What to do when you feel ignored.

Do you feel ignored? It happens. Your agents might call a debtor several times with no answers or call backs. Or maybe they did answer the first time and agreed to a payment, but the scheduled time came and the money never appeared.

Persistence breaks down resistance, right? So you could have your agents keep calling the debtor. You could try calling at different times and use different agents to leave the message.

Or you could turn the tables and start ignoring them, too! Use IVR Messaging (IAT calls it IC) to keep giving the debtor opportunities to talk to an agent or make an automated payment, but let agents concentrate on contacting people who might not be ignoring you as much…yet.

How to successfully ignore your debtors:

1. Stop calling them with Predictive Dialing.
2. Determine the best IVR Message (IC) to use, and then use it!

Make sure to give them a chance to talk to an agent and provide multiple payment options (over the phone, online, through the mail or with an agent).

1. Wait for the debtor to respond. Worst case scenario, they continue to ignore you. Then you’re out virtually nothing, and you’re a whole lot better off than when your agents were concentrating on them.

Ideal times to switch to IC:

• You’ve been trying to reach the person for awhile, and they won’t answer or call you back.
• The account balance is so small that continuing to attempt contact using an agent is costing you rather than making you money.
• The account is getting really old and you’ve nearly lost hope of ever collecting.
• You did get a promise to pay, but the individual is late on making their payment(s).
• Any other time you’re starting to feel ignored.

 

When (if) the debtor starts talking to you or makes a payment, feel free to start talking to them again.

 

Agents, Automation, IVR Messaging