Adam Parks (00:08)
Hello, everybody. Adam Parks here with another episode of receivables podcast. Today I'm here with one of my favorite guests who has quite honestly the coolest backstory that I've ever heard on a podcast episode, Mr. Brian Bowers with Financial Recovery Services. And today we're going to take a little bit of a different approach. Last time we talked about technology and some other things. But today I want to talk about culture and the growth of culture across an organization. Because starting from two founders and growing an organization into four locations is quite a Herculean task. And it does require the transfer of corporate culture from one location to another and being able to transplant that in order to grow an organization while maintaining the extremely high quality levels required by somebody like Brian. So Brian, thank you so much for coming on and joining me today. I really do appreciate you sharing your insights.
Brian C Bowers (01:06)
So it's a pleasure to meet with you, Adam. I sure enjoy our time together. And you're always asking some thought-provoking questions and interesting subject lines, that's for sure.
Adam Parks (01:17)
Well, I do appreciate it. For anyone who's not seen your last episode, which I will also link below, could you tell everyone a little about yourself and how you got to the seat that you're in today?
Brian C Bowers (01:25)
Sure, I'm just a farm kid from rural southern Minnesota and I went to college. I met my current business partner and co-founder of our business there. I studied accounting, he studied psychology and ultimately we ended up working for a third party debt collection company one of our competitors. At the end of the day, we sat down and had a discussion about why don't we do this ourselves. We drew a couple things up on a napkin and two months later I asked him if he was ready to start because I had gone and done all the research and contacted the state and obtained information on our software and the whole nine yards and I was ready to go. so he thought about it for a moment and about a month later we turned in our resignation and started Financial Recovery Services and that was March 6th of 1996.
Adam Parks (02:25)
Well, you guys have been at this for quite a long time. For anyone who's not familiar with your organization, can you tell everyone a little bit about financial recovery services better known as FRS across the industry?
Brian C Bowers (02:37)
Sure, we're a third party debt collection company and we started with two of us staring at each other in a room. We were fortunate to land a couple decent clients. Currently we operate four call centers. We employ right around 140 people, give or take. We've been as big as 350 and we've been as small as two and everything in between. We currently service products in the financial services sector and that includes credit cards, retail cards, FinTech, installment loans, some student loans. And for that's for originators as well as the debt buyers.
Adam Parks (03:31)
Well, and it's a well known organization across the space. But I got to ask when you start small, when you start with just two people, do you sit down and talk about what the culture is going to be? Or is it more of a natural progression based on who you are as individuals?
Brian C Bowers (03:45)
You know, I think it changes over time. When we first started, it just came naturally. But as you started hiring more and more people, you needed to recognize that it's just not something that you can take for granted that everybody knows the values that you possess or the values that you would like to have the organization possess.
Brian C Bowers (04:09)
And so then we started having some long conversations about what we really needed to inform new employees and what we really wanted our culture to be.
Adam Parks (04:20)
Well, culture is such a intangible in so many instances. And one of the things that I have struggled with as an entrepreneur through the years is identifying that point in my growth process to where I can't be involved in every decision that's being made. And you have to start trusting the people that you've brought into your organization and trained in order to take on some of those roles and some of that decision making have you identified any point specifically within your growth process where you said, all right, now it's time for me to hand over some of these decisions to other people that I've brought into my organization.
Brian C Bowers (04:59)
Sure. You learn quickly that you only have 24 hours in a day. Well, you're right. You don't learn that right away, though. So, you you tend to hold things to the vest pretty close and pretty tight until fatigue sets in. And so you have to make some decisions.
Adam Parks (05:05)
And you can't work all of them you do you require at least an hour of sleep, right?
Brian C Bowers (05:24)
and find people that can do some of those functions better than you can. And the reason they can do it better than you can is they can focus on that and invest more time in it than you can if you're trying to do everything running from task to task to task. And so we've done a good job at hiring people that could do a lot of those tasks better than we could as founders
Adam Parks (05:50)
It's always the objective, but I know it's difficult to let go of some of that control because quality is at the heart of everything that you do. You've made that clear to me through every interaction that we've had through the years. How do you start finding through scale that balance between the quality and the consistency of maintaining that quality over time?
