You are already aware that a well-constructed credit team can improve the overall bottom line of your business. An efficient and effective credit team does not develop naturally. Understanding how to train internal personnel into a quality team will help increase the overall success of your business. Here are some ways to train in-house staff into better credit team members.
Emphasize the Importance of Effective Verbal Communication
Your team members may feel as if they have already mastered the art of communication. With that being said, it is oftentimes not as much of a strong suit for individuals as they might think. When training personnel to become a part of your credit team, emphasize the importance of verbal communication skills. The pitch, volume, clarity, tone, and inflection with which they speak are incredibly important in communicating effectively. Keeping these things in mind will help improve the ability of your team’s verbal communication.
Educate Your Team on Effective Collection Techniques
The means of educating your team on collection techniques will vary from company to company, but the general content should remain fairly consistent. Whether your education process features general discussions, trial and error role plays, or powerpoint presentations, the focus on the following topics will be the most important part: general telephone calls, guiding your customer towards payment, leaving messages with an explicit need for action, and controlling the conversation.
Explain Key Metrics of Performance
As with anything within your business, the performance of your credit team needs to be analyzed to ensure it is functioning properly. Focus on explaining the significant metrics you want your team to focus on. By explicitly stating what you expect from them, it leaves less ambiguity in how their performance will be judged
Understand That Negotiation is a Must
Although you might think that you will refuse to accept a counteroffer unless your customer reaches a predetermined minimum deal, express the importance that walking away with something at some point is typically better than walking away with nothing. Being assertive, starting off by asking for payment in full, and being firm with what you will not accept as a final deal are three fundamentals of negotiation. At the same time, make sure that your team member communicates respectfully and listens to what the customer is saying. This can help you evaluate if accepting a payment plan or less than full payment is the best course of action.
Developing a training process for your credit team is no easy task. With that being said, it is incredibly important for team success. Although your training process will vary from other companies, keeping these ideas in mind will help you construct your best credit team.