to promote you. And I said, awesome. Doing what? And he said, team leader of repossessions. And I said, how do I do that? And he said, I'll teach you. And he taught me nothing.
So Adam, when my first call went really badly, when the guy said, I want to speak to the manager, I was about 24 years old. And the customer rang in and said, you can't take my car. I said, yeah, we can and hung up. You know, the old days, no privacy, no legislation, say what you want. And even at that time, in that moment, I looked around and went, wow, that was so bad. So bad. So from there, by the way, Toyota does training a lot better these days.
From there, I moved through to different debt collection agencies. I worked in debt purchase agencies and was the CEO of a debt purchase agency here. And in all of my time, training was always a bugbear. I'd listen to really bad conversations on the floor and think, wow, how did we get to that point where an operator is saying that on the floor? So I'd go around to HR and say, why aren't you doing training? And they say, we've got so much stuff turnover. We're just constantly on the inductions.
Adam Parks (02:30.359)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (02:37.646)
So I'd go around to operations and say, well, can't you knock out some training? They said, oh, we haven't got time. We're busy running ops. So I thought, you know what? There's no one specializing in debt collection training only, that niche. And so 12 years ago, I set up eMatrix to plug that hole.
Adam Parks (02:59.031)
Well, and it sounds like from the conversations that we've had, you guys are doing some really interesting things with, I'm gonna call it modernizing the training process using short form video content, which I find to be very exciting, especially as a marketer and just having evaluated and really learned about how the younger generations are absorbing information and how they're actually what I need to do in order to get them not only to absorb it, but to retain it. So could you tell everybody a little bit about eMatrix and what it is that you're doing there?
JODIE BEDOYA (03:27.948)
Yeah. So look, we do no PowerPoint. So death by PowerPoint, I think it's killing businesses. we actually go into companies and we call our program No More Tears because we're finding, we do these interviews with these, we get these young kids in and we interview them and we sell this image of what we're going to, we say, hey, we've got this really innovative organization. We're very modern. We're diverse. We give them all this language.
Adam Parks (03:33.847)
Agreed.
Adam Parks (03:55.509)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (03:56.588)
We then throw them in front of a PowerPoint for maybe a couple of PowerPoints for three days to a week, and then we put them out on the floor. So what we're selling and really what we're offering them, there's a big mismatch. So we go in and we help businesses with their onboarding and their induction through video-based content. And so we work with organizations where we've got a series of, we've got like about 300 videos now, Adam, across...
Adam Parks (04:08.852)
Mm.
Adam Parks (04:22.006)
Wow.
JODIE BEDOYA (04:23.21)
soft skills, communication, negotiation, empathy, leadership, coaching, tons of them.
Adam Parks (04:30.379)
Well, and from our conversation, it doesn't sound like the videos are just like, it's not just you sitting in front of the camera, like you guys are actually putting some real production work into these to create some engaging content that actually captures attention.
JODIE BEDOYA (04:44.812)
Yeah, well, I've got teenage kids, right? So they are my, they're my quality control on my videos. If they look at one and they go boring, I'll say, why is it boring? And my daughter said to me the other day, Mom, that goes for five minutes. As if I'd watch that. I went, wow. So we try to keep them, rule number one, Adam, under three minutes. So to get a subject matter expert, we work with like diversity inclusion people. We've had psychologists, consumer behavioral experts.
Adam Parks (05:06.465)
Fair?
JODIE BEDOYA (05:14.136)
debt specialists, we have to try and take what's out of someone's head in three minutes or less. And it has to be something, every video has to have a practical tip or a light bulb kind of concept for people to walk away going, okay, how can I apply this in my role?
Adam Parks (05:26.869)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (05:34.997)
I like that. it's an insight that they can derive from each one of these videos.
JODIE BEDOYA (05:40.842)
Yes, and one of the ones that we've just done recently is if I can talk about compliance and policy training, right? We have compliance people that write these documents that go for about eight pages that no one reads ever, and then we give people a test. So we worked with a company that was having all these breaches. They said, our breaches have gone through the roof. And I said, well, can I have look at your training?
Adam Parks (06:04.631)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (06:05.166)
I looked at their training and Adam, wanted to stab my eyeballs out after I sat there watching these ridiculous PowerPoints and things that I was trying to do double speed on it because it was so boring to get to the end to do the test. So we've moved policy training into TikTok style videos. So we have a young TikTok, she's 18. She's the new employee asking the questions. We then cut to and we filmed just on our phones, just on our phones. We filmed the compliance manager.
