Tales from the Trenches of Debt Management
May is upon us. Temperatures are rising and flowers are blooming. The second Sunday of May is designated by the United Nations as Mother’s Day, although other countries celebrate during other times of the year. Whether you are a mom, or have one, how did you delight the mom in your life for Mother’s Day? And what does this have to do with delighting your customers in debt management?
I think delighting mom is analogous to how you handle your past due customers in several ways. First, if you get it wrong, you will never hear the end of it. Second, while many people have the title mom or customer, what delights them requires understanding them, and communicating with them accordingly.
I am a boomer mom, and my daughter is a millennial mom. While I happily say that I hit the daughter lottery, I find myself having to remind her that texting me is different from talking to me. My daughter literally sent me a text on Mother’s Day, and I never heard anything more from her. Not going to lie…I was disappointed. And so it goes with your customers.
Being your customer is the title to give to the thousands of people who do business with you. But if you treat them all the same, you will inevitably miss the opportunity to differentiate your customer service and quite possibly hurt your brand. And yes, your financially distressed customers are still CUSTOMERS.
A customer in a budgetary crisis is a fantastic opportunity to create a customer for life. How you communicate with them is where it starts. Does your customer want to speak with someone, or do they prefer to self-serve their account? Do they expect a notice in their mail, a reminder text or email from you? Getting this step right may mean the difference between receiving a payment or not!
Presuming you get that first step right; most importantly is how you work with your customers to resolve their account. Asking the right questions and listening to your customers is key to you being able to delight them. Is their situation short-term or long-term? Once you understand that, you can offer options to help them while at the same time being seen as a partner. Customers remember who treated them with respect and dignity and will reward that behavior in the future. As the old commercial goes, they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on. And THAT is how you build your brand!
But in the real world of thousands of accounts in queues to be worked, it is critical you have a solution that makes it easy for your agents to service your customers how they expect. Your solution must be easy to navigate and give your agents the information they need to communicate with your customers. Your newer employees may need scripts that help them through the process.
If you are worried about delighting your customers and whether your system allows your team to do their best work, there is a solution for you to consider. That’s Optimus by Telrock Systems. Our cloud-native SaaS solution handles the entire debt management lifecycle and puts the information at your disposal to work with your customers in the most efficient and effective way. And for those customers who want to self-service their account, Optimus includes a self-service customer portal that allows them to make promises and engage with you without human intervention. Whether by phone, text, email, or self-service, reduce your customer’s stress and frustration by giving them a consistent experience regardless of the channel that recognizes who they are and what they need from you.
Ready to delight your customers? We would love to hear from you!