9 Steps to an Effective Collections Call
I have the distinct privilege and honor of traveling this wonderful country and work with a great many BHPH dealers. Unfortunately, they all seem to have one thing in common. They all struggle with effective collections call. Most have very good collection staffs that are staffed with good people. But for some reason, once they get a customer on the phone, they struggle. The main reason is usually lack of training. They either don’t have the time or simply take the time to work with their staffs on collection call basics.
The first step to an effective collections call is the greeting. I’m old fashioned. I still believe the best way to start a call is still “Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling (Company name)”. Starting a collections call with the word “good” helps lower defenses. It helps assure the customer it was a good idea to have called you. They could have called any one of the creditors that has already called them but they chose to call you so take a quick second and thank for them choosing you instead of them.
The second step to an effective collections call is to identify the customer. The biggest mistake made here is simply asking “Is (Customer’s first name) there”? 9 times out of 10 the answer is no. OK, maybe 10 times out of ten. From now try simply assuming gender specific. In other words, if you are calling a female customer and a female answers, simply say “Hey (Customer’s first name), how are you today?” You have a fifty-fifty shot of being right. Chances are it will be higher than that.
Now if they so that they are not the person you are asking for or if they are of the opposite gender, simply ask “May I please speak with (Customer’s first name)?” Too many time I hear collectors ask if they are there, they are in, or they are available. It is more effective to assume they are all of those because the number you are calling is the best number the customer gave you to reach them.
Step three is simply identifying yourself. Tell them who you and who you are with. There is no big secret here. They have caller ID. Even if you are using a blocked call line, they know it is more than likely a bill collector of some sort.
Which leads to step four which is a strategic pause. As soon as you get out who you are and who you are with, let there be a moment of silence. They will typically start verbally vomiting. They want to get you off the phone as quick as possible so they will start rambling away. I say let them. Let them get it all out. All the while you should be jotting down some notes. I would rather have one 20 minute phone call with a customer to figure out what is really going on than five shorter calls over a week to end up with the same information.
Now comes step five which is requesting payment in full today. Even though they have given reasons why they say they can’t pay, you still need to bring them back to reality with the business at hand. Show a little empathy as in “I’m sorry to hear that” but then it’s time to set your expectations. Simply give them “How are you going to make your payment of $___ today?” This tells them that you are expecting payment in full and