Adam Parks (06:16.01)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (06:28.406)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (06:34.368)
explaining what you can and can't do and then we work with the business to do a little video and that's how we're doing policy training now.
Adam Parks (06:41.559)
I love that idea because it's I'm actually going through the process right now of rolling out new policy in our updates to our policies and procedures for the beginning of 2025. And, you know, we kind of slow roll it right. It's like one policy a week and everybody's going through it they have their opportunity to ask the questions and all that. But how much is really being retained through the process? Right. I how much are they getting out of the documents? And I'm not even doing PowerPoint presentation, right? Like we're providing the documentation and kind of working our way through it.
but I feel like that video, that engagement, especially considering that I'm the oldest person in the organization, I think really starts to tell me that maybe I'm not doing it the right way and I need to start looking at how to deploy some video technology to this same kind of process.
JODIE BEDOYA (07:24.174)
Adam, you raise a really good point. You're saying maybe you're too old, right? I'm over 50. I'm definitely too old. So I tap into the staff themselves. So what we do, we actually work with the client and we get the young people in the room and go, how would you do this on video? So we did one on dress code where people are getting a bit sloppy in their dress code coming back to work. They're starting to wear their sweatpants and things like that. So we did a nightclub scene.
Adam Parks (07:47.639)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (07:53.452)
where the staff were queued up outside the organization and we had a bouncer there. And so whether they were inappropriate attire or not, the bouncer would let them into the workplace or not. And I think we have a little clip to show, don't we?
Adam Parks (08:06.209)
See, that.
Adam Parks (08:10.72)
We do.
JODIE BEDOYA (08:12.652)
So yeah, check this out just to give you a quick snippet of how we did the dress code policy for this organization.
Adam Parks (00:04.696)
So I think the approach that you've taken here with the video is really impressive, right? It's a very different approach to just giving somebody a policy and expecting them to understand it. I think the illustrative points that are made here really drives it home and hits the target marketplace that you're actually trying to speak to, right? That target audience.
JODIE BEDOYA (00:23.408)
Yes, and part, the second part that is the most important, we think it's not about being lazy in your delivery either and just putting a staff member in front of a video to watch. The learning is always in the group discussion. So,
Adam Parks (00:33.772)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (00:39.332)
how our videos work. You can play one video, some of them can generate up to 30 minutes discussion. So we've got one for example on negative language and we have 10 examples of negative language and how you can say it in a more productive way. So things like
Oh, you know, it's because you didn't pay on time, you have to pay a $25 overdue fee. That whole thing is positioned in the negative. So we flip it around and show a more constructive way to say it. We then get everybody in the room in the group to workshop. How does that relate to a similar language that you would use where you're positioning something in the negative that you can flip to a more constructive way of saying? And so the key is the leaders. So
Adam Parks (01:01.72)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (01:23.042)
To me, it's less than just training, that's workshop, right? Like that's actually engaging with the people around you and in your organization to provide them with a practical application of what they're learning as they go.
JODIE BEDOYA (01:35.932)
Yes, so what we do with organizations, there's so much, there's such an assumption that team leaders know what they're doing. And we know they've been over promoted, right? When we're all flat out, went, who could be a team leader? He's pretty good. He's been here a year. He looks all right. He's pretty good on the phones. He can be a team leader. And then we'll just leave them to sink or swim. So one of the things we do is we do train the training with the leaders. Now, our view of the world is
the best training you get is through the team leaders because they're operational, they can contextualize it, they know the business. Learning development, they can't get across a whole organization.
They're spread too thin. So we train the leaders up to roll the content out. We have these little instructor guides and we tell them how to frame it, what questions to ask. And we actually have a train the trainer, which teaches them how to manage prickly staff when you're delivering this training. So you know the negative Nellie, the person that wants to argue with you, the experienced person that's going to show you that better than you. We've got tips for how to deal with all of those. See Australia, US.
Adam Parks (02:42.752)
It reminds me an episode of The Office.
JODIE BEDOYA (02:45.146)
Do you know I was going to use them in, if I could license their stuff, I would use it across all the leadership training.
Adam Parks (02:53.224)
Me too. It's always that storyline, right? But I kind of hear that same kind of challenge, right? Because no matter what office you walk into, you've got a lot of people playing the same roles. And maybe that's just the dynamic of human interaction, but you tend to find these same people no matter where you go.
