Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting

The
Humorous Approach
to Debt Collecting
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The Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting © 2009
An Introduction to the Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting
By Charlotte Kemp
Niche Training and Development
Chapter 1 – The next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humour in it...............................2
Chapter 2 - I don't like money very much, but it calms my nerves..........................................................3
Chapter 3 – A joke is a very serious thing...............................................................................................4
Chapter 4 – Six million Reasons for Failure ..........................................................................................5
Chapter 5 – Congratulations! Your account has had a birthday. It is now 30 days old.........................7
Chapter 6 - Aesop’s Scales......................................................................................................................9
Chapter 7 - Beware the Dark Side ........................................................................................................10
Chapter 8 – Humour is the instinct for taking pain playfully...............................................................11
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The Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting © 2009
Chapter 1 – The next best thing to solving a problem is finding some
humour in it
I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humour in it. - Frank Howard Clark
Not funny?
No, debt is not funny. Being in debt is not funny, and being owed a debt that someone cannot repay you is also not funny.
However, we can make the pain worse or we can find a way to alleviate this emotional stress, and hopefully get paid at the
same time too.
My Story
I will share with you my story, as it is my reason for preparing the material that is presented in the training. It is a typical South
African small business story – I purchased a franchise store with plans to have it run by my parents, while I carried on with my
own work. Unfortunately my mother suffered a series of heart attacks which severely affected our ability to run the business
properly. We didn’t have additional business insurances and key personnel and naturally at some point, creditors began calling
me.
The whole cash flow / debt collecting scenario became clear to me in the week when I received two calls from two totally
different individuals. Both companies drew their payments from our bank account by debit order.
The first person who phoned was from a company that provided us with various products and to the best of
my knowledge; all their debit orders were honoured and up to date. The credit lady called, in a bad mood,
demanding payment for an invoice that was more than 60 days overdue. She could not explain to me why they
had not collected this amount via debit order along with all their normal payments. She could not tell me what it was
for, when it was delivered or provided. She could only tell me that I – I personally, was morally responsible for a
specific amount of money that was more than 60 days overdue.
Besides the fact that their debit order should have picked up the amount, besides the fact that the first call I was getting was
after 60 days, besides the fact that she could not tell me anything about the item that was unpaid, she phoned in a bad mood!
And she made me feel awful; she made me feel terrible about this unpaid account. She made me vow to cancel all contracts
with this company as soon as it was viable to do so!
The second call came the same week and what a difference! In this case, I am sorry to admit, the debit order had actually
bounced. The man who phoned first asked if it was a good time to talk, he asked after me, and after my mother’s health. He
asked about the business. I admitted that we had gone far enough and had made the difficult decision to sell and he expressed
his regret because he knew it was a good business opportunity and given time we could turn it around. But I explained how
emotionally and psychologically we just could not continue.
He then offered advice about how to position the business for sale, how to explain things to a business broker, what not to say
to a business broker, which brokers to approach first. At this point, I had my pen out and was taking notes!
And then he came to the unpaid debit order. He reminded me of the implications of non payment, and how important it was to
other aspects of my business to ensure that this particular contract not be violated, and then – wait for it – he asked me how he
could help me! He asked me how he could help me! I still had to pay, but how could he help me!
Wow!
I confirmed that money would be coming into our account in the next few days from our own clients, and then I could pay this
account. He asked if four days would be enough, and I said it would, so he confirmed in writing, copying relevant people so
that we were all knew where we stood.
It was a comparison of those phone calls, how they treated me, how I felt, and most particularly how I responded to
them and who I paid first, that caused me to pay attention to the approach we take when we follow up on unpaid
bills.
Where do you want to be in the queue?
Yes we know that our money does belong to us, and should be paid, but the question is not
whether or not it is owed to us, but who gets paid first. When a business struggles with cash
flow and has to make the decision who to pay next, which of his creditors is going to be this
month’s lucky draw? Will it the person who makes us feel like a decent, responsible human
being in temporary trouble, or the person who makes us feel slightly dirty and ashamed?
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Chapter 2 - I don't like money very much, but it calms my nerves
Business or charity?
The purpose of business is to offer a service or product in order to earn a profit. The purpose of a charity is to meet a human
need out of compassion, without making a profit.
I don't like money very much, but it calms my nerves. - Joe Louis
In his book, The Cash Flow Quadrant, Robert Kiyosaki explains the approach his two dads had towards money and wealth.
His poor dad thought that it was a sin to love money too much and his rich dad thought it was irresponsible not to use available
resources to generate a business profit.
Isn’t it strange that although we all readily admit that business is about profit, we seem to find it difficult to admit that we
personally desire to make money? Somehow personal income and personal wealth has become a taboo. Businesses are
