When you must call a meeting
The Collector's time is productive when s/he is on the phone asking debtors to pay. When Collectors are in meetings, they can't make phone calls to collect money.
Minimize meetings. But where you must call Collectors to a meeting, make sure the meeting ends quickly and gets results. Try this approach:
The day before that meeting, prepare a simple 4-part piece of paper. Get that piece of paper into the hands of each Collector. The piece of paper will comprise four things:
- Who. Here list the names of all conferees. List names in alphabetical sequence... otherwise the person with the last-listed name will worry.
- What. Here list the objective (not the subject) of the meeting. The subject could be "Collection Training." The objective would be: "To establish a Collection Training Program." Objectives make people think (before the meeting) in terms of results. Subjects don't.
- Where. Conference room... Room 208... wherever.
- When. Be sure to list the beginning and ending times. Example: Tuesday, 8/1, 9 to 9:45 am.
Two keys here: (1) Write objectives, not subjects. Without an objective, you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there... after several frustrating hours in a windmill meeting.
Second key: List the ending time. It's amazing how often constant striving to meet a deadline will result in success. The Collectors will be grateful, too. They'd rather be collecting than meeting.
Results produced by most meetings are in inverse proportion to length. This is especially true when Collectors are taken off the phone.