JODIE BEDOYA (03:11.728)
It's same, same, same, right? Which is why that whole series went worldwide because everyone's worked in an office with idiots like that, right? With that...
Adam Parks (03:21.004)
Yeah, and the bigger the sample, the more likely you are to find all of those characters existing in the same office space.
JODIE BEDOYA (03:28.328)
Yeah, yeah. So a lot of it's around for us, it's about training the leaders because otherwise you don't get the uplift, you don't get consistency across the business. And it's also about keeping people motivated in the workplace. So training to us is equally, sometimes we think maybe we're just workplace motivators because we think that's what our training does.
Adam Parks (03:54.968)
Good goal, right? Motivation is a tough one. And for those of you that have had a chance to review the TransUnion 2024 Debt Collection Industry Report, we talk about the difficulties that American debt collection companies are having in hiring new staff. 88% of organizations reported having trouble hiring, 81% reported having trouble retaining their staff, which increases the dependency on technology, self-service,
JODIE BEDOYA (03:56.348)
Yeah.
Adam Parks (04:23.978)
and BPO services. So I think these opportunities to engage with those people and improve the job opportunity for individuals that want to participate because without the empathy part of it, feel like it's an debt collection has always been viewed as like this churn and burn, you know, call center environment because it is kind of high pressure, it is fast paced and I think it's got a negative connotation there.
But if you start turning some of those negative things into positives and you start driving those conversations and providing an opportunity to not only understand but to deploy empathy, I think it puts organizations in a new position to improve the opportunities to both recruit and retain. And the people that are working there will feel less burn, right? Because they're having a more positive experience on the phone as well. It's not just about that consumer experience. We've got to think about the collectors too.
JODIE BEDOYA (05:20.028)
Yeah, you're spot on, Adam. mean, it's particularly now, it's very much used to be when I was young, it was just if I got a job, great. Now it's about am I aligned to this organization with my social views and all of these sort of things. So it's almost like we've got to sell to the staff member now as the employer, right? Why you should come and work with us. And Adam, two points. One you mentioned about recruiting or attracting good staff.
Adam Parks (05:28.75)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (05:34.606)
Sure.
Adam Parks (05:38.542)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (05:48.87)
Now, if your demographic is fairly young, one of the things that you can do and we've done with an organization here, we did videos at the CEO and we did the dress code one that I spoke about and we did a really cool one we called Street Talk where we got one of their cool staff members. We planted three staff as, you know, just people on the street and our street talker went up and asked them what they thought of debt collectors.
And so we put it out there where people go, baseball bats and you guys are terrible and how do you sleep at night? And our street talker said, well, you look like a tradesman, you know, or a builder. How would you go if you weren't paid? And you know, you'd worked really hard for that money and someone hadn't paid you. And they said, well, yeah, I'd need a debt collector then, wouldn't I? And so we did a street talk video. Now those three videos, we put on their private, on a YouTube channel.
and we send them now to new recruits before they start so that they're a really good sense and a feel for the business before they even come in. they feel like they've met the CEO. I think they want to know the dress code before they start and a little bit of fun on the street talk of debt collectors.
Adam Parks (06:45.014)
Hmm.
Adam Parks (06:54.487)
Yeah.
Adam Parks (06:59.458)
I think that's fantastic. I love that approach to the proactive communication to that target audience. If we're having trouble recruiting and retaining, finding ways to make them feel more comfortable and feel like they've got a better understanding not only of the organization, of the industry and the job itself. I think that's incredibly powerful because it's becoming more and more difficult to get good people. we find ourselves investing in all types of things like
personality assessments and things, which have a place in the hiring process, but what can you do to help those people understand what they should expect in advance of, right? How do you get them motivated?
JODIE BEDOYA (07:31.764)
No.
JODIE BEDOYA (07:37.884)
it can be fun. And if you can like we take ourselves so seriously and we did a job with one of the biggest banks here in Australia and when we originally went to them we did we've got videos on objection handling and we did them in my kitchen and we did it with the spices we've got the seven spices of objection handling so we sprinkle a bit of empathy don't put too much chilli cinnamon we don't want to be sickly sweet either do we so
I come in as the abusive customer and my colleague says, oh, I'm gonna have to sprinkle it with a bit of likeability. Anyway, we use all these spices and we take the stuff through the spices in the kitchen. Now, when the bank's here and we work with HSBC, we work with Toyota, Zakiwundais, all the same brands, right? They said to us, we would never be allowed to do that training, but we're allowed to buy it from you. Because it was too funky and it was too...