expected to be socially, morally and ecologically responsible and these duties carry far more weight than economic or profit
considerations. In fact should a profit value be raised and weighed against a ‘green’ value, or the improved access given to a
‘challenged’ member of society, the profit proponent would be labelled greedy, materialistic, and rapacious!
However our economy and our businesses run on a profit. It is the responsible way to run business and the motivating factor
that gets entrepreneurs to create new enterprises and arrange resources to generate new
opportunities for business, job creation and growth. Of course businesses need to be
responsible, but sometimes we become so politically correct that we are afraid to admit what
we are in business for. Businesses are for profit, not charity.
Whenever we fail to invoice someone for legitimate services that we have performed for them,
or write off unpaid invoices because we know that a client is in financial trouble, we create
more trouble for ourselves and we perpetuate the cycle of financial constraint.
This means that businesses must be paid and must collect unpaid debts.
Client / Friends
In a conversation with an accountant one day, she confessed that she had great difficulty collecting invoices from her own
clients. Many of them had been clients for years. “They have become my friends during this time, and we visit each other’s
homes and send each other birthday cards. Then when it comes time to invoice them for the work I have done, they get
offended that I would charge them, my friends, for the work. How do I make them see the value of the work I have put in, and
how much it costs me, without offending them?”
Seth Godin is just one of the proponents of relationship marketing, the move away from random advertising and spam, and
towards developing the sorts of relationships with clients where they would become friends, would gladly offer referrals and
would friend you on Facebook too. This is exactly the kind of relationship that our accountant enjoys with her clients, but
somehow the clients have decided that the friendship entitles them to advantages of her service which are completely
inappropriate. If she submitted tax returns for free, for every one of her client / friends, how would she ever pay her own bond
or car repayments.
For her own financial wellbeing, for financial responsibility, she needs to develop a way to clearly state her financial
expectations to all her client / friends, so that they can appreciate her position without feeling slighted or embarrassed. Why?
Because embarrassed clients don’t come back!
All things being equal, people will do business with a friend; all things being
unequal, people will still do business with a friend. - Mark McCormack
So in this new play ground where the rules are different, where we must be responsible more than motivated by profit, and
where friendship is so highly rated, how are we supposed to collect on unpaid debts?
This is where one has develop the techniques, possibly humorous but definitely clear and unambiguous, that lets your clients
and friends know how you expect to be paid. If you can communicate your situation to them, while recognizing their needs in
business, there should be enough mutual respect to facilitate accounts being paid. You can get paid, keep your client / friends
and get referrals for new clients too, if you can just follow up on those unpaid accounts with a little less discord and a little more
humour!
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Chapter 3 – A joke is a very serious thing
Is humour appropriate in the work place?
A joke is a very serious thing. - Winston Churchill
The benefits of laughter go way beyond temporary merriment. Scientific studies done by medical researchers have shown that
the physiological effects of laughter on the body, extend to the muscles, the heart and blood flow, affect our biochemical states,
not to mention our mental and emotional conditions.
The iconic story of Norman Cousins demonstrates how humour and emotional states can actually alter one’s physiological state
and change the course of an illness. Cousins suffered from a debilitating and painful illness and eventually checked himself out
of hospital and into a hotel where he put himself on a regimen of comedy videos. After a dose of a half hour of hearty laughter,
he would be pain free for about two hours. After a few months, he walked out of the hotel and went on to live a productive life.
Anthony Robbins talks of something similar when he explains how a small change in the position of your shoulders and
adjusting your posture can change your ability to deal with adversarial situations. Straightening up, shoulders back, chin up
and we feel like we can take on the world!
Our posture – physically and our position emotionally will determine how we deal with situations
of stress and conflict. And choosing to inject humour into our lives makes it so much easier
to cope with the anxieties of the modern workplace and the insecurities of economy.
Each of us has examples in our lives where laughter or humour helped us see things from a
different perspective or gave us the space to feel something different. We cannot feel anxious, angry,
depressed and fearful at the same as we are laughing.
Scott Friedman of Funnyscott.com, a business consultant and speaker, teaches businesses how to use humour in
the work place to diffuse tension. One of his favourite examples is when an annoyed customer comes in and says, "Okay who
is the idiot in charge here?" Scott recommends the response: "I'm head idiot. What can I do for you?"
Now in no way do I intend to belittle anyone’s problems or the consequences of recent financial conditions on individual lives.
We can argue whether or not we are in a recession or a depression, or still in it or coming out of it, but all of that is pure
semantics for the man who has just lost his job. He is one hundred percent in a depression and the general state of the
economy as a whole is of little concern to him.
But none of us, should we continue to focus our attention on our concerns or miseries, will ever move beyond them. And no
business with a staff that are focused on problems and failure and loss, will ever be able to reach targets for growth, will ever
be able to sell themselves out of a slump or will ever be able to collect arrears from clients in such a way as to build even
stronger and more profitable relationships.
So let’s lighten up. We have to be at work anyway, so why not find some way to enjoy it.
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Chapter 4 – Six million Reasons for Failure
Recognizing Client’s situations
Don’t treat your clients like children! But just for a moment, think of how children react when caught doing something wrong.
What are the responses one gets from a child?

