Call centre debt collection skills
Details
Call Centre Debt Collection Skills
- Pre-training collection call assessment
- Telephone debt collection training
- Team Leader training
- Post-training collection call assessment
- One to one coaching
- Reporting results
Introduction
This training and Consultancy project takes a practical approach in terms of enhancing skills that are imperative for Telephone debt collectors to perform their functions confidently. Learning of each key element of Telephone collection has been included, in order to give the professionals a complete understanding of how to apply the required skills. Our objective is to analyze and evaluate rep performance, review and fine tune telephone collection team leadership strategies, train the reps, train the team leaders, identify further opportunities for improvement and track statistics for success.
Designed for
Telephone debt collectors and Team leaders
Project Objectives
By the end of this program the participants shall:
- Plan and Structure calls more effectively
- Understand the elements of consultative telephone communication and improve skills in this area
- Discover opportunities to guide customers towards suitable payment arrangements
- Improve probing and listening skills
- Make a conscious effort to understand the customer’s environment in order to convince and create impact
- Be genuinely interested in the customer’s questions and remarks in order to continue fruitful 2-way communication for longer periods of time
- Collect better using empathy
- Recognize each customer’s unique telephone personality and adjust accordingly
- Be smart about collection signals but practice patience in the voice tone
- Understand various types of probing questions and be able to apply suitable questions according to the flow e.g fact finding questions, leading, requesting for payment etc.
Outline
Step 1: Pre-training call assessment of 4 to 5 calls - 15 selected collectors’ calls – 1 day
Step 2: Debt collection training session for 25 collectors – 2 days
Step 3: Team leader skills training – 1 day
Step 4: Post-training assessment of 4 to 5 calls - 15 selected collectors’ calls – 1 day
STEP 1: PRE-TRAINING ASSESSMENT OF 15 COLLECTORS - 1 DAY
- Detailed interaction with the management team to understand:
- What products are being collected on
- Satisfaction and dissatsfaction levels towards the team and process
- General culture in the centre
- Operational details
- Team size
- Policies and procedures
- Do and don’ts for the consultant
- Signing of NDA – if required
- Collection strategy and review of the existing call script
- Sharing the call performance evaluation sheet, with the management team, to be used in order to assess call performance:
- Guidance for internal call evaluators on call monitoring skills
- Customer objections
- Customer agreements
- Rep skill level
- Rep telephone behaviour
- Time spent per call
- Identifying Strengths and weaknesses in order to develop customized training modules
- Developing Profiles of various types of customers
- Assessing recorded calls made by a minimum of 40 telephone collectors
- Developing a Pre-Training Call Performance Assessment Report
- Adjusting / tailoring debt collection training modules according to findings of the report.
Step 2: Debt collection training program (20 pax) - 2 DAYS
Program objectives
By the end of this program the participants shall:
- (Increase collections through applied skills
- (Understand the elements of successful telephone communication and improve skills in this area
- (Structure calls more effectively
- (Improve questioning and listening skills
- (Identify customer’s real needs and match with appropriate solutions.
- (Sharpen their assertiveness skills
- (Handle objections effectively and treat them as new opportunities
- (Build better relationships with customers using empathy
- (Recognize each customer’s unique telephone personality and tailor personal dialogue accordingly
- (Become collection machines
This session is designed to help participants collect and prosper through a service driven culture. The activities are easy to participate in and quick at generating meaningful discussions and skills improvement among participants. Each activity allows for a thorough examination of performance and formulation of effective strategies to create a true culture of profitable collection. The 4 main ingredients used in this program are:
- Involvement
- Interaction
- Personal Reflection
- Fun!
9:00am – 10:30am
Customer Behaviours
This is an awareness activity designed to help participants
focus on the different customer types they encounter in the collection environment. It injects fun into reflecting on customer characteristics and allows individuals to establish their own guidelines for dealing with various customer types. Some key points to considered are:
- We all have different ways of communicating, problem solving and interacting with each other
- We all have experienced particular customer types who behave in predictable ways
- If we can learn to identify customer types, we are better prepared
Þ (Activity-Forest Fire)
- The assertive customer
- The difficult customer
- The talkative customer
- The passive customer
10:30am – 10:45am Tea / Coffee Break
10:45am – 1:00pm
Active Listening
There is a strong link between effective listening and increased collections.This is a fast moving and thought-provoking module on the central communication skill of listening. This activity is designed to help participants understand from within, the importance of listening effectively and improving in this area.
Þ (Activity-The Diagram)
Persuasiveness through EMPATHY
People who are emotionally intelligent are able to communicate clear and convincing messages that engender openness and receptivity among their listeners. This activity will help participants practice their skills at persuasiveness and empathy in most difficult of all situations: selling the un-sellable. The ability to understand others’ perspectives and to align one’s own goals with the values and goals of the other person helps collection call agents excel in their quest to successfully move and influence others. It is safe to say that if you want to be persuasive, you need to work a little harder to convey the WIIFM – What’s in it for me? – to your customers
1:00pm – 2:00pm Lunch Break
2:00pm – 3:30pm
Professional Speaking
- Articulate speaking
- Mastering and Applying Voice Characteristics
- Tone, Pitch, Rate of Speech and Volume
Þ (Activity-The Blindfold)
3:30pm – 3:45pm Tea / Coffee Break
3:45pm – 5:00pm
Probing Skills
- The art of asking the right questions to identify and understand underlying customer issues and to seek collection opportunities
Þ Activity - 20 Questions
PROGRAM CONTENT – DAY 2
9am-10:30am
The Collection Call
– Steps to telephone collection
- Get through to and identify the customer
- Identify yourself and your company
- State the reason for the call and full amount due
- Strategically pause and listen
- Ask for or discuss the reason for delinquency
- Motivate and educate the customer to pay
- Negotiate a payment arrangement to make the account current
- Verify and update customer information
- Confirm payment arrangements
- Thank the customer and conclude the call
10:30am-10:45am Tea / Coffee break
10:45am-1:00pm
Developing a structured collection call dialogue
1:00pm-2:00pm Lunch break
2:00pm-3:30pm
Debt Collection Call Role play scenario development
Role play sessions begin
3:30pm-3:45pm Tea break
3:45pm-5:00pm
Role Plays continue until 5pm
Certificate presentation and program close
END OF TRAINING PROGRAM
Follow up (FOC)
A follow-up skills retention exercise shall be performed 2 weeks after completion of the program in order to evaluate performance once again and to provide recommendations for further improvement. This session shall be conducted classroom style – 2 hours per group.
