If I knew then, what I know now!

by | Nov 19, 2024 | Collection Tips

  I’m sure that just like me, you’ve said this to yourself on quite a few occasions. Some years back, I had been introduced to a training method that should have been more successful. It involved giving a collector working for me a tape recorder (like I said, quite a few years back) and having them tape three of their calls. We would sit down together afterwards and analyze the good and perhaps where some improvements could have been made.

It didn’t matter to me that an individual might feel one of their calls was less than stellar and delete it….I figured they were training themselves that way and I wasn’t out to ‘catch’ them, I could hear how they sounded by simply walking around the office.

There was one woman, a good collector who was adamant that she was not going to be taped, not be part of the program. Didn’t matter to her that she could tape over calls, she just wasn’t going to do it. I was stuck. I wasn’t going to let her go, except for her refusal to be taped, she was a great collector, but at the same time, I couldn’t let it go. I started making arrangements to have her transferred to a different department when she eventually relented and we carried on with the program.

Still, I don’t think the relationship was ever the same and I always wished I had handled it differently, certainly better.

What came to mind not too long ago, was that I could have sat down, made three calls on her behalf, taped them and then the two of us sat down to analyze. After all, it was the demonstration and knowledge of the best techniques that I wanted to ensure were known and used. Who was using them did not matter all that much.

Would it have worked? I don’t know. Hindsight 20/20 and all that, but it would have been a different approach, something worthwhile. Why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from the mistakes of others, eh?

Pithy Quote of the Month: 

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” – Xun-zi