Adam Parks (08:10.989)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (08:32.552)
So when we go into businesses, they go, you're the spice lady. We love your spices. Not too much chili, not too much cinnamon. And so it sticks. As language, it sticks in their head. And the one you mentioned on empathy, that's one of our biggest selling courses. People do not understand what empathy means, right? It's not sympathy. It's not I'm sorry. Sorry is a weird one, right?
Adam Parks (08:32.728)
Yep.
Adam Parks (08:44.493)
I love it.
Adam Parks (08:53.646)
agreed.
Adam Parks (08:58.638)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (08:59.506)
I'm collecting and you say, I can't pay because my husband's died. And I say to you, I'm so sorry, or my condolences, which is another weird word, We're socially conditioned to say, I'm sorry. Now I don't know you, it's not my fault. And now it's awkward, because you're going, no, that's all right. But it's not, right? So there's this whole awkward sorry thing that we, and we go down what we call a sympathy rabbit hole. And so then I feel sorry for you.
Adam Parks (09:19.083)
Yeah.
Adam Parks (09:26.318)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (09:28.328)
which then makes it hard for me to ask you for the money. Empathy is very different. Empathy is about acknowledging the customer with reflective listening. So what we train and we have a very set kind of formula for this thing. It's around saying things like, Adam, that sounds really difficult. I can hear that's been challenging for you and your family. My role is to work through the best options to get the debt paid. Are you happy to go through those with me now? So what I've done is I've acknowledged with empathy what you're going through.
Adam Parks (09:30.86)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (09:54.964)
I'm then using what we call a purpose statement or an intent statement. I'm explicitly telling you what my role is, because this is my bridge to take you over to problem solving. And then it's a two way conversation. I'm going to say, that okay with you, Adam? Or how does that sound?
Adam Parks (10:11.886)
I like that one too.
JODIE BEDOYA (10:12.316)
And so, so empathy and we give people different versions of it and we go through every scenario. I've lost my job, my dog's died. You know, I've got a terminal illness. We go through all of those down to, I've been on hold for 30 minutes or you guys suck. We go through all of those because they all need empathy.
Adam Parks (10:32.782)
That's true. Well, you always need some level of engagement back to them and you're dealing with people that are in a high stress situation and are feeling vulnerable. And I think from our conversations, that's been one of those areas in our first discussion at ACA that really prompted me to want to get to know you was the whole statement around the vulnerability training and the focus on an understanding of how that consumer feels.
right now what that consumer is experiencing. And for me, I've been spending more time in the debt relief space, which is the credit counseling and debt settlement and other areas from a relief standpoint and trying to understand that bridge from debt collection and what those two worlds look like. And it's become more clear to me that a lot of these challenges, especially from a communication standpoint, stem from a misunderstanding or mishandling of somebody else's
JODIE BEDOYA (11:14.644)
Mmm
Adam Parks (11:27.896)
feeling of vulnerability. Talk to me a little bit about how you've addressed trying to help the collector understand the point of view of the consumer without becoming ineffective.
JODIE BEDOYA (11:43.924)
Such a good question. So vulnerability, our legislators here in Australia go nuts with this word. They're putting it into everything at the moment. And so they give you a laundry list. Vulnerability is, and they give you this big laundry list of all the problems, disability, mental health, LGBTIQ, incarceration. it's like, you know, the list is this long. For us, we like the Brene Brown definition of to be human is to be vulnerable. We're all vulnerable, right? So it's about
Adam Parks (12:09.912)
Fair.
JODIE BEDOYA (12:13.14)
picking up, it's not is a person vulnerable or aren't they, it's how vulnerable are they and how is that vulnerability impacting them paying this bill or this account and their other debts. Because there's lots of people that are vulnerable that can still pay their bills. So sometimes someone might say, I'm having some mental health issues at the moment. Well, there's lots of people that can still pay their bills.
but there's lots that can't. So it's actually asking the question around, can you talk to me a little bit about how that's impacting you paying this and your other bills? And me asking those open questions to try and understand what's going on. Now, when we train vulnerability, the number one thing we start with is illiteracy. Stupid word, whoever wrote English gave that word illiteracy, right? It's like dyslexia, look how they spelled that word. Anyway.
Adam Parks (12:58.989)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (13:08.742)
And Lisp, who gave Lisp Lisp? Anyway, that's side-tracking Adam, ridiculous the language we speak. But illiteracy. in most OECD countries, so Australia, US, UK, illiteracy is sitting at about 50%. So what that means is it doesn't mean that people can't completely not read and write.
