“Give me my money!”

Few people like to do it, but asking for money forms an integral part of the job for those entrusted with their company’s debt collection.

As with everything in life, there are both effective and ineffective means of approaching this.

But the importance of debt collection goes unquestioned - the very viability of a company depends on it.

So if you would like to improve the effectiveness of someone on your debt collection team, BizTech is offering a course to help you maximize your debt collection approach.

The course covers the following topics:

UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPLES OF DEBT COLLECTION

• Knowing what the real implications of debt are
• Why companies give credit - Understanding company credit and debt
• Understanding the impact of outstanding debt on your company's financial results
• Debt collection as a vital activity
• Setting definite and realistic debt collection targets with your manager
• Using your time effectively: knowing when to pursue and when to give up

MAKING EVERY CALL COUNT

• Planning and preparing for effective debt collection
• How to ensure you are talking with the correct person
• Ask the right questions – avoid arguments and threats
• Listen actively – summarise, clarify and confirm your expectations
• Dealing with excuses - Gain REAL commitment from the client
• Learning how to close calls amicably
• Identifying possible causes of outstanding payments
• Completing debtor reports as an effective debt management tool
• Comparing your debt collection results to your initial objectives
• Using checklists and reports as a management tool
• Ensuring that you are sufficiently prepared before dialing the number
• Understanding professional telephone procedure
• Turning promises into commitments to pay
• Using agreed payment dates and reminders to ensure that the debt is paid
• Follow up procedures – proactive debt collection

MAINTAINING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS

• Maintaining a relationship under difficult conditions
• Being assertive without being aggressive towards the client
• Your attitude towards asking for payment
• Identifying ways in which you can motivate your customers to pay their outstanding debts
• Classifying your debtors to enable a well-targeted approach
• Analyse the potential risk each debtor poses to your company
• Drawing up a collection checklist to facilitate systematic collections

Course outcomes

• Have an understanding of how your role impacts on the company as a whole
• Have the attitude and skills to successfully collect payment of all accounts - large or small
• Be able to maintain professional relationships with all clients
• Implement simple and proven credit control processes in order to reduce the risk of long-term outstanding debt
• Effectively collect outstanding debt without damaging the client relationship
• Understand the importance of credit control and debt collection
• Plan an effective debt collection programme
• Be able to reduce the level of debt held by your company
• Be able to maintain a balance between customer service and recovery management