You don’t get it better

Early in my career in receivables management, two directors of a publicly listed company came to my office to discuss their overdue lease payments. Their company had taken on a substantial amount of financing and was more than two months behind. We had sent legal letters of demand outlining the consequences of continued nonpayment. During our face-to-face meeting in a small room, one of the directors remarked, “A woman?! They send a woman to talk to us.” I stayed calm and asked whether they wanted to have the conversation. I was the representative available to discuss their account. They asked for more time to pay one month of overdue invoices, but they couldn’t give me a firm date for the next payment. They wanted to pay well past the deadline in our letter. I told them they needed to pay at least one month of overdue invoices by that deadline. Another month’s invoices would soon come due, bringing the account to 90 days past due, and we had no tolerance for delinquent accounts.

The director who had made the comment stood up and said, “I knew that we cannot work things out with her,” then stormed out. The other director stayed and tried to persuade me to chang

e my position. After some time, his colleague returned. In the end, they understood that we would not change the requirement: at least one month of overdue invoices had to be paid by the deadline.

By then, I had handled many in-person discussions with customers about repayment, across a range of amounts and circumstances. A calm demeanor helped, but I learned that staying focused was just as important. Customers may try to shift the conversation or challenge the person across the table. I found it more useful to return to the account, the amount due, and the agreed deadline than to react to personal remarks.

In a collections conversation, gender or age should not change the payment terms. Set out the status of the account, state what payment is required and by when, and remain consistent. In my experience, consistency and focus are essential when discussing overdue receivables.