Small business owners typically find themselves wearing many hats. One day you may be the business best salesmen, the next you are worrying about how to pay for a new office space. One of the many jobs you may have to take on is that of debt collector. Its not a fun job, but being good at it can be very beneficial to your bottom line. Here are some tips to help you collect debt yourself.

Know what you are going to say

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is assuming you can just “wing it. Having a script and rehearsing it before hand allows you to have a confident demeanor and can go a long way to securing payment.

Keep it short and sweet

You do not need to give a long winded explantation about why you need to get paid. A short, well rehearsed, and confident message will let your customer know you expect to be paid and thats the end of it.

Be well informed

You should know as much as you can about the account before you make the call. Do they have a history of late payment? Are there any extenuating circumstances you should be aware of? You should also view everything in context. If they work in an industry that has been hit hard economically, you may have to settle for less in the end.

Follow up

Do not let a customer make empty promises just to get you off the phone. If they claim the person you need to speak to is out of the office, find out when they will be back and call then. If they promise to pay but end up delaying, give them a call back. Maintaining your persistence will show you are serious and serve as a continual reminder of the debt they owe.

There is no one size fits all solution to debt collection. Every customer will be different and sometimes you may have to make a change on the fly. With that being said, following these general guidelines will provide you with a good baseline to improve your collection skills.