Hi everyone! Today’s story is a really good one I think and it is all about “picking your targets”. Everyone knows that I am the debt collector who thinks differently- who likes to see the best in people, doesn’t judge, always looking to help. Sometimes however, the big stick is needed and I get tough! Last week I was engaged by a development architect to recover $6500 for some plans he drew up for a client looking to sub-divide. The guy was an instant hang up, replete with abuse, and my subsequent sms offering to help if things were tough was met with a “You will get paid when I am ready”. Knowing my conventional methods probably wouldn’t work with this guy, I looked at the client’s documents and there was the land title for the debtor’s property so I mentioned legal action was an option. He said he would pay $1 per week as that was all he could afford and we “had to take it” to which I responded that no, we didn’t. I explained that I was referring the debt for immediate legal action and explained if a Judgment was obtained, he could be made bankrupt by the end of the year. 5 minutes later the client had a receipt sms’d to him for the whole $6500, and the silly debtor accidently sent the receipt that shows your account balance also- he had $138,780.22 in his savings account! Guys the moral of the story is this- 99% of customers will respond well to respectful and helpful options to get them to pay- options that I have suggested in this forum before- the other 1% need the big stick. If you think they have the means to pay and are just being unreasonable, sue them. Just make sure they have something to lose first. Cheers
When to get tough with your debtor