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Take Control Of Your Collections Calls

I was delighted to be given the opportunity recently to make a presentation at CCR's first interactive seminar and networking event 'How To Boost Your Profits: Collections in the modern age'.

It was an immediate relief to understand the subject on which I had been asked to speak - Making Successful Telephone Calls in Collections - rather than pretending to celebrate the cleverness of a modern whacky title, the meaning of which was entirely beyond me!

However, once the initial relief had passed, I suddenly panicked at the prospect of becoming the speaker from hell who starts their presentation on time, but continues in a vane that displays nothing but a blatant disregard for the timetable of the day believing, perhaps, their insights or sales pitch to be infinitely more important than anyone else's.

As a result, I was determined to convey my views within the allocated timescale, and it was important that I quickly separated the really key issues from a mountain of debating points, strategic and operational considerations.

My starting point was to define 'the successful collections call' - in my view, that which maximises the chance of the debt being repaid as quickly and as cheaply as possible, within the Law and all regulatory considerations.

I then determined what I believe to be the four pillars which need to be robustly in place in order for such success to be achieved, namely:

• Regulatory awareness
• Image
• Call structure
• Conversation strategy

Tactical excellence

Quite rightly, the regulatory side of debt collection has been very much under focus in recent years, and many articles have been written about the need to comply with, for example, the Data Protection Act and The Office of Fair Trading's Guidance Note on Debt Collection etc.

However, purely within the scope of this article, I am going to put aside the regulatory issues, and concentrate on the general area of tactical excellence within a collections call.

For many of us, our memories of school will have become somewhat clouded over the years, perhaps assisted by a desire to forget (certainly in my case!), or simply due to the passing of time.

Irrespective, however, I think everybody will acknowledge how quickly kids suss out the level of authority and discipline of a new teacher who walks into the classroom for the very first time. They know absolutely nothing about that teacher's qualifications, how long they've been qualified, whether they're teaching their preferred subject, or how well they have kept discipline in the past.

But they decide all of those things within a miniscule timeframe - a matter of seconds - based solely on the image, manner and voice tone of the teacher concerned.

Not surprisingly then, if anyone of us were to walk into a school today, we would see certain kids who run relative riot in the classroom with one teacher, and yet behave as good as gold one hour later, when another teacher is in charge.

Image

Similar to the good disciplinarian, the importance of a debt collector creating an immediate image of firm but polite control on the telephone cannot be underestimated.

The ability to create that image is not about the collector's age, sex or experience level but requires an understanding that 'we are our voice' on the telephone.

Speaking slightly more slowly than we would in social interaction is a great way to exude confidence and convey authority.

I often speak to collectors who are genuinely worried about slowing down and saying less for fear that they will miss a pre-set target on calls per hour, or forget to ask the customer something required for them to pass their call monitoring.

It is the manager's job to allay those fears and push home the fact that speaking slightly more slowly is an important contributory factor towards controlling the call and, paradoxically, shortening the time it takes to complete the call effectively.

Less is most certainly more in the world of debt collection.

How easy it is for a collector's voice to get louder and louder as their attitude to the debtor becomes more negative, or they start to disbelieve the reasons being given for non payment.

Regrettably, however, as soon as the volume of the debt collector increases, so their call control plummets to a level where a satisfactory conclusion to the call is as likely as the debtor selling their dog to pay off our debt.

Call structure

Turning now then to the area of Call Structure - of which I am a tremendous fan - which I believe should never be confused with call scripting, which, with one exception, I detest. Although every call is different, there are three fundamental components of a debt collection call.

Firstly, the introduction - required not only to identify the parties involved, but also to afford the collector the opportunity to gain respect and attention as soon as the call begins.

The main body of the call then follows where everything said by the collector should be designed to generate a controlled response from the debtor (not always the same as agreement to what is being said).

It is also important to deal, motivate and obligate the debtor wherever possible, and adopt assertive 'Account Manager' behaviour rather than robotic non-personalised jargon.

And finally, closing the call needs to be executed in a way which summarises the specifics of the call - in particular, dates - Thursday 14th December rather than 'the next seven days') - amounts, responsibilities, and the consequences of non payment or the benefits of paying on time.

Conversation strategy

Conversation Strategy is also vital:

• Acceptance
• More information
• Polite ultimatum

These three basic strategies can be used in combination with each other, for example, 'more information' followed by 'acceptance' or 'ultimatum', or as stand-alone choices, for example, 'acceptance' straight away where the payment history is good and the debtor has made proactive contact to notify a small delay in payment.

Statement and silence

A 'more information' strategy does not necessarily mean asking the debtors a whole series of questions.

The tactic to make a statement of fact, followed by deliberate silence and effective listening, can be an excellent way of ascertaining a clear picture of circumstances without the collector making dangerous assumptions about the situation, putting words into the debtor's mouth or inadvertently encouraging the debtor to give an answer that they think the collector wants to hear.

Setting the hurdle of expectation high, particularly in early contact, is an effective way to control the call from the start, and the statement and silence technique is an important tool in achieving this.

As a general rule, human beings dislike the feeling of silence and this discomfort can easily entice them into filling the very gap they have powerfully created. In debt recovery terms, collectors need to be encouraged to resist this temptation to optimise the impact of saying nothing at all and putting the ball confidently into the customer's court for reply.

Statements which begin 'I need' are not as commonly included in debt collection conversations as I would like - but such sentences must be delivered calmly and politely to avoid unacceptable and unnecessary aggression.

Questions and negotiation

Questions clearly have their place in debt collection, however, provided there is a good chance of the question moving the conversation forward, unlike many questions which begin 'why' and which often encourage debate about the past or sound aggressive and judgemental.

Questions which help the debtor to take control of the call, for example, 'are you able to make a payment today?' should be avoided. Asking questions one at a time is also key in maximising the chance of an honest reply, and gaining invaluable insight into the debtor's intent and ability to pay - another crucial element of adopting the right conversation strategy.

In my opinion, the decision whether or not to negotiate with a debtor should also be made by the collector as part of the Conversation Strategy.

Used effectively, negotiation is an invaluable tool to support genuine debtors who are trying to recover their financial position.

However, attempting negotiation with someone who has shown minimal intent to pay will result in nothing other than a protracted telephone conversation which wastes valuable time, talent and energy.

Summary

In summary, then, making a successful collections call is about image, rather than just experience; call structure, rather than an over reliance on scripts; and a tailored conversation strategy, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Train and support your collectors in building and maintaining these fundamental pillars of strength, and you will guarantee to optimise your organisation's telephone collections performance.

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