Why does trust matter on a collection call?

What trust lets a collector learn

A consumer who does not yet trust the collector has little reason to explain their finances. A consumer who does is more likely to say what is going on: the job lost, the bill that comes first, the date money arrives. The collector can then propose an amount and a schedule that fit that situation instead of guessing. An amount agreed on honest information is one the consumer can keep up.

What negotiation research says, and what it does not

The research that bears on this comes from negotiation experiments, not from collection calls.

• Rapport. Aimee Drolet and Michael Morris studied how face-to-face contact fosters cooperation in mixed-motive conflicts, and found that rapport accounted for the effect (Drolet and Morris, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2000). Their setting was face-to-face contact, and a collection call is by phone.
• Information. Leigh Thompson found that when a negotiator offered or asked for information about the other side’s interests, the two judged each other more accurately and reached more mutually beneficial agreements, and sharing did not cost the sharer (Thompson, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1991). The setting was a negotiation simulation, not a debt.

Neither study measured payments. They support a general point, that rapport and honest information help two parties reach agreements that work for both, and whether that holds on a collection call or moves the amount paid is what we would want measured.

From trust to persuasion to the amount

Persuasion that works on a collection call rests on trust. Cialdini’s principles and SPIN questions describe how collectors move a consumer who has not decided: what the persuasion models say about collection calls covers them and why empathy matters covers how the belief is earned. In the published test, the larger the instalment, the bigger the gap in dollars collected per account reached, which is consistent with that: the published test sets out the figures.

Building it on a call without pressure

Every statement a collector makes about an amount stays truthful: Regulation F’s rule on false, deceptive or misleading representations applies, as do your agency’s own policies and state law.

• Ask why the account is unpaid, and listen to the answer. The answer sets what is worth proposing.
• Say what the offer is and what it is not, so nothing surprises the consumer later.
• Leave out false urgency and pressure. They trade the information the collector needs for a fast, thin promise.
• Do what was agreed, so the next call starts from something kept.

How collectors differ in this is covered in what makes a good debt collector, and the persuasion side in what the persuasion models say about collection calls and how collectors handle objections.

Where matching fits

Collectors perform differently on different kinds of account, which is part of why collectors convert differently on the same accounts. Predictive pairing puts each account in front of the collector most likely to collect it, and the published test is set out on its own page, with what it does and does not show.