Have A Nice Day!

Nothing drives me more crazy than a collector wrapping up a difficult call with “have a nice day!”, and ending the call.

They really don’t mean it.

What they mean is “I am getting no where with this call, the consumer isn’t listening, I need to spend time on the next file, I am moving on”.  And they are right.  They could be the subject of a consumer yelling, talking over them, a conversation that is going in circles, or any number of things that have prompted them to logically determine that this call should end.

That’s not what the consumer hears.

They hear “I don’t have time for you, I don’t care about you, I’m hanging up on you”.

Now, does that solve anything?  No.  What it does is take the consumers’ already negative opinion of the collector, and makes it worse.  It makes it less likely that they will call back in a day, a week or a month and try to solve this.  It reinforces the consumer’s incorrect attitude that this isn’t a business decision, it’s an emotional one.

So here are six alternatives for collectors to end a call that is going in circles or is not going to be resolved.

“I’m sorry Bob, but I don’t feel we are going to resolve this.  When you want to work with me, call back.”

“This leaves me no other alternatives then but to proceed on your file.  Do you have any questions?”

“This is a business call, and I do not feel we will reach a business decision today.  Good day.”

“Bob, this isn’t productive, I am ending the call.  You are welcome to call back when you are calmer.”

“I believe we are done here.  Good day.”

“Why don’t we try this again tomorrow?  Good day.”

Now some of you might think “good day?  That’s like saying have a nice day.”  But it isn’t.  The former can be delivered easily without sarcasm or emotion, where the latter is inevitably delivered with sarcasm or emotion. 

Got an alternative to ending a difficult call?  We can add it to the list, send me a message.

Thanks kindly,

Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
Cambridge, Ontario
226-946-1730
bwettlaufer@kingstondc.com