It wasn’t me!

He started it!

I didn’t know!

The dog ate it!

I don’t see it!

I’m too busy! (Yes, even from kids)

It just happened!

I forgot!

He did it!

I didn’t hear you!

She didn’t do it!

My (imaginary) friend did it!
Or worse yet, because you really don’t know how to respond:

Yes, so what’s your point?

And there was a 4 year old who answered “It wasn’t me. My people did it.”
And when they get older and wiser they may catch you off guard. “You’re right. I’m wrong. I’m sorry.” Gosh. You are so
thrown by that admission of guilt that you walk away without taking any corrective action.
Well substitute ‘computer’ for ‘dog’, and imaginary employee for imaginary friend, and you can start to catalogue excuses that
people will come up with for not paying their accounts.
It is important to understand the difference between the excuses and the reasons. They will tell you the excuses and these
are designed to either elicit your sympathy or to buy themselves some time. They won’t tell you the reasons, because the
reasons are too revealing of their own potential shortcomings.
Reasons could include

The company is in trouble – seriously.

The company has short term cash flow problem.

The company has a staff problem such as the illness of key personnel who know where and how to process accounts,
and other people don’t know how to step in properly. This is indicative of poor planning, probably in more areas that
just personnel.

Poor administration could mean that invoices, statements and cash flow is disrupted, lost, duplicated or simply
confused and they don’t know what they have or have not paid, or cannot lay their hands on an account. This is
especially prevalent in smaller operations.

The company is not happy with the product or service purchased from you and have not been able to communicate
that to you.

There is a power struggle going on in the company, or a change of management and somehow your company has
become a bargaining chip in the hands of one or other of the players.

