Collecting Past Due Accounts - The Squirming Debtor

by Jim Finucan

Published on this site: December 21st, 2005 - See more articles from this month

You may press a debtor for payment during your phone call to him and find yourself confronted with a non-commitment attached to a hard luck story designed to break your heart. The debtor may bring up personal problems, which have nothing whatsoever to do with the money he has available or has access to. Or, suddenly, just as you are about to make your move for the balance, the debtor brings up some dissatisfaction he had with the service or product he is
supposed to be paying for.

Once the debtor has begun to squirm it may be too late to get any information from him. That's why it s so important to get the information you need as early in the call as possible. Meet the squirming debtor head on with a barrage of questions directed at the heart of the problem, not at what the debtor wants you to believe but at what you believe is the source of the debtor's resistance.

"Mr. Jones, I'm having trouble with your comment that you just haven't had the time to go to the bank and apply for that loan we talked about. It's been a week now. Honestly, do you have some reservations about taking out a consolidation loan to pay off this bill?"

Make the debtor explain his position. He'll listen to himself and probably not like what he hears. Deep down, he knows he is being weak. Play on his discomfort. Once he can confront this in himself he can, with your help, come around and end up doing the right thing.

Let 15-year collections pro Jim Finucan show you how to double – even triple- the amount of money you collect from your accounts receivable. Check out his unique collections manual "Past Due" shows you how to handle all their excuses. For more information visit: http://www.tiare.com/pastdue.htm