Ten Collection Do's and Don'ts

1. Don't start your call by apologize for bothering a delinquent customer with your call.
2. Don't ask only about the status of invoices that are over a certain number of days past due.
3. Do keep the sales department informed about collection problems involving their customers.
4. Don’t rely on written correspondence because any form of one way communication is easily ignored.
5. Don’t start a call by asking if the customer has a copy of a past due invoice because doing so provides an excuse for that customer to delay payment even longer.
6. Do use templates to complete routine correspondence quickly.
7. Don’t leave voice mail messages except as a last resort. 
8. Be assertive in your collection calls, but don’t be aggressive, confrontational or belligerent.
9. Always keep the promises or threats you make to a customer.
10. Do allocate a certain amount of time each week to addressing and resolving smaller older balances because the collection success rate drops dramatically once balances become more than 120 days past due.

© 2009 by Michael C. Dennis.  All Rights Reserved.  Michael is the author of several books including “1001 Collection Tools and Tips.”