They don’t intend to pay you at all, for some other unknown reason.
"There are 6,000,000 reasons for failure, but not a single excuse." - Rudyard Kipling.
Your delicate task when collecting from clients is to try and determine the reason behind their excuses. If your client is in a
temporary cash flow situation and you treat them to the full extent of your legal protection and rights, you may get your money
but you will most certainly lose your client.
On the other hand, if you keep extending deadlines for payments to a company that is going broke,
then when they are eventually liquidated, you are going to be just one of the many in the queue,
waiting to be paid out a few cents on the Rand. Remember that your purpose is to find a way to get
to the head of the payment queue in all instances.
Another small test to see where your client stands is how they take a joke. As we have pointed out,
this kind of humour must always be directed at the issue and never at the person. But if even in lighthearted conversation, the client cannot be civil or responds aggressively or is overly defensively, then
it indicates that they are feeling threatened. If you have not threatened them in any way, then it must
surely be their guilt that they expressing.
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A man entered a bar, bought a glass of beer and then immediately threw it into the bartender's face. Quickly grabbing
a napkin, he helped the bartender dry his face while he apologized with great remorse. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I have
this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don't know what to do about it." "You had better do something about your
problem," the bartender replied. "You can be sure I'll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you
get help." It was months before the man faced the bartender again. When he asked for a beer, the bartender refused.
Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was
now okay to serve him, the bartender poured him a drink. The man took the glass and splashed the beer into the
barkeeper's astonished face. "I thought you were cured," the shocked bartender screamed. "I am," said the man. "I still
do it, but I don't feel guilty about it anymore."
Charles Sell, Unfinished Business, Multnomah, 1989, p. 223.
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The Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting © 2009
Chapter 5 – Congratulations! Your account has had a birthday. It is now 30
days old.
A really old debt
A way, way back in the 17th Century, King Charles II ordered uniforms for his troops from the Clothiers Company of Worcester
and promised to pay on his return from battle. Unfortunately, like some modern promise-makers, his predictions of his own
personal success were overestimated, and his troops were defeated and he fled to mainland Europe. Clearly there were far
more important matters of state to attend to on his eventual return from exile in 1660 and he never paid his debt.
But a creditor has a better memory than a debtor, and the subsequent owners of the Clothiers Company of Worcester have
never forgotten this unpaid bill. For the past 15 years the Worcester businessmen have focused their attention on Prince
Charles, the future King Charles of England, and eventually, in a “gesture of good will” Prince Charles handed over the
payment to the current master of the Clothiers Company, done in true pomp and ceremony. Not being “born yesterday” he
says, Prince Charles did not pay interest, which would have amounted to £47,000.
This is proof that a creative approach can get even the longest, most impossibly difficult debts acknowledged and paid. The
Clothiers Company and the British Royal Family both enjoyed some interesting, and free, PR for this event. It would have
created plenty of word of mouth publicity and the value of the actual debt repayment can surely never cover the cost of goodwill
generated by the humorous approach taken when Price Charles handed the funds over in a 1650s-style gaming purse made by
the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Reluctant to pursue
It is interesting to note that at this moment in time, South African banks are reluctant to take legal action against
defaulting or late paying private clients, because of fears of being labelled irresponsible lenders in terms of the
National Credit Act. Before these legal actions are taken, debtors would be referred to credit counselling and
only after possibly defaulting on those arrangements, would there be a legal repercussion. This means that
there would be a potential time lag of 6 to 12 months before current problems become evident on record.
But the same reluctance to take action against late paying customers is evident in business too, and for many
different reasons. The list of excuses given, includes some of the following:

If we are pushy with the clients, they will go elsewhere.

If we force them to pay us, they will not be able to operate and may go out of business.

We will just give them a little longer to pay. Maybe we will remind them next week.

