Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nick Cherry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience an industry-wide U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

I’ve been working in financial services for close to three decades, and among the most striking changes I’ve seen is how our industry approaches consumers. Several decades prior to my time with Phillips & Cohen Associates (PCA), collections were more of just a numbers game. There was an emphasis on volume and speed, with little concern for how people on the receiving end were experiencing it all. That, in turn, created reputation problems and regulatory scrutiny.

What we have seen is a total turnaround. Today, the most sustainable and effective approaches prioritize fairness, transparency, and compassion. At PCA, we were among the early adopters in recognizing that sensitivity, particularly in matters such as deceased account handling, is not only the right thing to do but also beneficial for clients and consumers. That “U-Turn”, from a transactional to a more empathetic & dignified interaction, has changed the way firms work, and I believe it has improved the entire industry.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I serve as Chief Operating Officer at Phillips & Cohen Associates, and have worked in the financial services sector since 1996. Like many peers, as a child, I did not dream of a career in debt collection, but I was attracted by the constant need for problem-solving combined with the challenge of assembling a team capable of producing meaningful results for clients. It’s a fantastic industry with some outstanding people, and after almost 30 years, it is amazing to still be learning every day and to see such an incredible level of industry innovation continuing. With the advent of AI, the potential for change in our industry reminds me of the emergence of the internet, only we expect AI to go much further, much faster!

At PCA, we specialize in deceased account management and other niche financial recovery services. It’s work that we absolutely need to approach with sensitivity and empathy, as we often engage with families dealing with challenging personal circumstances. We are recognized globally for our technology and our compassionate engagement model, which allows us to combine strong results with fairness, comprehension, and professional courtesy. Our clients are confident that they can trust us not only to protect their reputation, but also to treat consumers with dignity and respect.

What I am most proud of is the culture we have created at PCA. We are a global firm with offices in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, yet we never lost sight of why we do what we do, and the positive impact that we can have on consumers’ lives when we do it right. We work on sensitive issues every day, and our team handles them with empathy and professional decorum. Seeing our team balance sensitivity with generating strong results on behalf of clients is something that makes me feel proud every time.

To potential customers, what’s most important to keep in mind is that we’re not just a service provider, we’re a partner. We protect their brand, we navigate through bewildering regulatory regimes, and we do it by having the consumer experience front and center. That combination of compliance, results, and responsibility is what sets PCA apart.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

One way in which PCA has attracted new clients is through international expansion. It’s a credit to the vision and bravery of our founders, that PCA sought to expand to markets such as the UK, Canada and Australia when it may have been easier, and certainly more financially comfortable to focus efforts domestically. Our sales & operational teams have been able to build very strong national and international relationships of note which has helped power our growth and also reduced the single market dependency which many businesses face.

PCA aims to service the largest financial institutions in our operating markets and this makes the sales cycle very protracted and complex. That’s a cost of doing business and also often works in our favor by creating a higher bar for entry into our markets.

Given the length of the sales & onboarding process however, an equally effective growth strategy has been to offer multiple services to existing clients. We make mistakes as a business, but in general, by performing very well competitively and by offering compliant, innovative, and customer-focused solutions to our clients, we encourage clients to utilize PCA for multiple services.

Our goal is to be the service provider of choice for clients in all of our markets and to constantly give clients a reason to trust us and explore ways to broaden the partnership. As an organization, we have also been happy to put our money where our mouth is. Through our debt-buying arm, Invenio Financial, we have been able to design competitive solutions regardless of whether clients want to outsource or sell a portfolio, and this has enabled us to operate dynamically in the global market.

Any advice for managing a team?

Team management, in this instance, is about communication and trust. People want to know what the broad picture is and how they contribute to it, so I try to be straightforward and consistent in my directions. Just as important, I listen. The brightest ideas usually come from the people directly engaged in the work, and acknowledging that you value someone’s opinion goes a long way.

High morale doesn’t come in a quick fix – it’s developed over time. Reward good work, be fair, deliberately try to catch people doing things right, and invest in people with the tools and training they need. When your people feel supported and valued, they give it their all on a daily basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://phillips-cohen.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-cherry-456ba68?originalSubdomain=uk