Team Leadership Skills - 1 day
This portion of the project is indispensable for further reinforcement of lessons learnt through the telephone debt collection training. A team leader is the driving force behind any successful collection operation. This leader plans activities, monitors and evaluates performance, tracks statistics, analyzes the database and motivates the staff. In short, it is the team leader’s responsibility to ensure smooth administration of the collection operation in a friendly, productive and motivated environment.
In order to groom the manager for this extremely crucial task, the following tool-based telesales management modules have been included:
- Telesales team development and synergy through leadership styles
- Call monitoring techniques
- Call performance evaluation
- Coaching for success
- Decoding / picturing the statistics in order to develop improvement strategies
- Motivating the Telesales executives
POST – TRAINING ASSESSMENT – 1 DAY
- Implementing the new learning (Back to phones)
- Launching the new Script / Call Guide
- Assessing calls made after the training –15 pax
- Fine tuning script / call guide, collector skills and dialogue
- Engaging with team leaders pertaining to call assessment and motivational activities
- One to one coaching for selected participants to further reduce the skills gap
- Project report including individual call performance assessment and improvement recommendations for the future
Project Deliverables
This project is accompanied by the following deliverables:
Debt collection rep training manuals
Team leader training manuals – 10 books
Tools to develop collection call scripts including:
- Initial call presentation script
- List of industry related objections
- Objection handling rebuttal scripts (the exact number of rebuttal sheets shall be determined during the program)
- Industry related collection signals sheet
- Sample Individual and Overall Collection Department post training Performance Evaluation Report
- Specific tools to be used by the Team Leaders:
- Coaching format
- Call performance evaluation sheet
Speaker/s
His training style revolves around Concept, Application, Reflection and most of all FUN!! Shahrukh is the man behind The PLEASE!™ Workshops which train call centre and face to face front-liners to implement winning Customer Interaction Tools such as to Probe, Listen, Empathize, Articulate and Solve. The PLEASE!™ Workshops are suitable for any executive who interacts with customers regularly. Especially in Contact centre customer service, Face to face customer service, Telesales and Debt collection through phone. Please visit Shahrukh’s youtube channel for short videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC067zunxivllLuOICKJ9f4g
Shahrukh’s client list:
- Maxis Berhad – Call Centre Outbound Tele-Debt Collector and Team Leader assessment and training
- Reliance Berhad – High Impact Telesales Skills (Assessment & Training)
- Affin Bank Berhad –Telephone debt collection skills
- HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad – Branch TELESALES training of financial products
- HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad – CRM training for the DRM Team
- Hong Leong Group Call Centre – Finance, Bank, Assurance and Customer Service
- Honda Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. – Call Centre Customer Service
- The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad Call Centre – Financial products telesales
- Malaysia National Insurance – Sales training for a Child Education plan
- Legend Hotel – Time Share appointment and Customer Service training
- Palace of the Golden Horses - Time Share Telesales
- Bumiputra Commerce Bank Berhad Call Centre –Phone Banking telesales
- Malaysian Oxygen Berhad Call Centre – Call Centre Telesales & Teleservice
- Malaysia Airlines Golden Boutiques – Buy n Fly card telesales training
- New Straits Times– Classified Ads-Call Centre & Face to face service
- Utusan Melayu– Classified Advertising-Outbound Telemarketing Skills
- Elken Sdn Bhd – Counter Service / Effective Communication / Customer Service
- British American Tobacco – Effective Communication and Selling Skills (Kent)
- Yellow Pages Call Centre – Appointment setting Skills
- MNI Oneline Call Centre – Telesales and Teleservice training
- Zuellig Pharma Call Centre - Customer Service and Team Leader Training
- AmAssurance – Setting up a new Telesales Unit & Call centre training
- RHB Bank Call Centre– Outbound Telesales Training
- Maybank Group Contact Centre – Outbound Telesales Skills (Insurance products)
- OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad – Outbound Telesales Skills transactional banking
- Bank Rakyat Call Centre – Telesales and Service training
- SP Setia – Outbound Telesales skills
- Bonuslink Call Centre – Outbound Telesales Skills & Inbound Customer Service
- Etiqa Insurance Berhad – Brand Delivery training campaign
- CSC Malaysia Berhad – Ensuring contact centre success
- Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia – Call centre Customer Service Skills
- Mimos Berhad – Mutiara Smart Computing – Call Centre Customer Service Skills
- Citylink Express Courier – Call Centre Customer Service Skills
- POS Malaysia – Pos Laju Call centre debt collection skills
- DKSH Malaysia – Call centre agent assessment and one to one coaching
- Gibraltar BSN Life Insurance Berhad – Formerly UniAsia Life - Call Centre Telesales
- Corporate Information Travel – Service Based Telephone Techniques & Handling Difficult Callers
- HRDF – PSMB Call Centre Customer Care Excellence