Brian C Bowers (06:04)
You Well, let's face it. When somebody comes on board, whether they've had experience or not, they're learning a new system and they're learning new ways to do things. And in the beginning, you just have to accept the fact that there are going to be mistakes and those mistakes are learning opportunities. I like to celebrate those mistakes because
Brian C Bowers (06:38)
that is the opportunity for that person to grow and for us to grow as a company. And so. You know, I think it's hiring the folks that can do the job, let them make their mistakes and then talk about those mistakes and what they can do to improve upon those mistakes going forward. And they do, they just, you you hire the right people and they grow with the position. And as long as you give them the reins, they'll run with it.
Adam Parks (07:05)
Now as you've amplified yourself to multiple locations, you have to pick up that culture and drop it in another place. Have there been any tips or secrets to your process? Is it about who you send to set that operation up so that the culture is coming there from the mothership, so to speak? Or what does that process look like to be able to do that effectively?
Brian C Bowers (07:27)
You know, I think the biggest thing is standardization. And you mentioned earlier in the interview that you can't duplicate yourself, right? You have to find those people and develop those people. And one of the things that we thought about when we were hiring people and when we were thinking about the culture we wanted to have is how can we communicate that to everyone? And so we thought of a card. And so we have these cards made up that we give to everybody when they're hired. And what these cards do is they indicate what our mission statement is. And our mission is to provide the best quality collection services to our clients through being fair, empathetic, and responsive, respecting and reinforcing fellow employees and recognizing the power of teamwork, striving relentlessly to improve what we do and how we do it, and always earning and being worthy of our clients' employees' trust. And so that's number one.
And all of our training programs begin with that mission statement. So we repeat it, we repeat it, and we repeat it. And all of our managers have lived it, learned it, and executed it. Not only do we have the mission statement, but we also have our core values listed on that card. And our core values indicate our clients are our chief priority and are to be treated with fairness, honesty, consistency and respect. They will act as ambassadors of our organizations to others in the industry. They will help create opportunities for all that work at Financial Recovery Services. Our goals for production. Quality, commitment, and teamwork will help us to exceed client expectations and establish us as the leader in the industry. Our values of trust, integrity, and excellence will be the benchmark that all seek. Our commitment is to be understood as the best. Our expectations for a performance include accuracy, efficiency, timeliness, confidentiality, creativity, and professionalism will solidify our relationships and allow them to flourish. Our employees are our greatest asset. They create the environment that we all work in every day. It is the fellowship of teamwork that is the most vital ingredient in the formula of success. Our community is a part of our environment. Our success is dependent upon organizational and individual involvement to help nurture the communities in which we work and live. So that's why we are always looking at supporting some of the charitable organizations that we've supported in the past. 363.org. Habitat for Humanity, St. Jude, we've looked at Salvation Army, Union Gospel Mission. know, just there's a lot of organizations that we support that provide humanitarian basic needs to people. And that's part of our culture. And when we ask for people to volunteer, it's not difficult to fill out the number of people that we need to volunteer to help.
Adam Parks (11:10)
That's fantastic. And so that's from a piece of content or a card that you're providing to all of the staff so that that basics of your culture is being shared at all times across all people in the organization, regardless of where they are geographically. That's a, it's a really great way versus just putting it on the wall and saying, here's our mission, or here's our values. You're providing them with something that's in front of them all the time that they can refer back to. And that what an amazing way to try and capture that culture and make it transferable across locations.
Brian C Bowers (11:45)
Yeah, and like I said previously, it's not only a card that we give to them, it's covered in the initial interview so that they understand it. And as I mentioned previously, it is delivered to them. It's part of every one of the trainings that they go through. It's repeated and repeated and repeated.
Adam Parks (11:55)
Interesting.
Brian C Bowers (12:11)
so that everyone understands what is expected of them as an employee at the company. You know, the other thing that we have is is on that card. We not only have our mission statement, we have the core values that I covered. We also have FRS views. Which are just one line. Little tidbits of information and there's 12 of them. And the first one is have fun, have fun, have fun.
