The hardest part about working in collections? The calls themselves. As a first-party collector, you make and receive hundreds of calls a week, but when only 30% of those calls run smoothly, both your conversion rate and confidence levels can suffer. To help ensure each of your debt recovery calls run smoothly, try out a few of these tips.
Plan for your calls in advance.
Having a general understanding of what will be happening on each of your calls will allow you to foster a smooth and positive conversation. Before you begin your call, be sure to know:
- The consumer’s age, marital status, and their state of residence (for compliance and legal reasons)
- Their credit reporting information
- Documented disputes
- Where they stand in their debt collection journey
Take notes during your call.
Nothing is worse than being 10 minutes into a call, and then forgetting what you have already covered. Part of being a good agent includes giving the consumers options, but if you’re repeating options, they’ll begin to lose trust and become irritated. Be sure to take notes throughout the call so that you can easily go back and reference what you’ve talked about. You might even be able to uncover a hidden solution that you wouldn’t have seen without tracking your call.
Don’t forget to show you’re a human, too.
Nobody likes robocalls, which is why there are so many regulations put into effect, and, unfortunately, such a negative reputation behind the nature of the industry. In order to ensure you have a smooth debt recovery call, make sure to immediately establish with the consumer that you’re only human, just like them. Through empathy, thoughtful word choice, and a positive tone, you’ll be collecting in no time. If you have trouble showing genuine empathy and emotion via phone call, put a small mirror on your desk to help simulate a real face-to-face conversation.
Give these tips a try on your next few debt recovery calls, and be sure to let us know how they went!
