Effective telephone collection steps

My last week’s column on effective telephone collection elicited couple of emails from readers who asked me to give them more specific procedure on how to create a sort of “script” in doing telephone collection. So today, I am sharing with you some common and most effective steps in doing telephone collection. Below, are eight simple steps of an effective telephone collection call.

First, identify if you have the correct debtor.      It is highly important that the collector confirms that he/ she is speaking to the right person or debtor. Confirm his or her address. Example: “Hello, is this Mr. Juan dela Cruz of 325 F. Ramos Street, Cebu City?”

Second, it is necessary to identify yourself properly and courteously.   Example: “This is Jose Santos of XYZ Company. Use the oral disclosure notice. Example: “I am calling for an overdue account, amounting to P10,000 under invoice no. 1234 dated October 3, 2003 which is now (no. of days) overdue. Or you could also be more direct to the point. Example: I am calling you to collect your overdue account, and so on … Check your office policy on this disclosure. Do not use it when doing skip tracing, due to obvious reason.

Third, always ask for Payment-In-Full (PIF) and work back from there. Make your request courteous but firm. Give the debtor an alternative. “Since your account with us is seriously overdue, will you send us a check for P10,000 to our office this afternoon?”

Fourth, make a strategic or psychological pause.           After giving the debtor a question to answer, wait for the debtor’s response. It is during this portion of the call that the debtor will give you reasons for not being able to pay. This is very critical, the telephone collector must be able to identify and determine if the debtor is “just stalling” or telling a legitimate reason for the delay.

Fifth, if there are objections, determine the problem. Using questions gained during the psychological pause, ask questions to further determine why the debtor hasn’t paid. Listen for clues that will tell you how to get him to do so. A good advice is to have some sort of a “list of excuses and how to handle them”. This list could be taken from personal experience or through a workshop.

Sixth,   create or find the win-win solution.

Work with, not against the debtor. Maintain control of the conversation. Never start or be drawn to any argumentation. These will only worsen your position and strengthen debtors position not to pay. Sometimes, debtors uses this strategy to “test” if they can make the collector “angry and lose control”. Either way it is advantageous to the debtor. Try to work out an arrangement on problem items. As you respond, remember your final goal is payment of the account; not answering each objection the debtor may rise.

Seventh, end it with a firm commitment.

Agree on a method and date of payment(s). Ask debtor to write down. Ask him if he was able to get your name, address, and phone number. Confirm what has been promised to do and when.

 Eight, Update your file.

 Make notes of all debtor conversations and promises. Tell the debtor you are doing this as a company policy.

 For comments, rejoinders and questions on credit & collection, email at [email protected].