We haven’t had a chance to send out reminders yet.
A business cannot hope to get paid if it is sending out mixed messages. If your payment terms are 7 days, then you should be
paid on day 7 and should be on the phone following up on day 8 at the very latest. There needs to be a clear procedure as to
how you do your billing and following up, including some of the following issues: what your payment terms are, when you will
follow up and by what means, what level of staff member is empowered to deal with different issues of disputes, what
incentives or penalties are charged for early or late payment, etc.
Having this procedure prepared and laid out step by step for your staff, will greatly reduce their stress at having to make
decisions for each client on a case by case basis, and will streamline the process.
Furthermore, ensure that your terms are clearly communicated to the clients. You cannot get upset if an account is unpaid at
15 days, if for some reason the client was under the impression that it was a 30 day account. Ensure that terms are well
communicated before, during and after the sale – allow there to be no place for assumption, or excuses!
There is tactic in modern business, to ease cash flow, where one is told to “stretch creditors and press debtors”. In this case
they want to pay you as late as possible while getting their clients to pay them as soon as possible. Each time you allow them
to ‘stretch’ you a little, you give them tacit permission to do it again. Or in the words of an observer, “What you permit, you
promote.”
Don’t permit it!
So here is the balance you have to take: do not allow your clients to think that they can take advantage of you by not paying
you on time, but do not be so aggressive or forceful with them that you offend them and chase them to your competition. Of
course, there are always those clients that your competition deserves, but for the rest, there are acceptable ways of informing
the client that you still want to do business with them, but that ‘doing business’ implies you being paid.
At some stage, or for certain clients, it is completely appropriate to take legal action.
Once you have defined the procedures to be followed for accounts that are overdue at different stages, you will be able to
instruct your staff how to deal with clients appropriately at those different levels. There is nothing worse than overreacting to a
minor delay, or an accidental oversight by a good client, because your own staff are insecure about your company’s cash flow.
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An example of this was given recently by a client of a major South African bank. This client is one of those rare individuals who
actually pays off his entire credit card balance each month. Pause for a moment, and ponder the implication of a clear credit
card statement every month, with this bank, for over 20 years. But accidents do happen, and one month recently, he failed to
process his online payment properly and the credit card was not paid. The bank responded with an automated sms – you know
the kind. It states something like
Your credit card is unpaid. Failure to pay the minimum payment due on your credit card by the
due date will result in your name being reported to the credit bureaus as a slow payer. Should
you be experiencing difficulties in meeting your monthly debt repayment obligations you may
contact a debt councillor for advice. Please contact this office within 24 hours to negotiate
payment settlement plans.
That is a fine statement – if the client was say, 45 days over due and maxed out, but for someone in his
situation and for a first contact sms, it was completely inappropriate. And what is the result of a sms like this on our naturally
egotistical human psyche? Well, we will just go and find another bank to do business with. And with cut rate and innovative
banking and credit card solutions entering the market, options are not difficult to find.
The next objection of course, is that the sms that was sent was automated, as if being automated makes the text part of some
magical, untouchable realm that is impervious to human intervention. Of course a human would have treated this client better,
and been able to see his circumstances and apply logic, but this is a large bank and the sms’s are automatically generated!
Come on! We know that there is a human behind the Wizard of Oz’s curtain, just as there are
human’s who actually dream up the text for those sms’s and who ‘apply the logic’ to the parameters
that will generate them in the first place. It takes nothing to change the text to “Eish! Where’s your
payment? Please let us know. Thanks, and enjoy your day!”
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Chapter 6 - Aesop’s Scales
The great hypocrisy
The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales. - Aesop, Fables
There is always that uncomfortable feeling when we try to get someone else to do something that we cannot do ourselves.
That is why parents throughout the ages must fall back on the well worn phrase “Do as I say, not as I do!” We have to find a
way to justify the incongruency, to explain away the hypocrisy.
And this is no less apparent than when an accounts clerk get on the phone to press a client into paying an outstanding debt,
while being fully aware of the fact that they have just turned their cell phone off to ignore the phone call from the credit card
company because their own card is overdrawn.
So many emotions can play out in the next call to the client, depending on the caller’s state of mind, and the client’s own
emotional responses.
The caller can be overly aggressive with the client, projecting their own embarrassment and frustration onto the client. This is
especially evident when the company itself has just put pressure, even guilty pressure on the staff member reminding her that
jobs, salaries, raises and bonuses are on the line if she cannot bring in outstanding debts.
On the other hand, if the caller hears the same story from the client as she is wanting to give her own
creditors, she may well respond overly sympathetically, giving the client leeway and a way out of the
immediate necessity of paying.
The worse case scenario is where for any reason the staff member is not committed to the goals and
values of the company and does not believe in the product or service sold to the client. If she identifies
with the client because of her own financial problems, is sympathetic to the problems of the client and
sides with client against the company because of the quality of the product, the chance of getting
payment of arrears is vastly diminished.
What is the response to this likely scenario?
Firstly we need to be aware that while we all talk about ‘the economy’, the issue of personal finances is still a taboo. Human
