Are You Setting Your Collectors Up For Success? Skill Enhancements Can Help.

In my last Tips article, I reviewed ways to help your collectors be more productive through automation. In this article I want to give you some insight on enhancing collector’s skills, so you can set your collectors up for success. 

To increase your collector’s skill levels, you may want to develop a training plan that ensures they have both the resources to continually progress and time scheduled in their work week for education. The training plan should address all the platforms your collectors have access to, as every platform requires some unique level of exposure.  Keep in mind that when you upgrade or migrate platforms, there should be corresponding training sessions to teach your collectors what is new and beneficial to them. 

As well as training on system changes, develop training to address areas where there may be deficiencies. By analyzing your current data (i.e. complaints, compliance issues, talk-off, client specific needs) you can discover areas which require re-education, and then create small classes or videos to address these specific subjects. 

Another area requiring constant awareness is the Industry’s ever-changing rules. As an incentive to remain aware of these changes, try using games or competitions to keep collectors current on Compliance, State restrictions, Client restrictions, HIPAA rules, and much more.  Games promote learning because your staff will feel they can be rewarded for their efforts. 

A final consideration when designing new training is utilizing collector’s inputs. Collectors have the best working knowledge of the current system, and they will know which areas need improvement or enhancement. Their inputs will not only help with developing new logic or training, but their involvement shows that you trust their ability to come up with solutions. 

You may want to contact your valued partners to consult with them on training documentation or suggestions on how to analyze your data to come up with some training options, and be sure to look for my final tip on “Setting your Collectors up for Success”. 

Author

Billie Barnes is an Operational Consultant for The Intelitech Group and has 25 years of ARM experience, including 13 years at Columbia Ultimate, 2 enlightening years at an Agency Law firm, as well as 11 years with The Intelitech Group (TIG). She has been a contributor to several articles in past TIG publications, with a focus on inspiring others to become more engaged in their work environments. Contact Billie