A one-day workshop
How to protect your cash flow
In the current economic climate more and more companies are finding that their customers are taking longer to pay – or are not even paying at all. As cash flow is key to the survival of any business, effective debt collection tactics are vital for all businesses.
This workshop concentrates on the telephone skills and techniques you can use to achieve the most positive outcome in any debt collection situation – payment of money owed, as soon as possible, whilst keeping the collection cost as low as possible.
- Understand your debtors and communicate with them accordingly
- Develop a strategy for more effective debt collection
- Make every call count
- Handle difficult calls
- Reduce the amount of time you need to spend on chasing payment
- Increase your collection rates
Expert trainer
Barry Durman has held a variety of line management positions in Customer Services and Credit Control in the past. His clients include many FTSE 250 companies in industries as diverse as Newspapers, Hotels, Builders Merchants, Utilities, Telecommunications, Manufacturing and Retailing where he has developed and implemented Credit Policies, reduced Debtor Days and Bad Debt exposure, improved Customer Relations and modernised working practices.
Session outline
1. The debt collection process
- Understanding the reasons behind payment default
- Looking at the debt situation from the customer’s point of view
- Developing a strategy for effective debt collection
2. Advanced telephone communication skills
- Techniques for speaking to the person responsible for paying the debt
- How to gain the customer’s trust when discussing debt
- Telephone collection skills best practice
- Key phrases that keep the conversation positive and open
3. Questioning and listening skills for gathering information
- Different types of question
- Using high-gain questions to uncover key information
- Active listening that will help you understand what customers are really saying
- Leading with examples and high-impact questions
- Summarising and restating
4. Overcoming objections and excuses
- Identifying objections
- Preparing suitable responses
- Probing objections and ways to overcome them
5. Gaining commitment and ending the call
- Learn how to negotiate an agreement to suit both parties
- Summarising actions for you and the customer
- Ending the call professionally
6. Dealing with difficult and challenging situations
- Understand different personality types
- The correct way to respond to an upset customer
- Ways to calm angry customers (and handle verbal attacks)
7. Action plans
- Course summary and presentation of action plans