Adam Parks (12:36)
I like that.
Brian C Bowers (12:37)
The second one is choose to be happy. Choose to seek excellence. Remember that you get to rather than have to. Take the initiative to resolve problems. Take ownership. If you hear it or see it, it's yours. Take care of it. Answer the phone promptly with a smile on your face. It's an opportunity. Seek first to understand, then be understood. Respect and reinforce the power of teamwork. Treat coworkers with respect and concern with an emphasis on coaching and encouragement. Do something for someone else today. It makes you feel good. Take responsibility for cleanliness of the office on the inside and the outside. Be responsible for maintaining it. Promote professionalism through personal appearance, language, and conduct. Think positive. We are what we think about all day long.
Be honest and truthful at all times and always speak positively about Financial Recovery Services in and outside of the office. Be an ambassador. Those are the, know, they're all, they all seem like things that are common sense and that everybody should be thinking that way. But we found through past experience that not everybody has that roadmap. And we learned that providing it to them not only helps them in our business, but we've seen it help people in their life, where they may come to FRS and work for a while and leave. And because they've learned some of these things, many of them have gone on to be leaders at other organizations. And we even have one that's a mayor of one of the suburbs here in the Twin Cities. So, you know, they learn, they embrace, and if they follow it, they find success, whether it's at FRS or after they leave somewhere else.
Adam Parks (14:54)
How long into starting the business and growing did you start formalizing this process? Or like at what point in your growth did you turn this into a reality? Because I love what you're doing here in the clarity of communication, the style of communication, making it repeatable, baking it into the everyday life of the entire team around you. But how far down the path were you when you realized that this was a game changer for you?
Brian C Bowers (15:23)
Yeah, you know, we started in 1996 and it was fairly early on. I'm saying right in the 1998, 1999 era is when this card was formulated and it's been used ever since because it works.
Adam Parks (15:47)
It definitely feels like something that would work because it provides that clarity in communication and it makes people able to consistently experience the same things. Now, it's definitely something that's gonna work at the line level, the collector level, right? Like your frontline folks. How has this penetrated the other layers of management from your executive team to your middle management and so forth? How has that? kind of worked for you across the entire organization.
Brian C Bowers (16:20)
Well, you know, if you consider each of the items, the mission statement, the core values, and the FRS views, it doesn't change. It doesn't change from the frontline people that are in the trenches to the mid-level managers to the executive team. The expectation is the same for all. Now, the job functions may change a little bit and the tasks that they do change a little bit, but the views and the values, that doesn't change and the mission doesn't change. And so if you see it and it's broken, well, it's yours, you know, fix it. Or at the very least, notify someone that can fix it.
And that's really been one of the biggest positive things about it is that many times we'll identify things because a frontline employee or a person in data processing sees something. Now it's not their job to fix it and it's not their job to manage it. But if they see something, they will take it upon themselves to notify the parties that can fix it or direct that it be fixed. And so that's really a very positive thing that we have in our culture where other departments are looking out for other departments.
Adam Parks (17:48)
Has the culture itself changed over time or have you been able to maintain consistency in that same messaging and culture since the very beginning? Because it sounds like you've started early in terms of developing culture and it's been part of your kind of whole world, but has that changed over time or do you find the fundamentals remain the same?
Brian C Bowers (18:10)
fundamentals really remain the same. know, the tools change, you know, the toolbox changes, technology changes, regulations change, everything on the outside changes, but everything on the inside should.
Adam Parks (18:25)
I know you're communicating this culture early on in the process as they're going through training. How much of culture fit can you identify in the hiring process versus, you know, they're in and now I have to kind of teach them that culture. Can you identify some of that fit in the hiring and recruiting process?
Brian C Bowers (18:47)
I wish we could, you know, and that's, that's probably why our industry has, you know, a fairly high turnover rate in the first 90 days. Sometimes, you know, people just take the job and they don't really consider everything that may be required or the culture or anything else. And they get into it and they realize this isn't, this isn't for me. This isn't what I can do.
