Chapter 8
The Ins and Outs of Collection Phone Calls
In This Chapter
Setting goals for successful collection calls
Sharpening your phone skills
Dealing with difficult debtors
Getting the results you need on the phone
In the collection business, your accounts receivable aging sheet speaks volumes. It tells you which debtors are ignoring their invoices and shouts out to you, “Get on the phone and tell your debtor that it’s time to pay up!” Why make phone calls to request payment? Because, despite the improvements in technology through media such as fax and e-mail, the telephone call still provides a personal touch, second only to actually knocking on the door and confronting the customer face to face. Also, quite often, it works.
Before you pick up the phone, you need to know the tricks of the trade. You should have all the information on the account at your fingertips and have an established note-taking system to document calls. Although you’ll improve with practice, from your first collection call you should give thought to which telephone techniques work for you, be prepared to handle disputes and complaints, and brace yourself to confront a variety of personality types. This chapter tells you what you need to know.
Strategies for Successful Collections
It’s difficult to say exactly when the transition takes place from customer to debtor. A good rule of thumb is that when an account is 30 days past due and a customer has ignored collection efforts, the customer’s a debtor. You ...
