Ethics - Dealing with Colleagues

A recent event I experienced has compelled me to address the issue of ethics as they relate to dealing with other commercial debt resolution professionals. I will address other specific ethics related topics in subsequent writings on an ongoing basis.

Last week, I received a call from an individual asking about my Business Plan System for the commercial debt resolution business. After a while, he indicated he was not only interested in the program but was also a business owner with some debt problems. Through the course of our phone conversation I attempted to address his questions as best I could and explained the business and how I operate as plainly as possible. He sounded genuinely interested and asked if I could email a sample of my contract so he might consider retaining my service to resolve his problem debts (and continue to consider my training program).

After I sent him the requested sample contract, I began to suspect something didn't quite feel right about the conversation. A quick Internet search verified my suspicions. This person turned out to be the husband of a fellow debt negotiator in California.

It seems they had come across my firm on-line and were simply fishing around for information about my business. Apparently, the husband thought he could pull off his telephone impression of James Bond and garner some proprietary information about how I conduct my highly successful practice in order to help out his wife's business. Unfortunately, his clumsy attempt at corporate espionage failed and he was "busted" before I released any special information.

Sadly, had he or she simply called and inquired honestly about my practice, I would have been more than happy to share my information.

Unfortunately, this profession is populated with a few unprofessional and dishonest individuals, so it is important for the rest of us to conduct our business at the highest ethical standards with clients, creditor's agents and EACH OTHER. Sharing information with colleagues should not pose a threat since there is already more business available than we can all handle anyway. In the 10 + years I have been in this profession, I have never crossed paths with this other company and I doubt I ever will in the future (certainly not if I can avoid it).

I hope everyone involved in this business will feel free to share ideas, techniques and success stories with our colleagues. An atmosphere of openness can only serve to help our overall industry and business practices. After all, although most of us are fiercely independent, we are all in this together.

Scott F. Soape