COLLECTING Q & A û Issue 19
By Jim Finucan
® Tiare Publications Group
269 words
Q) How to I stay on course during a call? Too often the person I'm
talking to leads me off the path and I find it very hard to bring
things back on subject.
A) A debtor who can divert a collector is pretty skilled. You can be
sure it's a deliberate technique on their part and that they've done
it enough times to have gotten very good at this diversion game. For
a lot of them it's practically second nature.
The answer lies, first, in not letting it go on for very long. Write
down the four parts of a collection call (Open, Facts, Dun, Close)
and keep that in front of you during the call. Put in big letters on
poster board so you can see it easily. You should be able to tell
where you are at any particular moment just by looking at those four
words.
Use transition lines such as, "As I was saying, the balance is $435.
Now, you are employed where?
Just start asking questions û that's how to regain control of the
call. Keep your goal in mind ûto collect the balance in full. When
the debtor digresses, ask a question aimed at revealing what their
intentions are towards the bill, or one that gives you information
about what sort of assets the debtor has. That is information you
will want for use in the Dun part of the call.
Stay the course, and don't let yourself be led around by debtor's
hard luck stories or other excuses. Overcome it. By doing so you
show the debtor that the problem is surmountable.
(End
Jim Finucan is a top gun bill collector whose personally developed
techniques over the past 15 years consistently double debt
collections for those who apply them. Jim "tells all" in his
book "Past Due û A Debt Collection Manual" available at:
www.tiare.com/pastdue.htm
