you expect it today. Too many times I hear “Can you make your payment today?” or even worse “How much can you pay today?”. No need to let them off the hook right away.
Step six is verifying some information. At this point you have told them what you expect and they have told you what they can or cannot do. Before you move forward with arrangements, make sure you verify some information regarding their account. Address, phone numbers, job numbers, or place employment would be the most common, but don’t be afraid to verify reference information, especially if you have had difficulty reaching them or leaving messages with them. A simple statement like “I’d be happy to see what we can do to help you, but first I need to update some information on your account”. You are simply telling them I’m willing to help you, but first you need to give me some updated information.
Now it’s time for step seven which is the solution. I could (and probably will) do an entire article on how to set more effective arrangements. Only thing I would recommend here is making sure that the solution is in the best interest of the company and the customer. It really needs to make sense for both parties to be effective.
Step eight is to close the call. Now I’m going to ask you to do something that is going to be really hard for most of you. I want you to thank the customer for not only taking time to talk with you about their account, but also to thank them for their business. As I mentioned earlier, they could have not answered the phone, not called in, or called another creditor but they didn’t. They called you or answered your call so show them a little gratitude. Even if they are the biggest pain in the you know what. I assure you it will go a long way. And I promise it will make it a little easier to deal with them in the future.
Last is step nine which is to document everything from the call. That way everyone in your organization knows what you know. So in case you are not there, your fellow employees have all the information necessary to take care of the customer.
Practice these nine steps on every collections call whether it is incoming or outgoing and I can assure you that you will not only collect more money, but not have to work as hard to get it.
By Brent Carmichael featured speaker at the Collections Workshop
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