Collection Call Scripts

to
Simply Get Paid Faster
 Use these call scripts to
handle the 7 most common
excuses for late payments

When customers fail to pay their invoices, it can

stifle your cash flow, creating a domino effect
down your own supply chain. Business owners
and accounts staff often avoid making payment
reminder phone calls because it can be hard to
know what to say and how to say it. After all, you
want to build a good relationship with customers
AND get paid. Effective communication serves
both purposes. These call scripts (you can
modify them for email and SMS
communications) can help you to handle the
common reasons customers give for paying for
their invoices late.

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When to make a collection
call
A collection phone call is typically made after you’ve sent a
couple of payment reminders by email or SMS. If your first
reminder is effective, you won’t need to make a collection
call at all. Here’s a typical workflow:
 Call Courtesy
Always endeavour to speak with the right person
in the business i.e. the person who can take
action to pay your invoices. This might be the
business owner, the accounts payable staff
member, or the external bookkeeper. Introduce
yourself by name and the company you are
calling from. If you are leaving a message with
someone in the business who has no function in
accounts, don’t disclose that the call is about
unpaid invoices. Simply request a call back by
the end of the day.

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 Key communication
skills in collections
While you may not be formally trained in positive collection
techniques, your core skills in listening, empathy and negotiation
will go a long way to having productive conversations with your
customers who have become overdue debtors.

Listening: To deeply listen, learn to be comfortable with silence.

This allows you to pay attention to what’s said and what’s not said.
Be mindful of your customer’s tone and language. You may pick up
on frustration, embarrassment, evasion, remorse etc. Listening with
the intention to understand is a lot more powerful than simply
listening to reply.

Empathy: Connect with your debtor by sharing your understanding.

Connection helps to build the trust between you and your debtor
and that can open up an honest dialogue about payment. Practising
empathy also allows you to regulate your own emotions so you
don’t unwittingly unravel a payments conversation by reacting in
haste or anger.

Negotiation: A good negotiator can express their position and

reasoning clearly, seek a variety of solutions to the problem,
collaborate not dominate, persuade not manipulate, act decisively,
and reliably follow-through.

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 Intention
Remember that your phone call to debtors is probably just
one step in a workflow of reminders necessary to get paid.
(Data from ezyCollect shows that 52.9% of debtors pay
after three or more reminders.) The intention of your
phone call will depend on where you are in your workflow
(first reminder, second reminder, third reminder, etc). In the
following scripts, the intentions of the phone call are to:

(1) resolve disputes

(2) remove hurdles to payment
(3) accept a credit card payment over the phone
(4) establish a date when you can expect to be paid.

Other intentions of your phone call may be to inform your

debtor that you are engaging a debt collector, or to advise
that you are no longer able to do business with your
customer.

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 Call scripts for 7
common excuses for
late payments
Forgot to Pay Customer: I got busy and forgot to pay.

You: I knew you’d be able to give me a reason. Thank you. I’m glad I called.
I understand how busy you can get. Now that I have you on the phone, do
you want to do a credit card payment now?

Customer: I can do it later today or tomorrow.

You: I appreciate your prompt attention to this. I’ll make a note in our
system that we spoke about payment being received tomorrow at the
latest. Please let me know if you need anything more from me. Thank you
and have a great day.

The invoice has Customer: I haven’t paid because you’ve invoiced me incorrectly.
mistakes (the
customer is correct) You: I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware there was a problem with the invoice. Can
you tell me more?

Customer: (Explaining the problem.)

You: Thank you for explaining that to me. Let me check I have understood
that correctly (repeat your understanding). I’m going to speak with our
sales representative, Louise, and email you a new invoice today if
necessary. If Louise or I need to call you today to clarify anything, what’s
the best way for us to contact you?

Customer: You can call me on this number.

You: Thank you for your help. I’m aiming to get this sorted out today.

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The invoice has Customer: I haven’t paid because you’ve invoiced me incorrectly.
mistakes (the customer
is incorrect) You: I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware there was a problem with the invoice. Can you
tell me more?

