Marcus Potter is the president of National Asset Recovery, based in Denver, North Carolina. NAR serves clients within a 65-mile radius of their offices in Charlotte and Winston-Salem North Carolina, as well as, Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, South Carolina. Their hallmark is a fully trained team of professional repossession agents and support staff dedicated to continued training and education and improving client outcomes.
Potter has 30 years’ experience in the repossession industry.
He was first exposed to the industry in high school but served in the army after graduation. After his military service, Potter went on to work for the government in different capacities for a few years. While working for the government, he took on a side job repossessing vehicles for another company. He was soon making more money from his side gig than he made from his main job, which inspired him to go out on his own.
He started as a one-man operation, working out of his home with a single truck. In 2006, he saw a need for a new kind of asset recovery service in his area and founded National Asset Recovery. He built his new company around a focus on the needs of his client base to better manage their assets. That focus drove NAR’s internal strategy. To provide the best service possible, Potter committed to providing his team with the best equipment and training, as well as an attention to the latest technologies and trends.
“All of our recovery agents have passed the ARA’s (American Recovery Association) Collateral Recovery Specialist Certification class (CCRS),” Potter said. “They receive months of training and continuing education annually.”
Potter’s daughter Kendra went to work for him about four years ago. After her training period, she started working the camera car, using an LPR (License Plate Recognition) System to scan every plate her cameras could see in a search for vehicles scheduled for recovery. A couple of years later she graduated to a rollback and became a transport driver. About a year ago she moved to the cab of a Jerr-Dan MPL-NGS repossession truck.
Today’s clients often require collateral condition reports and real-time updates on their accounts. To serve that need, NAR trucks are all equipped with laptops and/or tablets, and their field agents have access to the NAR assignment database 24/7. “Our state-of-the-art equipment and techniques allow us to work anytime, anywhere,” says Potter.
Although he started out as a one man, one truck shop, Potter’s company currently has seven office locations and about 55 employees throughout North and South Carolina. National Asset Recovery’s fleet is now mostly Jerr-Dan and includes 16 repossession trucks and four rollbacks. Most were purchased from Atlanta Wrecker Sales, of Atlanta, Georgia and Chesnee, South Carolina.
Potter applies his philosophy of continuing education and personal improvement to himself in his position of owner, as well.
He said, “I got that formal business education to help me better understand and manage the business side of my operation. To be a success in this industry, you need to know more than how to do the work in the field and the garage. You need to understand a P & L and a balance sheet. You need to understand forecasting and planning. If I am going to fulfill my responsibility to my employees and my company, I must have the necessary business skills.”
Today, Potter serves on the board of the American Recovery Association, the primary trade association that represents the asset recovery industry. He works with the ARA to promote professionalism within the industry, and to make the future better for the next generation of asset recovery agents and business owners.