nature will mean that people continue to put up a façade regarding their financial well being. Just look at the numerous debt
counselling sites that offer anonymity for all enquiries. Statistically, it is 100% guaranteed that if a company has more than 3
staff members, there are financial problems represented there.
One random statistic reveals that 85% of Americans will reach retirement age with less than $250 in savings. Historically South
Africans save even less. So with no savings and spending more than we earn, we are personally in financial difficulty even as
we as a company approach an individual, who is likely in financial difficulty, in another company with a cash flow problem, and
press them for payment. This sounds like a recipe for tension as guilt and anxiety come to a head in the face of a client’s
inability to pay.
A man in Texas was charged with horse stealing, but he claimed to be innocent. He was asked if he preferred to be
tried by the judge or a jury of his peers.
"What's 'peers'?" he asked.
They explained it means somebody just like you.
"Oh, I'll take the judge," he replied. "I don't want to be tried by a bunch of horse thieves."
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
The only course open, in cases like this, when faced with the irony of what we are attempting to do, is to develop a sense of
humour. Gandhi said, If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide. In order to face our own financial
futures, and face the tension and oft-times aggression of clients, we all need to develop a protective layer of humour for
ourselves.
If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide. - Mohandas Gandhi
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Chapter 7 - Beware the Dark Side
Beware of the Dark Side. Anger, Fear, Aggression. The Dark Side of
the Force are they. Easily they flow. Quick to join you in a fight. If once
you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Consume you it will. - Yoda
It really is not necessary to be polite when attempting to get your money. After all, two adults consented to a sale contract – a
product or service was exchanged for a promise of a certain payment. As long as you have fulfilled your part of the deal, they
are obliged to fulfil theirs. So you don’t have to be polite, or humorous, or even nice.
In fact, when it comes to debt collecting the imagination automatically leaps to burly men, or threatening phone calls or
intimidation. This is the dark side of debt collecting.
Although I have taken the approach that the majority of people really do want to meet their obligations and find a way to pay
what is their responsibility, we cannot deny that there are two other categories. The first is the group of people who get
themselves over their heads in debt and face no way out, and the other is the very real group of con artists who devise plans to
part us with both our products and our money with no intention of any reciprocation of value. We need to have plans prepared
for both types of individuals. A little compassion for the first group would be humane, and a good dose of reality necessary to
identify the second.
But it is not necessary to bully and intimidate and humiliate people who find themselves in temporary cash flow problems, in
order to get paid. If for no other reason than if we lose respect for human dignity, we will also lose the value of our service.
FUD! Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt!
Vilija Lobaciuviene is Lithuania’s most famous witch, and besides her religious occupation, she has also been hired by Skolu
Isieskojimo Biuras, a debt collecting bureau in the country, to follow up on debtors. Armantas Celkonas, the director of the
bureau, said that their new employee would “help clients understand the situation, reconsider what is right and wrong and act
accordingly”.
Now how would you like to interpret that? Honestly? I wouldn’t want a witch to “help” me with anything, especially if she were
working for the other party. And when you add in the words “understand” and “reconsider”, it is perhaps more palatable to face
the old fashioned heavies!
In 2007, 84-year old Walter Bargate was found in a coma after trying to commit suicide with alcohol and pills, after
unsuccessfully trying to argue against an incorrect £6,500 Final Demand and having his power shut off in winter.
Berel Brazier, however did commit suicide. She owed £400 but an error with her file in the deeds office meant that the debt
collectors harassed her for an amount of £16,000. Her relatives were so outraged by the actions of the debt collectors that
drove Beryl to this desperate state, that new legislation is being introduced to limit the power of this industry.
From harassing phone calls late at night, automatic dialling, automatic dialling with no voice message at all,
surprise visits at home, calling your loved ones after your death and physical violence, there is no end to the
fear and intimidation that this activity can cause on people. While there is every need for businesses to
recover their money, there is no need to violate people’s dignity to do so.
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Chapter 8 – Humour is the instinct for taking pain playfully
Humour is the instinct for taking pain playfully. - Max Eastman
Protect your own sense of humour
Often when clients are upset because of their circumstances, and possibly embarrassed, their coping method is to lash out at
the person who is phoning them asking for payment. Clients can be rude and sometimes downright offensive to the person
who is doing no more than asking for what was agreed upon in terms of the sale.
In each Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting Course, we encourage delegates to share these stories, and reward the best
(worst story?), with a bottle of Gaviscon for the stomach churning anxiety caused by some clients. It is possible, along with the
physical medication, to develop a humorous protection for yourself as well. It is for both your own benefit, as well as making it
easier for the client.
There is no doubt that it is a difficult time we are in at the moment, but the businesses and the people, that will rise above the
pressures, are the ones who find new ways of dealing with old issues. And if your company can relate to your clients with
humour when every other company is expressing fear and stress, then not only are you more likely to be paid outstanding bills,
but you can increase your sales too.
The Humorous Approach to Debt Collecting Course is frequently presented as a public course, but is available for in-house
presentations as well. Please see the web site for further details.
www.nichetraining.co.za
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