Adam Parks (13:11.97)
I like that.
Adam Parks (13:36.429)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (13:36.488)
What it means is they're below the level of proficiency. probably, I think you and I, Adam, were talking about probably eighth grade is about where probably, yeah. And people say, that's not possible. And I'm saying, but you're living in a corporate bubble. So you're leaving anyone that is in a workplace, in a corporate America is probably can read and write, yeah? So you're sitting in that system. Yeah.
Adam Parks (13:42.638)
Yeah, that's about right.
Adam Parks (13:59.884)
I would say a much higher probability, right? Than other professions, landscaping, right? Like different positions have different requirements.
JODIE BEDOYA (14:04.926)
Correct.
And so we judge others by our own standards. So we are missing these basic triggers that people were struggling to read and write. And there's some really basic things. I'll give you my top couple of tips. Once you hear this, you'll pick it up everywhere. people that are struggling, so I often say in training, how do you know when you're talking to someone that they can't read and write? And they say, they tell us. I said, no, they don't. Maybe one might say to you, I can't read and write. But we have a...
Adam Parks (14:16.397)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (14:34.676)
as humans, we're pretty proud. There's a level of pride behind not being able to read and write, yeah? And sorry, Adam, just to give you context, a lot of the staff we train have these difficulties. Yes, English as a second language is a big piece and, you know, people from low socioeconomic demographics, but the biggest one is cognitive learning difficulties. So we're now talking ADHD, dyslexia, autism, processing disorders. That's where most of it comes from.
Adam Parks (14:39.95)
Sure.
Adam Parks (14:49.005)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (14:56.878)
Fair.
JODIE BEDOYA (15:03.476)
So if you're talking to someone on the phone, some of the giveaways are it's usually tech, they'll say things like, I don't have a printer and that they say in that I don't have a printer and that I'm not good with the internet and that. So they start with that anything where they deflect about tech or it I don't have a phone. Number two, they'll say I haven't got my glasses. That's the number one anyone that says I haven't got my glasses. They'll say, Oh, how has that form to fill in?
Adam Parks (15:03.982)
Makes sense.
Adam Parks (15:16.078)
Mm.
Adam Parks (15:29.569)
interesting.
JODIE BEDOYA (15:33.596)
We miss that. If someone says to you, how hard is that form to fill in? They're actually saying, I struggle to read and write. And so I listened to a call Adam where the guy said, how hard is that form to fill in? And guess what? The collector said, really easy. You just download it from www.adamparks.com and you fill it in. She missed that he said, how hard is that form to fill in? So they'll ask you that. They'll also talk about other people. the wife looks after that. I don't do that.
Adam Parks (15:58.303)
Interesting.
JODIE BEDOYA (16:03.772)
And the fifth thing they do, they get really defensive. I'm not filling in your bullshit government form because I can't read and write. We've just made it more difficult for them.
Adam Parks (16:13.378)
That makes all the sense in the world. I've honestly, I've never considered those points to be it, but now that you say it, I can think about instances. I can think about 100 instances. And a lot of times it's, know, English as a second language type situations. you know, my wife is here from Brazil, her first language is Portuguese. And so like just thinking about all the different interactions with all of the people.
JODIE BEDOYA (16:25.874)
everywhere.
Adam Parks (16:41.378)
when they're struggling with language, right? And it's really interesting to think about it from that perspective and the level of vulnerability that can be overcome through that I mean, you're talking about a significant amount of the population that struggles with ADHD, including myself, and other cognitive disorders, I guess you'd call them, superpowers I like to use, but.
JODIE BEDOYA (17:04.338)
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Parks (17:06.086)
I think everybody's kind of got their own approach to it, but it's very interesting to identify the criteria by which to see that. You're teaching the collectors that are on the phone, like here's the criteria, here's some of the specific action items you may witness or will witness, and here's what they're really trying to say. It's almost like becoming a translator for the conversation happening in front of you in your natural language.
JODIE BEDOYA (17:33.874)
And it's actually then how do you respond to that? And so we actually teach people to normalize it by saying, yeah, these forms can be tricky for people or are these government forms? You know what they're like. I know I'm like the back of my hand. I can give you a hand with that if you want or yeah, these. it's actually downplaying it normalising that they are difficult or they're fiddly or whatever the language is going to be. But one thing we hear and this is the tip I always give people in the room go silent when I train this. I go here's a tip if you have done this.
