I recently recorded a webinar for the Receivables Management
Association of Canada, and one of the questions brought up in the Q&A afterwards touched on the collection environment – and that’s a whole topic on its
own. Let’s face it, collections at it's worst can be a
horrible job – small cubicles, angry customers, angry managers, revenue targets
to hit, and sometimes fear and mistrust within the company.
Doesn’t sound pleasant does it?
I’ve written a couple articles about how managers and
business owners can make a better environment, and how collections doesn’t have
to be a sweat-shop mentality in this day and age, but really there’s a lot collectors
can do as well, and some times they create a negative environment without
thinking about it. Let’s look at some of
the possible ways to make a better environment.
The Story That Never
Ends?
Once in a while, you run into an amazing account that
painlessly pays tens of thousands of dollars, or the account where you convinced
a lawyer to remit after they originally
refused, or even a funny or entertaining call that brightens your day – those are
great things to share with your co-workers.
Sometimes, however, you run into a collector that has a story for every
single call. It’s distracting, not just
to them, but everyone around them, and makes the day drag on and harms the team
environment. Be a story teller, but
limit your stories to the good ones.
Doom and Gloom?
When you have a painless experience, like a consumer or
business paying promptly after a single call, you might get a small feeling of
positive reinforcement or a job well done, but it’s quickly forgotten – the bounced
cheques, the consumers using their small children to screen calls, the broken arrangements,
the promises that never come true, or even a bad day a the office where they
didn’t hit their goals build a sense of negative reinforcement over time that is
more memorable – so it’s very easy for a collector to have these negative
experiences ‘taint’ them, and they become mistrustful of all debtors, or carry a
negative attitude around them, being brusque with fellow collectors or new
consumers who don’t deserve the negative attitude.
It’s very important – paramount, in fact – for anyone who is
going to remain in the collection industry for an extended period of years and
make this their career to keep a positive attitude, and remember the good
things about their role, and the positive experiences they have with debtors
and co-workers, to be pleasant to work with and be around.
Every Man For Himself
In some environments, every collector is personally
responsible for their revenue goals, and an environment can be cultivated where
staff are directly in competition for commissions, Job security, promotions, or
even a day where they aren’t being yelled at for being at the bottom of the
heap. This is a pretty extreme example,
but to some degree probably exists in many collection agencies. It causes resentment of co-workers’ success,
people fighting over ownership of files, perceived favouritism by management,
and a lack of teamwork. Who wants to
work in that kind of environment?
We had a case last month, where one of our Receivables
Managers, Jenna Missen, had almost doubled her revenue goals for the month –
she collected a large payment, and passed the commissions to another staff
member who was struggling. That’s
exactly the kind of team environment you want to foster, where trust is built
up and everyone sees the big picture of a group effort. Help your co-workers, coach them, encourage
them , and make it a better environment for everyone.
Packed Like Sardines?
In a call centre environment, agents are often packed and
racked tightly as possible to maximize manpower – small cubicles, small desks,
and crowded conditions create stress, noise, and confusion, and it’s really
easy to aggravate co-workers because of a loud and disruptive call, the smell
of their pastrami sandwich eaten at their desk, less-than-stellar hygiene, or even just ego or personality.
Be sensitive to your fellow team members, and apologize for
a loud call, or take a few minutes to grab them a coffee when you go to the
cafeteria, or handle a calls for them while they are away on vacation. Really, it’s the little acts of kindness that
make working with others a pleasure, even if it’s a cramped office with
aggressive management and the odd poor team player on the collection floor.
Conclusion?
Ultimately, the environment is the responsibility of the company
management and owners, and they have a great opportunity to build a positive
work environment – in general, business has come a long way in how they treat
employees and the credit and collection industry is also improving over the
past few decades. But ultimately, it
doesn’t matter how much vacation time or how large the salaries and perks are
if you work with are inconsiderate, competitive, or distracting. We are in the business of communicating with
others for satisfying solutions, so we shouldn’t forget that when it comes to
our environment, or the people who work with us every day.
If you have any questions about work environment, or ways we
can improve the collection industry from the collector’s position, by all means
drop me an email or give me a call. I
was first and foremost a collector for many years, and I believe we should
build an environment where the collectors have the environment they need to be
successful and happy.
Thanks kindly,
Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
Cambridge, Ontario
226-946-1730
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