A one-day workshop
This course is designed specifically to help improve your collection rates. The UK’s leading trainer in the subject uses practical examples and case studies to show how to use debt collection techniques that really work.
- Understand debtors and communicate with them effectively
- Improve their telephone and writing skills
- Appreciate the key legal issues
- Track down ‘gone aways’
- Improve their collection rates
Expert trainer
Mike is widely recognised as the UK’s leading trainer in credit control, debt recovery and related legal issues. He has trained well over 45,000 people over the past twenty years. His clients range from utilities suppliers, local authorities and housing associations to banks, solicitors and private sector businesses both large and small, including: BT, Norwich Union, Royal Bank of Scotland, ITN, ICI, Bevan Ashford, RAC, Guernsey Electricity, British Gas, Centrica, DHL, Securicor, Federal Express, Leicester NHS, Manx Telecom, University of Liverpool, Middlesex University, P&O, Parcel Force, Thorn EMI, Philips, Thomson Directories, Standard Life, West Sussex County Council, Wycombe District Council, Zenith Windows, Scottish Power, Trinity Mirror and many, many others.
Session outline
1. Giving credit and collecting debts
- The benefits when you get it right
- The cost of getting it wrong
2. Analysing yourself
- The importance of making the right ‘first impression’
- Assessing your own personal communication style and how this affects your results
- How do you (or might you) look in the debtor’s eyes? What would you like to change?
3. Analysing your debtors
- Types of debtor:
- The delaying debtor your own personal communication style and how this affects your results
- The genuine debtor
- The cashflow or hardship problem debtor
- The ones who never intended to pay
- Spot the most common reasons and excuses for non-payment – and learn how to deal with them
4. Understanding debt recovery and the law
- Data protection issues
- County Court suing enforcement methods
- Human rights and debt recovery
- Retention of title matters
5. Telephone skills for debt recovery
- A 7-point plan which works every time
- Learning by example: listening to and analysing some pre-recorded (or live) collection calls:
- What was done well?
- What should have been done differently?
- Did the collector recognise opportunities?
- Did the collector create opportunities where seemingly none existed?
- Did the collector negotiate well or not at all?
6. Writing skills for debt recovery
- Key phrases to avoid
- What to include
- A sample letter which gets results in over 90% of cases
7. Tracking down the ‘gone aways’
- A unique debtor-tracing plan
- Why spend money on external tracers when you can find those ‘gone away’ debtors for yourself?
8. Course review
- The traps to avoid
- Key personal learning points
