Successful Cash Collection By Telephone

Course details

A practical and interactive one day workshop, the course is designed for all staff involved in credit control and cash collection and need to make outgoing telephone calls to customers to collect cash.

Overall Aim:

The aim of this one day workshop is to help staff achieve a greater appreciation of the importance of making proactive outbound calls and to become more effective in their ability to communicate, persuade and influence customers to pay debts using the telephone. Participants will learn the necessary skills of using the telephone to build confidence deal with objections calmly and effectively negotiate to collect cash whilst maintaining positive customer relations.

Objectives

After completing the workshop, each participant will be able to:

• Develop a systematic and effective approach to cash collection
• Apply highly developed communication skills for improved cash collection and customer relations
• Motivate debtors to pay – understand their motives and what they will gain by paying
• Communicate with clients confidently and professionally in all situations, even under pressure
• Apply the 5 steps of successful collection and think POWER
• Understand why people won’t pay and apply various collection styles on each call
• Begin every day with confidence through proper preparation and planning
• Open each conversation with confidence and a clear objective of what you want to achieve
• Develop the necessary skills of persuasion so customer will want to pay
• Pre-empt customer responses and know how to handle them with the right tone of voice
• Work through each objection, negotiate and get a commitment on every call
• Differentiate between genuine problems and “excuses” and respond quickly and appropriately
• Be assertive when dealing with different personalities and aggressive behaviour
• Methodically follow up every call and commitment given
• Working through call numbers and managing your time
• Keep a record of all calls and know when to prioritise the right action

Workshop content

• The importance of an organised approach and prioritising calls for successful cash collection
• Communicate effectively with customers in a professional and personable manner
• Understand why people won’t pay and know how to deal with each of them
• The AIMS of cash collection – be taken seriously and get on their top payers list
• The importance of planning and preparation before contacting the customer
• Have the positive attitude, create the right impression and make the connection
• Learn to really listen to customers, ask the right questions to understand the situation
• Use the right tone of voice to persuade customers and maintain relations
• Become more assertive and successfully deal with delays and excuses on the telephone
• Recognise typical excuses versus genuine cases
• Handle objections effectively and respond appropriately and quickly to genuine problems
• Guide the customer through each stage of the negotiation to get a commitment
• Manage different types of customers and difficult situations positively and assertively
• The importance of follow up calls for keeping a commitment and collect cash
• Managing your time and working through the call numbers
• Keeping a record of all calls and agreeing a course of action

Training method

Training is based over a one day with group discussions, case studies and feedback based on individual/group needs. Each learner will receive a handout of the slides. Follow up mentoring and further training can be provided with this workshop.