Thirteen tips for credit management assertiveness
When we’re talking about training needs with a credit manager or training manager the word "assertiveness" often comes up, as in: "Susie needs some assertiveness training." But exactly what do they mean by the term. We’re going to look at what makes up "assertiveness", and thirteen tips for being more assertive, in particular when doing credit management. Generally, we’re talking about assertiveness in terms of ringing people and asking for money, but there are all sorts of other situations where we need to be assertive, and many of our tips apply broadly.
Here’s something most people don’t understand about assertiveness. It’s all about three things - courage, confidence, and the ability to control the conversation. Think of them as "the other three Cs of credit." Sort out those three things and you’re home and hosed. So here are our thirteen assertiveness tips.
Courage tips
1. You're in the right. The customers haven't paid. They are therefore in the wrong. They should feel guilty (and in many cases they will), not you. They don’t need the money more than your company. They contracted to pay by a certain date and they haven’t. You are (generally) in the position of power.
2. Role plays help you to do things you’re scared to do. Even practicing in front of a mirror can be useful. I once did a small credit consulting assignment with a professional firm. As with most professional firms, the partners were not good at talking about money. (Talking about money implies that they need money which implies that they are not successful.) If they could only tell the clients about the firm’s payment terms at the first meeting, many problems would be avoided. I knew that once they did it a few times and found that it was easy, it would become part of the standard routine, but unless they role-played it in a safe environment, they might never do it in real life. Even getting them to do the role-play was hard work. (People often want to give you a summary of what they would say, rather than the actual words, but the actual words are what they need to practice.) The irony was that the partners concerned were very confident, articulate people, one of whom had recently won a public-speaking competition but they had that particular fear to overcome.
3. Don’t mistake aggression for assertiveness. Be confident but nice. Many of the credit management problems we see stem from people being scared to talk to debtors. Sometimes people screw up their courage to deal with an unpleasant situation by becoming aggressive or angry. Anger can be a good thing. It forces us to deal with things we might not otherwise deal with. However, in most situations aggression is not a good thing to show when collecting money. (There are exceptions but for most reputable credit professionals, the general rule applies.) If you show anger, the customer is likely to respond in kind.
Confidence tips
4. Be optimistic in what you ask for. A credit manager at a recent seminar in Wellington talked of coming to a compromise with a customer over a dispute. The customer offered to pay $2000 in settlement just as she was about to ask for $1500. Even if you have to come down, you put yourself in a better position by starting high.
5. People speak too fast when they are nervous. Make a point of slowing down. Put pauses between your sentences. You’ll sound more confident which is more important for your results than actually being confident. And from a practical point of view, nothing undermines confidence like being asked to repeat your name, where you’re from, and what you’re calling about. Make sure they hear it the first time.
6. Overconfidence can be as bad as lack of confidence. You perhaps see this most obviously when you try to draw someone’s attention to a mistake, only to have them insist that there was no mistake, or that if there was it was someone else’s mistake. If you or your company are in the wrong, you need to know how to apologise graciously.
7. Avoid rising terminal pitch. Say that sentence aloud as if it were a question and you’ll hear what I mean. Try to keep your voice at a normal or lower level at the end of non-question sentences. This will make you sound more confident and in control. This is a trap for young people in particular. Hopefully they grow out of it with age.
8. Sound as if you assume that the customer will pay. "This needs to be paid. Can you get a cheque in the post today?" Notice that the question is not whether the customer will pay - that’s assumed - but whether they can get the cheque in the mail today. People will often go along with an assumption, but will refuse a tentatively made request. Your tone of voice, generally, is crucial. You can say something and sound confident and right, or say the same thing and sound tentative and defensive.
9. Use your authority. Compliance increases with the proximity of authority - the closer you are to authority, the more likely you are to be obedient. Debtors comply with requests from managers more than requests from junior staff. Titles can be influential - they can indicate that you have considerable expertise and are to be obeyed as a superior. Names can be altered to increase the perception of authority - Nicole may sound more senior than Nikki. Consider the difference between "Elizabeth Windsor, national credit manager", and "Lizzy, from the credit office".
10. Silence is golden. Ask for payment confidently, then stop. Let them fill the silence. We are conditioned from childhood to fill gaps in conversation. People are usually not happy to pause and consider a question carefully before answering.
Controlling-the-conversation tips
11. The ability to interrupt is a key skill. Interrupt if the customer starts to wander from the topic. There are more tricks for doing this than we have space for, but a good one is to use the customer’s name. This generally makes them stop and listen. Mr Hattaway, first we need to...
12. Don’t talk over customers. In terms of controlling the conversation, we often see that people in call centres "talk over" customers and fail to listen. Call centre staff are under pressure to get through lots of calls, and of course they’ve heard it all before. They want to cut to the chase. You need to do this subtly without appearing to be rude.
13. Stay in control of the conversation. You seize control, first by being the one who sets the agenda - that is, tells them what the two of you are going to talk about - second, by asking questions (which necessarily determine what the other party will say next), and third, by recapping on who is to do what and when.
As with much of credit management, none of this is rocket science. Mostly it’s just good common sense, and therefore extremely rare.
A version of this article originally appeared in MG Business in August 2002.