BACKGROUNDOrthodontic Practice. 8 branches. Most parents chose to pay monthly. They were sent a monthly coupon book. Of course, many parents forgot or overlooked their payments so Fiona (Receptionist at Head Office) had to chase up any late payers. There were many - every month. An onerous and unpleasant task. Many hours were spent each [...]
This is NOT one of our normal posts (it’s got NOTHING to do with account collections!) but there’s a little used function on the iPhone that lets you listen to anything displayed on your screen. An email, a website, a pdf document even an entire book (iBook, Kindle, etc) - ANYTHING on your screen. Enjoy. [...]
The purpose of this case study (outcome not known at the time of writing) is to show the reasoning behind the steps taken to recover an old account payment. To see the background and what we did first, go to (Part 1). PRINCIPLES USED THIS WEEK 1: All arrangements made were confirmed in writing. 2: [...]
The purpose of this case study (outcome not known at the time of writing) is to show the reasoning behind the steps taken to recover an old account payment. BACKGROUND The account was well overdue. The debtor had been telling the Accounting Firm Partner that he would pay but he hadn’t paid anything. Zilch. It [...]
“I leave message after message and no one ever calls me back!” Sound familiar? Voicemails are great, but not so much when “chasing” slow payers. This will help. GET VOICEMAIL BASICS RIGHT 1 Keep it short. 10 - 20 seconds maximum. 2 Never use the word JUST. Get right in to your message 3 Leave [...]
When phoning an INDIVIDUAL - for the very first time Apply the “Assumption of Innocence”. Don’t actually ask why the account hasn’t been paid at all. Assume it’s on the way, or, at the very least, that it’s been sent! Gwen Iveer - Good Morning. May I speak to Fred Jones please? Mr Jones - [...]
You KNOW the answer. Curiosity. One of the definitions of curiosity (English/Oxford Dictionary) is “a strong desire to know or learn something”. These 6 short blog posts explain how to use this seldom-used aspect of human nature to get paid more promptly … How to use Curiosity to get a debt paid. - Using a [...]
Once upon a time … THE DAY THE COMPLAINT IS SERVED ON THE CLIENT "Boy. Am I in big trouble. I never should've sold those pulleys without checking." NEXT DAY - "I forgot that I'd cancelled my products liability insurance." 2 DAYS LATER ON FIRST MEETING WITH LAWYER - “If I lose this case - [...]
A recorded voice memo attached to an email is almost ALWAYS opened by the recipient. In other words, if all other contact attempts (phone messages, emails, letters, text messages …) have failed to yield a response from the debtor, this one will probably work. It allows the “caller” (who should preferably be a senior person, [...]
* Debtor hasn’t paid. * He’s coming into the office. * You need to discuss his account with him. * It’s badly overdue. * For most of us, this can be difficult. (Raising a sensitive topic like this in a face-to-face situation.) The solution? Don’t YOU raise the topic first! Get HIM to, like this [...]