Adam Parks (17:36.973)
Yeah.
JODIE BEDOYA (18:03.986)
I'd suggest don't do it again. Don't say to a customer, do you have a pen? Write that down. Everyone goes, I say that. I said, look, what you can say to a customer is, did you want to make a note of that? Would you prefer a text message? Did you want an email? What's going to work for you? To say this, when you get a pen, write that down is actually pretty dumb to say that.
Adam Parks (18:20.91)
Provide options.
Adam Parks (18:26.636)
Yeah, I'm probably the only guy I know that walks around with his own pen at all times, but in my little red notebook.
JODIE BEDOYA (18:31.08)
Me too. Same, I'm old school too, Adam. And the one thing I just want to highlight there, anyone that is interested in this topic and what we play in our training, and I played in my small business training as well, is the Richard Branson video on dyslexia and Richard Branson and never assume knowledge in training, Adam, for those that don't know Richard Branson, because I had a couple of young girls go, who's he?
Adam Parks (18:42.552)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (18:58.728)
think does he still own Virgin? don't know. Anyway, I said he's a billionaire, right? He's a billionaire. He does a video on dyslexia and he was running the biggest group of private companies in the UK at the time. He was 50 and he was in a board meeting and his chairman pulled him up afterwards and said, Richard, we were talking about gross profit in that meeting. Did you not understand what that meant? The difference between net and gross profit and he said no. So because he's a famous dyslexic,
Adam Parks (19:00.47)
Yeah, I know who he is. I fly his airline.
Adam Parks (19:07.576)
Mm-hmm.
JODIE BEDOYA (19:27.444)
the way his dyslexia played out, he didn't know the difference between net and gross profit. And so his chairman drew him a picture of the ocean and he said, this is your fish in the sea, that's your gross profit. And it's not till it's in your net and the fish go in the net that it's net profit. And he goes, oh. And he does a video on that Adam. And I play that all the time to highlight, you will never, you can't always pick people that are struggling to read and write.
Adam Parks (19:27.822)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Parks (19:47.214)
That's interesting.
Adam Parks (19:55.298)
That's such a, I'm just, floored, Jodie, honestly. What an interesting conversation. This really, this was eye-opening for me in a lot of ways, right? Thinking through, well, like, I mean, I've spent time on the collection floors and I've spent a lot of time in this industry and I've never really thought through the criteria by which to identify these specific vulnerabilities. I think what is probably most impressive for me is the way that that's all broken down in a way in which you can communicate it to a third.
JODIE BEDOYA (20:04.305)
Christ.
Adam Parks (20:24.462)
because this is something that would take years to develop and understand and to really look through all of these different criteria that are affecting all of these different vulnerable populations. And what does that mean? But being able to take that, distill it down to video content that's easy to digest by the younger generation that's most likely picking up your call center type roles, it feels like you're in the right place at the right time.
I'm disappointed I won't get to see you in person at the RMAI show in a couple of weeks, but with a baby coming, you have to make the right decision sometimes. I will be back on the road for CRS and going forward this year, I'll be at a lot of the shows. So I'm sure we'll have an opportunity to chat. But really, thank you for coming on and having a chat with me today. This was incredible. This was very eye-opening.
JODIE BEDOYA (20:55.88)
Yeah, we will miss you!
JODIE BEDOYA (21:00.244)
That's a bit more exciting.
JODIE BEDOYA (21:15.348)
Excellent. Thanks for having me, Adam, and all the best with the baby.
Adam Parks (21:21.88)
Greatly appreciated. For those of you that are watching, if you have additional questions you'd like to ask Jodie or myself, you can leave those in the comments on LinkedIn and YouTube and we'll be responding to those. Or if you have additional topics you'd like to see us discuss, you can leave those in the comments below as well. And hopefully I can get Jodie to come back at least one more time to help me continue to create great content for a great industry. If you haven't seen it yet, I also highly suggest you go check out Jodie's.
5 Minute Pitch on the Receivables Info channel that I will link down below so that you can hear a little bit more about eMatrix and all the great stuff that Jodie's doing over there. But until next time, everybody, thank you so much for joining us. We really do appreciate your time and attention. Jodie, thank you so much for coming on again. I really do appreciate your insights.
JODIE BEDOYA (22:06.804)
Likewise. Thank you.
Adam Parks (22:08.952)
All right, everyone, we'll see you again soon. Bye, everybody.