Customer: (Explaining the problem.)

You: Thank you for explaining that to me. Let me check I have understood
that correctly (repeat your understanding). I’m looking at your invoice now
and the charge you are querying is for (insert reason). We charge that when
(explain reasons). That charge has been agreed to in our contract, that’s why
you can see it on this invoice. Do you have any questions about the contract?

Customer: I never saw that on the contract.

You: Let me email you a copy of the signed contract now. If you have any
questions please call me back on this number. Otherwise, can I please get an
estimated payment date from you?

Customer: It will be paid by the end of the month.

You: If you wait until the end of the month you will be incurring late
payment fees, also agreed to in our contract. If you pay by the end this week
then late payment fees will not apply.

Customer: Okay, I’ll pay by the end of this week.

You: Thank you for letting me know. I’ll make a note in our system to expect
payment by end of this week. Please review the contract and if you need to
speak with our sales representative, just give Louise a call. Thank you for
your time and have a great day.

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I never Customer: I haven’t paid because I haven’t seen your invoice.
received
your invoice You: I’m glad you told me. Can I please verify the email address I should send the invoice
to?

Customer: (Gives the email address you have on record.)

You: That is the email address I sent the invoice to last month. Can you please check your
junk folder to make sure our invoices aren’t getting blocked? I’ll issue the invoice again
while I have you on the line. Did it come through?

Customer: Yes, I see it.

You: Great. Because of our communication issue, can we agree to a new due date next
week?

Customer: Yes, I’ll pay that next Thursday.

You: Thank you, I appreciate it. I’ll make a note in our system and follow-up next week if I
haven’t seen the payment come through. Have a great day.

(Nb. With ezyCollect, you can track when a debtor has opened your reminder email).
https://blog.ezycollect.com.au/blog/new-feature-release-tracking-emails
I’ll pay soon Customer: I don’t have the money this week. I’ll pay soon.

You: I’m sorry to hear that. How’s business going?

Customer: (Explains reasons for cash flow shortage.)

You: Thank you for sharing that with me. It sounds like cash flow is tight. That’s tough to
manage, we’re always trying to manage our cash flow, too. I’d love to keep you on as
customer; we’ve worked well together in the past. I think a payment arrangement would
help us both. What do you think?

Customer: What does that mean?

You: It means we agree on part payments until the invoice is paid in full. That way we
can both manage our cash flow better.

Customer: OK, let’s do that.

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You: (Suggest your payment plan.) Thank you for committing to make those payments.
I’m glad we could sort that out together. Have a great day.
 Customer: I’m not at my desk. I’ll pay when I’m back in the office.
I’m out of the office
You: You sound busy. Did you notice the Pay Now* button on our invoice? If you
click that you can pay via your mobile phone at any time.

Customer: Okay.

You: With that in mind, can you please give me an indication when you can
complete the payment? I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Customer: I’ll pay today.

You: Thank you, I really appreciate that. I’ll make a note in our system that we
spoke. And please send in your feedback about out online payments system.
We implemented it to make payments easier for busy customers like you. I’d
love to know how it works for you. Thanks and have a great day.

*With ezyCollect’s Simplypaid online payments, you can add Pay Now buttons
on your invoices and reminders so customers can click and pay online anytime,
anywhere.

https://ezycollect.com.au/simplypaid

I already paid the Customer: Why are you calling me? I already paid the invoice.
invoice
You: Our system hasn’t recorded the payment. Let me look into it further. When
did you pay and how did you make the payment? Online? Cheque?

Customer: (Gives details of payment.)

You: Thank you for the information. I can investigate that today. I’ll give you
another call if there appears to be a problem with the payment getting through.
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time today.
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 Done with care and consideration, your
phone calls to customers can reinforce your
expectations of being paid promptly, and
reveal important information about your
customer’s payment intentions. Log your call
notes and share with your team so that you
have a complete history of communications if
you need to continue the conversation later.

To access ezyCollect’s reminder templates

and automated debtor management system,
start a trial today.

https://ezycollect.com.au/start-your-free-trial

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