Ever had difficulty finding someone’s contact information? It can be a serious problem when you need to collect on a past due account, and you can’t find your customer’s phone number. Avoiding the situation could have been possible if it were not for missing contact information, and now it means the customer’s payment is delayed in reaching your bank account even longer.
If you don’t already, as a regular part of your sales transactions, make sure you have relevant contact information for your customer. Addresses, telephone numbers and extension numbers, and emails are all important avenues for communication, not just for marketing but debt collection as well.
Ever had difficulty finding someone’s contact information? It can be a serious problem when you need to collect on a past due account, and you can’t find your customer’s phone number. Avoiding the situation could have been possible if it were not for missing contact information, and now it means the customer’s payment is delayed in reaching your bank account even longer.
If you don’t already, as a regular part of your sales transactions, make sure you have relevant contact information for your customer. Addresses, telephone numbers and extension numbers, and emails are all important avenues for communication, not just for marketing but debt collection as well.
But not only do you need to obtain that initial contact information; you need to maintain it as well so that it is up-to-date. It is a sound trade practice to communicate with your business contacts regularly so your name is high on their priority list and so that you can maintain rapport with them. These practices fit well with the ‘law of attraction.’ Simply put; engaged business relationships promote a mutual desire to fulfill transactions.
Also, like sound marketing materials and sales pitches, being intentional in your communications with customers is important. For example: “Dear Customer” is an impersonal way to address someone in an email, it probably won’t even grab their attention. Instead, always try to be direct, an example could be addressing each bill you send to the decision maker in a business or the person responsible for the account. Example: “Dear Mary, I’m contacting you in regards to…”
The concept of being direct also applies to collection calls. Sometimes when making a phone call you won’t have the luxury of having a particular contact’s name for a business transaction, but one way to still have your phone call heard is by calling up the front desk and requesting that they connect you to Accounts Payable. The front desk person will often provide you with a specific name and a contact number.
When you are making phone calls, keep a pen and notepad nearby and make copious notes about who you are speaking with and what exactly you talked about and any agreements that were made during the call. Without notes the productivity of making a phone call can be lost because you can’t seem to remember if you were speaking to Mary or Maria, or if you agreed on 6.23% or 6.32%. For some reason, as soon as the phone is hung up business distractions creep in, and the details of the phone call can become fuzzy.
Sending follow-up emails after a phone call is another step that takes a little more time, but the dividends can be fantastic. First, you create the benefit that your phone call has documentation tied to it, you have a time and date stamp, and you can repeat your message and agreements back to your customer with the written caveat, “as per our phone call earlier we agreed to…”
Secondly, it gives you a chance to immediately follow up and thank the customer for their time and cooperation. Many professionals forget the importance of continuing to build rapport with a customer even after the phone call is over. By sending an immediate follow-up response, you assure the customer that you are still thinking about them even after the call has ended.
Thirdly, you can always reference your email later when following up with your customer. You will have a record that states what was agreed upon during your phone call with the customer and you will be able to remind them of the exact dates and times they made those agreements. To this end, well-written emails can be an excellent form of documentation.
We hope that you find these suggestions valuable and productive. And when you have debt collection issues and need someone on your side, or maybe you want a better understanding of how you can recover bad debts, know that Burt and Associates is your go-to expert. Please feel free to contact us today through our website, email, or by phone. Our representatives are available to help you today.
