Collecting Money Using CRM Principles

(‘Ah Longs’ need not apply)

Overview

 

In the age of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) most senior management claims their organisation is customer-focused.  Sure, their customer service teams, sales teams, and marketing teams may be customer-focused, but how about their bill collectors?  Are they customer-focused, or are they ‘money-focused’?  Do they sound like financial care representatives or more like ‘Ah Longs’.  The goodwill your organisation builds up through its various customer-facing units can be undone by a poor collection contact.  In fact, who else has more regular contact with some of your most important customers?  So, are your collections people properly trained and equipped to do a professional job?  They touch two of your firm’s most important assets:  customers and money.  Who else touches both?  A collector can more deeply impact your customers’ lives than any other employee at your firm. 

 

This talk focuses on how to collect money while still retaining as much of the customer relationship as you can.  There are key words to say, and avoid, to help you collect your money.  We will look at techniques to handle common payment excuses, how to talk with customers, and the 6-Steps of a Collections Call.  Finally, there will be a Q&A about how we can help you collect any money owed to you.

 

 

Content/Objectives

1.        Why do people hate us?

2.        How to get people to love us?  (words to avoid and use)

3.        How to handle payment excuses?

4.        6-Steps of Collection Contact

5.        Q&A:  How to collect money others owe me?

 

 

Administrative Details

Date                         : 25 January 2008 (Friday)

               

Time                         : 6.30pm to 8.00pm

               

Venue                     : Malaysian Institute of Management

                                  Management House

                                  227 Jalan Ampang

                                  50450 Kuala Lumpur

 

Fees                        : MIM Members (Free)

                                  Non-Members (RM45)

Attendance             : Exclusive for Associate Members

                                  and above only. Group members

                                  are advised to nominate senior

                                  members of the organizations to

                                  this talk.

 

Facilitator

Steven Francis Coyle – MMIM, is a Certified Credit Executive from the National Association of Credit Management (USA).  He has an MBA from the U.S. and a Masters in Education from Universiti Malaya.  His new book, “Debt Collections:  Stir-Fried or Deep-Fried?  Asian & Western Strategies to collect more money, reduce bad debts, and keep more customers” is available at the bookstores or via MIM at a discount to its members.

 

His bill collection experience was gained in both the telco and banking industries.  He has lived in Malaysia since 1995.  He has collected from individuals and companies in both call centre and banking environments.  He will show you an easy methodology to do a difficult job.  He has collected from all types of people with varying levels of success e.g. from a prostitute (successful), to a Mafioso (unsuccessful), to professional sport stars (mixed success).  He shares his tips and experiences with you on how to collect more money using CRM-based collection techniques.  Although he has spent most of his career in the bill collections field, he has been called “a nice guy.”