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DEBT COLLECTING Q & A
- #7
By Jim Finucan
© Tiare Publications
Q) Dear Jim – I'm an administrative assistant and I do
bill
collections for our company. Some of the owners who owe us
money act like they are real big shots; they just walk all
over me so I end up
getting flustered, losing my composure and often I don't get
the
money. I've read your book, "Past Due," and gotten
a lot from it, but
sometimes I just can't get through those four steps in the
collection
call before I lose them. What should I do?
Jeanne,
Austin, MN
A) Dear Jeanne –
I have felt the same way at times. Try to develop a
technique called
pacing. Within the first few moments of the call try and get
a feel
for the kind of person you are dealing with. Listen to their
tone of
voice and speed of speech, then try and at least match it or
do it
better than they do if you can. Owners like to direct and
usually
like to deal with their own kind –authoritative, direct,
pulling no
punches. They're not bad people, understand, they just
handle life
differently than most of us. So put yourself into a mode
they will
understand and respect, for example:
"I don't have time to talk to your right now, I'm very
busy."
"Wait a minute, Mr. Jones, I'm busy too, and I resent
the fact I have
to call you to bring to your attention the money you owe us.
Being a
busy man, can you imagine how insulting that is to me?
That opening should get him away from the condescending
attitude he's taken because his company is bigger than
yours, you're a woman or whatever his throttle is stuck on.
Either knock him down or bring
yourself up to his level, and don't listen to the little
voice in
your head that's making you nervous about speaking to people
who
carry authority and power. See them as debtors and nothing
more.
That's really all that should matter to you in these kinds
of
situations. In the long run you'll end up getting respect
from them –
and very likely the money they owe you as well!
(End)
Jim Finucan has more than a dozen years as "top
gun" bill collections
professional. He is the author of "Past Due – A Debt
Collections
Manual." More info at: http://www.tiare.com/pastdue.htm
Note: Earlier articles in this series can be found at
http://www.tiare.com
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