In The Secrets of Accounts Receivable Collection, you'll learn...
- Strategies for handling the most common—and not-so-common—excuses for delinquent payment
- New telephone techniques for reducing collection time and effort—with increased response!
- Ideas for how you just might avoid collection efforts altogether
- Where to turn when even your best collection efforts are ignored
- And much more!
Are you fed up with slow-pay and no-pay customers? You’re not a bank—in the business of making interest-free loans for 30, 60 or far more days. Learn how to overcome all the barriers and excuses to receiving payment, while making the process of collecting those payments a virtually stress-free experience. This training in both the fundamentals and advanced thinking will show you how to bring together suppliers and buyers in ways that benefit both. Learn up-to-the-minute, payment-producing techniques that will make your job a vital link to your company’s bottom line.
WORKSHOP AGENDA
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Build a collections mindset that thrives on challenges and making connections+
- Understand accounts receivable’s true value to your company
- Attitude analysis … uncovering your view of A/R and your role in the process
- Change your thinking to change your collections success
- Create a “challenge-of-collecting” mindset to replace that “doomed-to-calling-deadbeats” one
- The power of the smile: Tips for using it to set your collections tone
- Collect money—and keep customers: The thought process that helps you do both
- 10 sure-fire steps to building your winning collections attitude
- Lighten up, cheer up, then clean up on your collections through humor
Create accounts receivable success on a foundation of organization+
- Discover what your office says about your collections success
- First one foot, then the other … starting down the path to highly organized collection efforts
- Computer considerations: What to look for in accounts receivable software
- The 5 steps of every successful collection program … and how to prepare for each
- 15 challenges you’ll overcome through better organization
How to handle the most common—and the not-so-common—excuses+
- The 17 most-heard excuses for slow or no payment … and how to handle each
- How to eliminate justifications the first time and every time
- The truth is out there … converting those unbelievable “X-File” excuses into “paid-file” realities
- Listen up! 6 ways to hear the real reasons hidden among the excuses
- Ask key questions to bring out the truth—here’s how
- From out of the blue … tactics for handling those “extra-ordinary” explanations
- Practical strategies for handling irate and abusive accounts
Embrace true communication skills … it’s not all about what you say+
- Understand communication basics to collect more effectively and efficiently
- The 3 styles of communicating … and how to identify yours and those you encounter
- Using listening skills to save long-term, repeat-business relationships
- Power requests: Do’s and don’ts for getting what you want
- Techniques that make one-to-one communication pay off quickly
- How to match your accounts receivable objective with your collection approach
Ring up collection success with tactful telephone techniques+
- The do’s and don’ts of telephone collections
- 9 proven ways to gain more from your telephoning time
- The 4 goals you need to reach every time you dial an outstanding account’s number
- Instant negotiations: What to do when the customer calls you
- The “voice” … and how to develop a send-me-the-money telephone presence
- Power-dialing your way through multiple-account-collection success
Turn a blank page—and your words—into one of your most effective collection allies+
- 8 ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your current accounts receivable letters
- The psychology of effective accounts receivable writing
- Successful rewriting tips to improve your pitch for payment
- Technology plus: Using faxes and e-mail to their maximum effectiveness
- Sample letters that say, “Make payment now!”
- How to guarantee that your carefully crafted collection letters get read
- Write for results … 5 ways to make your missives move money
Motivate, motivate, motivate … yourself and other receivables collectors+
- 8 ways to maintain your accounts receivable collection edge
- Foster undying support among the collection team
- Log on … how to create a success journal of your A/R accomplishments
- A quick way to develop and use your Positive Attitude Action Plan
- Strength building: How to identify your collection attributes and keep them growing
- When you’re the motivator … ways to keep your team and collections up
How to get the most from your available collection hours+
- Just in time: Thinking about the clock and accounts receivable
- Where do all those hours go? How to track your time and analyze its effectiveness
- This is a stickup … how to see what’s robbing you of your valuable collection time each day
- 5 tips for plugging the e-mail time drain
- Accounts receivable priorities … how to set them and stick with them
- Tips for coping with collections deadline pressure
Proactive steps to dramatically limit your collection challenges+
- P.I.A.: How to institute Payment in Advance practices without repelling customers
- The right way to team up with American Express®, VISA® and MasterCard®
- Banking buddies … ways to let financial institutions worry about large collections
- 8 techniques to fast-track your bill with customers
- Screening techniques for better customer credit profiles
Understand the benefits of fully integrated automated collections+
- The basics of fully integrated automated systems and what they mean to you
- Automated goals: 9 ways that truly automated collections can change your business
- Dramatic differences between automated and manual collection cycles
- The 4 common traps to automation … and 5 inefficiencies that will need attention
- How to craft integrated automated collection strategies that work
Never give up—but know where to turn next when all efforts fail+
- Seriously overdue … 3 major options for moving forward
- Commercial collection agencies: When you need them and how to choose them
- The ins and outs of working with an attorney for account resolution
- How to spot—and avoid—collection agency abuse
- How to find, legally seize and liquidate a debtor’s assets
Collections and the law: Know what you can and cannot do legally+
- What the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act means to you and your outstanding accounts
- 6 signs that your “hard-nosed” tactics have become harassment
- They’re bankrupt! Now what … and where to turn
- The 2 key questions to ask yourself before calling your lawyer to seek settlement
- Small-claims court: What qualifies and what to expect if you file
