The Art of Collecting Debts Through the Telephone

1. The Telephone As A Collection Tool

• Impact and Effectiveness of Telephone Collection
• Limitations of the Method

2. Laying the Groundwork to Make Telephone Collection Effective

• Pre-call Preparation
• Routine vs "Overdue" Calls
• Effective Words to Open the Door
• Effective Methods to Reach the Decision Maker
• Methods to Start a Telephone Conversation
• The Dialogue
• The Tone of the Voice
• Ways of Developing Tact
• Methods in Getting the Commitment to Pay

3. Handling the Problematic Debtors

• The Art of Getting Your Call Through to the Right Person
• Controlling the Situation
• Listening to What Debtors Have to Say
• Language of the Trade
• Negotiating for Payment
• Incentives for Payment

4. Overcoming Objections and Excuses

• "Statement Not Received"
• "Inaccurate Statement"
• "It's in the Mail"
• "Signatories are Away"
• "Goods are Defective"

5. Telephone Collection Workshop

• Planning Your Strategy to Get Results
• Making Routine Calls
• When to Show Debtors You Mean Business
• Using the Language of the Trade
• Practical Session

6. The Telephone Call in Relation to Other Collection Instruments

• Letters and Reminders
• Fax and Telex
• Collection Agency
• Legal Alternative

George Goh

Mr George Goh has more than 20 years of practical experience in the areas of credit management, debt collection and credit insurance. He has worked with various organizations including Concorde Hotel (Formerly known as Le Meridien Hotel) , Transnational Group of Companies, Vikay Industrial and Dun & Bradstreet, to name but a few.

His previous career also includes employment with Credit Information and Debt Collection Agencies who provide credit reports, debt collection services like legal pursuits to recover debts all over the world.

His professional experience in credit management expands even into the area of credit insurance coverage for companies to insure their most valuable current assets – trade receivables.

George has served for 15 years on the Board of Management of the Singapore Association of Credit Management (MSACM). Formerly the Association’s Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer, he is now the Association’s Membership Chairman and an active member of the Council.

A very hands-on, practical trainer, George has conducted numerous credit and collection seminars in the South-east Asian region and has won tremendous respect from past seminar participants for his knowledge and experience on the subject.

"This seminar is highly recommended for people who are involved in debt collection. It has given me confidence to approach companies in a professional manner. I have applied what I learnt from the seminar and it works!"

Pauline Chua
Administration Manager, Newmarket International, Inc

"The seminar is informative. It gave me exposure to credit bureaus that exist in some countries, for instance, in the US. It would be very helpful indeed if we have similar "watchdog" bodies here for specific industries. This would help prevent business bad debts to some extent. The seminar also offers good guidelines on how to handle different types of clients for debt collection. Overall, the seminar is good."

Jimmy Kuah
Asst. Product Marketing Manager, Hsin Semiconductor Pte Ltd

"This seminar is useful. I'm able to apply what was taught in the seminar in my work. It's been really helpful."

Sim Kim Heok
Admin Assistant, Singapore Information Services Pte Ltd

"The seminar provides useful knowledge on legal proceedings to recover debts. We learned the importance of diligent follow-up as it would determine how fast we recover our debts."

Teo Hwee Hwee
Assistant Manager (Credit Control), Ecolab Pte Ltd

Collecting debts is an ESSENTIAL part of any organisation's existence. All personnel who are involved in debt collecting - Accounts Receivables Executives, Internal Audit Executives, Credit Officers / Executives, Sales & Marketing Personnel - must be trained to assess the chance of recovery within the first few minutes into the conversation with the debtor. More importantly, to preserve a good business relationship, they must know by heart the diplomacy, tact and psychological concepts.

Legal action is often the last resort as it is not only costly but also time consuming. It may also not be a good solution if a long-term business relationship is desired.

This is therefore a very practical and highly valuable program that is aimed at imparting skills to help companies minimize bad debts, improve cashflow and profits through the use of a simple collection tool - TELEPHONE.

In just 1 day, our experienced Workshop Leader will GUARANTEE you the results you want!