How To Communicate Confidence When Making Collection Calls For Your Business

Writen by Michelle Dunn

It is essential to communicate confidence when you are speaking to past due customers or debtors. You must stay in control of the call and the only way to do this is by being confident and prepared.

Remember, everything you do represents your company. How you talk, collect money, send out invoices, and how you handle tough situations. Some tips I can share with you on how to appear more confident (even if your not!) when you make collection calls are:

• First impressions, come up with a greeting that says that you are happy, pleasant and confident. When your customer answers the phone and realizes you are calling about a past due invoice, they will not be happy. You must portray confidence, and not a dull boring message. Smile when you talk on the phone, it will be noticeable in your voice.

• Your voice should be loud enough to be heard and portray confidence, not to loud but not to soft. You want your debtor to hear you and understand what you are saying. Sit up straight in your chair and imagine the debtor is sitting across from you.

• Maintain "eye contact" by staying focused on the call. Don't check your email or watch the other people in your office. Stay focused!

• Relax! Sit up straight in your chair, don't play with paper clips or pens on your desk. Use your face, voice and posture to portray your confidence over the phone and in person.

If you put these techniques into effect you will collect more money and have better results from the collection calls you make. No one likes to make or recieve collection calls so take steps to ensure you make your calls in the most effective way the first time so you don't have to continue to make calls to people that you let get in control of the call! Good luck!

In addition to writing and marketing her books, Michelle was a member of The American Collectors Association for 9 years and shares valuable credit & debt information with business owners on her blog at http://www.BizCreditPolicy.com. Michelle is originally from RI and now lives in NH. Visit http://www.michelledunn.com and http://www.credit-and-collections.com for more information.