In the majority of cases, collecting on accounts that have moved beyond one bucket past due means we will be dealing with Customers where there may not be enough money on hand to cure all of their delinquencies. Which means we need to use our superior skills to motivate the customer for us to be their payment of choice.
We have the added complexity of collecting on accounts that may have taken advantage of Covid-19 deferment programs and may require us to not only educate the customer about the need to get back on track, but also use our negotiation skills to understand the customer situation properly so we can provide them our best thinking for a solution.
We have the added complexity of collecting on accounts that may have taken advantage of Covid-19 deferment programs and may require us to not only educate the customer about the need to get back on track, but also use our negotiation skills to understand the customer situation properly so we can provide them our best thinking for a solution.
Make sure we are consistent in asking our 3 diagnostic questions (Can you pay…today? How much can you pay today? When can you pay the remaining…?) – without them we are simply guessing what type of customer we are dealing with and what type of negotiation we need.
There will be a roller coaster of call types from easies that have been sitting on stimulus checks, deferments and perhaps working all this time; to RFDs that will cry out for our empathetic and thoughtful response to help them with solutions that will stick.
As leaders, our job is to help our teams to shine, to demonstrate the investment in their expertise and to drive performance. The best leaders will not be the ones that gloss over development planning as an administrative headache, rather they will give deep thought to what each individual on their team truly needs to shine.
What kind of leader will you be?