And so, you know, there really isn't. You try to identify the people that have those values in the interview. It's really hard to make that determination on the front line. We do a better job, I think, for our mid-management and senior leadership because those. Interviews are a little more lengthy and there's more of them. You're not just doing a quick interview and making a quick decision for a hire. For the for the leadership people, it's a committee. It's and there's multiple interviews and interviews are longer. And we also have them take assessments so.
Adam Parks (19:50)
Are there any KPIs that you're using to measure culture and to keep your finger on the pulse of things across geographic locations?
Brian C Bowers (19:59)
No, I would say not necessarily. The KPIs that I look at would center around your typical production. But I also get a HR report that identifies if we have minor and major infractions at any given site. And typically that's pretty low. Same thing with our compliance scores. Our compliance scores are always high. And so I have to believe that a lot of it has to do with being able to instill our values and our beliefs and our mission statement across the board. I think if there are. If you are experiencing a lot of HR issues, are compliance issues, and a lot of KPI issues, you probably really need to take a long look at what your culture is and what your values are. And if you've done a good enough job at creating it and communicating it to the entire organization.
Adam Parks (20:59)
I think that makes a lot of sense. Are there any big lessons that you've learned through the process of growing this organization? Are there any lessons about empowering those people around you that I could take back to my organization?
Brian C Bowers (21:13)
Sure. person that is in a department leadership role at our organization is told one thing when they're hired. And that is, we are going to give you a lot of roles and you can run with that rope or you can tie it around your neck and hang yourself. It is up to you. And so they all realize that I'm not going to be micromanaging them. I am going to expect that they are going to uphold our values. They are going to uphold our mission statement. And
Adam Parks (21:27)
I like that.
Brian C Bowers (21:49)
they can run with it and see as much success as they can get. Or at the end of the day, if they're not, then they probably are not gonna be a good fit for us. They're gonna fail and the end result will not be good.
Adam Parks (22:04)
So Brian, with everything that you've accomplished in transporting and expanding that culture over time, if you were starting again tomorrow from the beginning, is there anything that you would do differently in that path? Or do you feel like the program that you've put together from day one is the solution for an organization that you're involved in?
Brian C Bowers (22:25)
You know, I've made a lot of mistakes building this organization. One of those mistakes is not this. I would start it exactly the way that we did it. We would build our mission statement. We would build our core values and We would build our FRS beliefs in exactly the same manner. You know, we've done a really good job at that and building the expectations that everybody has not only of themselves, but of everybody else around them. That I wouldn't change. I wouldn't change that at all and having those values and beliefs and mission statement helps you accomplish a lot of other things, including managing through change. You know, we've opened offices, we've closed offices, we opened an office in Manila, we closed an office in Manila, we've opened an office in Jamaica, we've had multiple offices in the metro Minneapolis-St. Paul area, we've had multiple locations in our Wisconsin site. And, you know, all of those require everybody working together. You're ultimately gonna find issues, you're gonna find challenges, but as long as everybody's rolling in the same direction and at the same time, you can get through and overcome all kinds of challenges.
Adam Parks (23:50)
Brian, I think that's some really good insights. I do appreciate you coming on and sharing all of these insights here with me today because as somebody who runs an organization, I think especially a remote organization culture is something that's really hard to transport to multiple locations and to keep everybody rowing in the same direction and on the same page over an extended period of time. I know I found a few nuggets in here that I need to take back to my organization and try and do some things to improve or to enhance the culture that we've developed. But I really do appreciate all of these insights.
Brian C Bowers (24:27)
Well, thank you, Adam. It's always a pleasure talking with you.
Adam Parks (24:29)
For those of you that are watching, you have additional questions you'd like to ask Brian or myself, you can leave those in the comments here 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 I bet you I can get Brian back next year at least one more time to help me continue to create great content for a great industry. But until next time, Brian, thank you so much for the insights today. I really do appreciate you.
Brian C Bowers (24:53)
Thank you for having me, Adam. It's always a pleasure to get together with you. Thank you very much.
Adam Parks (24:58)
And thank you everybody for watching. We'll see y'all again soon. Bye.
