By Joe Morey
News Editor
LCO Financial Services (FS) Chief Executive Officer Scott Soli gave a report to the LCO Tribal Governing Board (TGB) on Monday, June 8. TGB member and Financial Services Board Chairman Tweed Shuman requested an update from Soli on recent increased financials and Call Center performance improvements. Shuman also noted that we, “The Tribe,” greatly appreciates the continued financial support from FS to the Tribes General Fund, allowing essential services to continue during this Pandemic!
“Our agents have put in a lot of hard work. With increased bonuses and incentives, they’ve been out-collecting our Atlanta Call Center,” Soli noted.
Prior to his arrival at LCO Financial Services in February, Soli explained the LCO Call Center was only receiving collections for clients who were over 90 days past due, the most difficult to collect.
“They gave us what they couldn’t collect, but I changed all that and now we are on equal footing. We are getting overdue accounts from one day to 90 days," Soli noted.
According to Cortney McShane, Call Center Manager, when Soli came on board February 10, he gave the agents an opportunity when he arranged for LCO to do all collections. She said at the same time, Soli also gave the agents an opportunity to get bonuses based on 10% of their net collections.
“With these changes we’ve doubled what we were collecting and we still have nine of our agents out due to Covid,” McShane said. “It’s exciting to think about what we’ll do when we are at full staff again.”
Diane Taylor, a Call Center agent, explained she has been employed at FS for over three years and has never been so excited about her job with the bonuses and incentives.
“We’ll work through our breaks. I work through mine because I want to bring in as much as I can,” Taylor stated. “My bonuses have been really well.”
Taylor said she can make more through her bonuses than her regular wage. Call Center agents start at $14 hourly for first shift and $15 hourly for second shift.
Soli indicated LCO FS is constantly hiring and the Call Center which currently has 37 agents has the space for up to 70 agents. Soli said all but two of those agents are tribal members, but any community member is encouraged to apply.
Attorney Rob Rosette, who represents LCO FS, told the TGB that with the capability of the Call Center revenues will continue to increase to the Tribe, which means more independence.
“The decisions you’ve made over the past couple years has taken a lot of courage and I hope you keep moving in that direction,” Rosette said. “Soli was a huge hire for the Tribe. Continue to spend money internally building your team, fill it in underneath him and you’ll continue to see significantly higher revenue.”
Soli said FS is a very noble cause because every dime made goes back to the community. Soli explained this is the fifth company he has headed and none have excited him as much because the profits benefit an entire community.
“What we do is something not provided by anyone else. Our clients can’t go to a bank for a loan or they don’t have savings,” Soli said. “Banks won’t give them a loan due to credit problems and other issues.”
Soli said currently FS distributes a significant amount per month to the Tribe’s budget. He said as the Call Center agents continue to work as hard as they have been, FS will continue to expand. In addition to the bonuses they receive, Soli said one incentive that has been working really is for each day an employee arrives to work on time, they get a ticket into a monthly drawing. They do two random draws at the end of the month for a prize. This month is a 5-piece outdoor furniture set and a 44-inch fire pit. Past prizes have included a gazebo and a 55-inch TV.
“I love my work since Scott came. I love my work and I enjoy it. It’s changed so much,” explained Diane Taylor.
Human Resources Director, Amber Riedell, said all the employees at FS work well together and understand each other. “We’re like a family here. All the executives’ doors are always open and anyone can come in and talk to us. We all work well as a team and work together to get things done.”
For every eight to ten Call Center agents, there is a Team Leader who works with those agents. Adele White is one of those Team Leaders. She said since she started working at FS in October of 2018, the Call Center has tripled in size from 10 agents to over 35 now. She said it’s a great place to work with full benefits and a great starting pay, bonuses and incentives.
“The more you produce, the more you earn,” White said. “Management has really focused on employees individually. If you have any personal issues, they try to work with you. That’s how it was for me."
White said during the Covid-19 crisis, employees were given time off with pay and those who worked were compensated generously.
“Scott made some changes that have really pushed the agents to make more. We’ve done things that we didn’t even think were possible,” White stated.
Madilyne Duffy, a Call Center agent hired a month ago, said she loves working at FS.
“I like the incentives. If you do well, you get rewarded,” Duffy said. She explained one incentive they call Power Hour. They will randomly announce whoever does the most collections of the next hour will get rewarded.
“I’ve never had a job that has so many rewards and incentives,” Duffy stated.
Pictured here are Lee Harden, Chief Operations Officer and Scott Soli, Chief Executive Officer.