The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success.
Hal Trapp is one of those rare people that you don’t find in a lot of places — he likes both tea and coffee. Brewed beverages aside, Hal is lucky in that his role allows him to play in a lot of different sandboxes, with a lot of different teams. Read on to learn more about Hal, why we should all be jealous of the people he has had the good fortune to work with, and why he is the guy you need when you don’t know how to get started on a project.
Name: Hal Trapp
Current Role/Job Title: AVP – Organizational Initiatives – I lead strategic change initiatives throughout the organization. Where there’s a project that links multiple departments/vendors together, I work with the team to keep things on the rails and pushing forward effectively.
Company: Receivable Solutions LLC
Length of time at current company: Five years
Length of time in industry: 14 years
How did you get your start in the industry?
Referral – I had a friend who took a job as a collector and found a career for themselves in the industry. I was ready for a change and began my career as a third-party collector.
What is your career highlight so far?
It is so difficult to nail down any one thing, but transitioning to my current role has been a dream come true. I am constantly rewarded by seeing our teams succeed through better collaboration and out-of-the-box thinking
When or how are you most productive?
I’m fortunate to work for a company with a high degree of flexibility. Mornings working from home are my productive time for task work, but nothing beats an onsite meeting for those brainstorming discussions!
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Which industry professional do you admire most?
Leslie Bender – I had the pleasure of being a coworker of Leslie’s for a couple of years, and it was a transformative professional education for me. Leslie has such a smooth way of getting others to move away from making easy and comfortable decisions and start making bold, ambitious decisions. She helped me to challenge my own assumptions more frequently and dream bigger.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
I have a knack for taking difficult or complex problems and translating them to a series simple, clear actions.
What do you like most about this industry?
There is so much opportunity here! When I got into collections, the industry was still very “old school” compared to other industries built around communication and analytics. Since that time, so many doors have been opened with technology and non-traditional approaches. There’s always something to consider in how to build your best approach.
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What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
The stigma. There’s a default adversarial relationship between consumer and collector that we as an industry have to spend so much effort to unwind on each communication. As an industry, we’ve made substantial changes to communications in effort to build some comfort and trust with consumers, but the stigma that surrounds what we do means that the unwinding happens one consumer at a time.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Something with my hands. I love taking things apart and putting them back together
Describe a typical work day.
A lot of communication and even more planning for communication. I work hard to make sure that I’m giving others my best effort when asking for their time, whether it is an email, text, call, or video conference. I like to set a clear agenda with enough room for discussion so that I’m not wasting the time of others. Every spare moment in my day is spent following up on larger initiatives and ensuring the path is clear for project members.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Teas and coffee. I’m always searching for my next brew.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
No one can sell “you” better than you can. If you want people to buy into your ideas and plans, you have to be in the forefront. Others can help support you, but no one can do the work for you.
What are you currently reading?
The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
I am a huge believer that a rising tide lifts all boats. I love networking and benchmarking with other companies.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Can I skip this one? 😊
The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success