It has been a wild and crazy year for sure, and one of the craziest things we have seen is the United States government handing out stimulus checks on multiple occasions to just about everyone across the entire country.
Most people seem to be spending that extra money as fast as they possibly can. Some are doing the right thing and saving it for a rainy day. And there are also plenty of Americans that are planning to use their stimulus money to take care of some outstanding debts hanging over their heads.
If you are someone that is tasked with handling collections for a small business or a commercial debt collection agency, those stimulus checks are a breath of fresh air in what has otherwise been an extremely frustrating year across just about every industry.
To make sure that you are putting forth your best effort to land as much of those stimulus checks as possible from your collection accounts, we put together a list of six quick tips to maximize your effort.
Make the Calls
The first thing that you have to commit to is actually making the calls to your accounts. Anyone who isn’t front-of-mind right now is probably going to be overlooked when consumers start spending their stimulus money, so make sure that you are calling to touch base with your accounts as often as is appropriate in your industry.
Show Empathy
While you are making those calls, be sure to remember that this has been an extremely difficult stretch for just about everyone around the globe. With that in mind, make the effort to empathize with everyone you talk to and always show respect for the fact that this past year might have been even harder on them than what you have experienced.
Stress the Positives
It’s been a difficult year for just about everyone, but that doesn’t mean that you have to dwell on negative news topics with everyone you talk to. Make an effort to keep all of your collection conversations focused on the positive and you will see those good vibes circle back your way over and over again!
Be Firm But Fair and Flexible
It is important to show empathy for the situations consumers might be going through, but it is also important to be firm and hold them to the amounts that they owe and the time frames that they commit to.
But with that in mind, you might want to consider getting flexible and being open to adjusted payment plans to accommodate consumers in difficult situations.
Keep Excellent Notes
With everything going on around the country this past year, it has been easier than ever for just about everyone to completely forget about whatever they might have committed to in the moment.
Because of that, it is more important than ever to be going out of your way to make sure that you are documenting every collection interaction in detail so that nothing falls through the cracks.
Follow Through on Schedule
One of the easiest ways to let things fall through those cracks is to forget to follow up with a collection account on the schedule that you laid out.
Just like everything else on this list, the pandemic has made sticking to your schedule more important than ever, so make sure that you are staying on top of doing exactly what you told the consumer you would do, no matter what that is.
Collecting from consumers has been extremely difficult over the past year, but that does not mean that it has been impossible. On the contrary, thanks to things like big stimulus checks, there have been very profitable windows for smart collectors to take advantage of. And with these six tips as your guide, you could be one of them in the months ahead.
