adminIn the meantime, our time is wasted when we could have been working together with the debtor to create a doable payment plan.
Getting debtors’ to share their RFDs will help us save time and collect more money.
Many years ago I collected a cellphone bill on a professional businessman. The bill was only about Z$1 000, and the customer earned a lot of money (at that time).
The customer was a nice fellow who would give me all kinds of “no problems” about paying the bill.
Unfortunately, he was a habitual broken promise customer.
After about the fourth time calling, I finally got the wife. She informed me her husband just got kicked out of the business. They were about to lose their house. Their phone bill was the last thing on their minds to pay.
Of course, I felt sad for the woman and for my chance of getting paid, but I was grateful to have finally received the true RFD.
I expressed appreciation for her telling me the truth, then I advised her to call us if their situation improves, to stop the legal action that I would be starting.
It made no sense continually calling this customer. Legal action made more sense.
I could transfer the account out of my work list and then concentrate on those accounts with a higher chance of paying.
Some collectors are better than others getting RFDs. Robot collectors, those collectors who simply go through their work list asking customers “when?” and “how much?”, will not get many RFDs. But collectors who sound like humans and ask “why?” get more RFDs and stronger promises to pay.
Many collection trainers recommend avoiding asking debtors “why?” because it can open up many long-winded stories.
I agree to a point. If I am calling low or mid balance, early stage accounts on an auto-dialer; I am probably not going to ask a lot of “whys?” But if I’m calling big balance accounts and seriously delinquent accounts, then “why?” will be asked nearly every call.
I would like to share some ways to get debtors talking to get their true RFDs:
(1) Ask why?
Why gets all kinds of information from debtors. I cannot think of a better question to ask debtors. If I feel uncomfortable asking this sensitive question, especially if I don’t know the debtor well, I will say, “What’s the reason?” e.g. “Mr Customer, what’s the reason the account is not getting paid every month?”
(2) Use your authority and/or experience
People are more open to sharing their problems if you sound like an expert. How to do this?
- Speak with confidence — Speak like a man or woman, not like a mouse. No one will share their personal issues if you sound like you have plenty issues yourself.
- Sell your experience — For example “Mr Customer, I am sure I can work with you on a reasonable payment plan. I am a (use a creative job title) and I have been doing this now for X years.” Please do not call yourself a “bill collector” or other lowly title. I like “Account Supervisor”, “Workout Specialist”, “Account Manager”, “Debt Adviser”, or any creative title.
Sell the number of accounts you have handled if you don’t have a lot of experience. New collectors don’t want to say, “Mr Customer, I am sure I can work with you as I have been doing this for three months. Now please share with me your current financial situation.”
Three months of experience does not exactly inspire confidence.
Instead, new collectors can explain the number of accounts they have handled. For example “Mr Customer, I am sure I can work with you as I have helped thousands of customers just like you once they tell me their financial situation.”
Some writers believe that the “tipping point” where we reach expert status in a skill is after 10 000 hours.
In collections, assuming a 50-hour work week that would take over 16 years! I don’t believe it.
Though I do believe we can reach expert status after handling 10 000 accounts. A collector on an auto- dialler with a target of 150 calls a day will hit that number after about three months. In those three months you will hear so many stories that you will be hard-pressed to hear many new ones afterwards.
(3) Use examples to get people to talk
This is also called “peer pressures”. The examples can be either positive or negative.
This technique is useful when the debtor is older than the collector. I try to keep the examples as similar to the debtor as possible.
Let’s say I have a debtor named Mr Zuze. He refuses to pay and wants me to proceed with legal action. Of course, my first response will be to ask why? e.g. “Mr Zuze, why do you want us to proceed with legal action?” If he refuses to explain, then I will try the example technique.
“Mr Zuze, I had another customer, his name was Mr Gonzo. He said the same as you and he owed about the same amount as you.
“Once I explained the consequences of legal action, he decided it was in his best interest to work with me and get his account current.
“We created a payment plan and he was able to get his account current, save money in legal charges, and prevent his name from being blacklisted.
“Now I would like to work with you to enjoy the same as Mr Gonzo.”
The above example was a positive example; you can also use negative examples to explain a customer who didn’t want to work with you and now regrets it. Some collectors think I am lying when I use this technique, but not me.
As a collector, each day I would receive calls from written off accounts calling me to “clean” their credit record, but unfortunately it was too late.
The account was now controlled by an agency or a debt buyer. The customer’s silly refusal to pay that small past due bill haunts them way into the future. It’s simply not worth it.
4) Use the “Good Cop”/“Bad Cop” technique
Of course, you will be the “Good Cop”. The “Bad Cop” will be everyone else.
For example your organisation, your boss, legal department, extra fees, external agents, the recovery collectors, etc.
You are simply trying to help stop this from happening. For example ,“Mr Customer, you need to pay so much because I am trying to help stop (bad cop).”
Another “Good Cop”/“Bad Cop“ example, but with more drama,
“Mr Customer, you need to pay $_____ because I’m trying to help stop your account from going to the …….. (Pause)………. (Voice deepens) debt collection agencies. (Voice rises) By paying $______, you will be able to keep your account with me.”
(5) Name the game
This technique simply asks the debtor “what’s going on?” Let’s say you have a customer who has been a good customer for several months, then suddenly tells you to go to hell and refuses to pay, e.g. “Mr Customer, what’s going on? You have been paying fine for the last three months, now you are telling me to ‘go ahead and sue me’. What’s going on?”
(6) Be seen as a partner
We earlier saw that some people will explain their RFDs if they view you as an authority or expert.
Others will share their RFDs if they view you as a partner. In contrast, if they view you as an enemy, little sharing will happen.
I want the debtors to like me a little as I usually have a better chance of them explaining to me their financial situation. So how can you be seen as a partner?
- Use their name — Plus use your name. Don’t speak to the customer like a robot. Humans share information with other humans, not robots. Oprah Winfrey is a pro at this.
- Show empathy such as saying “sorry” when you hear people’s problems.
- Use the word “help”, e.g. “Mr Customer, I want to help you avoid legal action.” This sounds a whole lot better than, “Mr Customer, if you don’t pay; we will proceed with legal action.”
7) The final tip
This tip involves all the previous ones. When you finally do get debtors to open up and share their RFDs, appreciate it. Whatever you do don’t attack their reasons. Let’s say the debtor has finally admitted that he can’t pay you because he wants to take his family on an expensive vacation.
Don’t say something like, “Are you crazy? How are you going to pay this invoice?”
Instead, bite your tongue and welcome the truth. “Mr Customer, I appreciate you telling me that.” Or, “Mr Customer, I appreciate you sharing that with me.”
I much prefer an ugly truth over a beautiful lie. We need to resist our gut instinct to attack and instead reward customers for telling us their true RFDs.
The words I use to welcome the truth are “appreciate” or “thank you”.
- Not many collectors can get customers to share their true RFDs. If you hear many debtor payment stories, some very strange, while maintaining below average broken promise rates; then it’s likely you are good at getting true RFDs. Congratulations.
Tonderai Gwangwawa is a credit controller. He can be contacted at [email protected] or cell 0773887202/0735935045
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