The Effectiveness of a Diplomatic Approach

Many propane and fuel providers across the country are frustrated by the habits of no-pay and slow-pay customers. After all, propane and fuel are primarily needed in the coldest months of the year, so if you’re not in the dead of winter, how are you supposed to leverage your product and service as an incentive for customers to pay up? A.R.M. Solutions has the answer to that issue: diplomacy in debt collections. Here’s why it works.

Money Is a Sensitive Topic

Whether it comes to salaries, cost of goods, or even a dollar that gets stuck in a vending machine, our financial situation truly has the power to affect our mood. The same applies to debt collections. When a customer fails to pay their bill, there’s almost always a reason for it. Demanding the money from them isn’t going to work, because you’ll increase the level of financial stress they’re feeling and they’ll get a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to your brand. This won’t encourage them to pay their bill OR return to you for service in the future.

Understanding the Customer’s Situation Is Key

Our diplomatic approach encourages customers to pay their overdue bills. As a third party, we are able to remove ourselves from the initial frustration that comes from the lack of payment, always ensuring a calm and caring voice during customer communications. We give customers the benefit of the doubt and an opportunity to explain why their bills are unpaid. This is extremely beneficial to your propane or fuel company because it will help you learn their reasoning. If they’re experiencing an issue, it’s likely that other customers are, too. You can use this information to tweak your operations and make things easier for your team and your customers alike.

We Keep Language Calm and Neutral

“Pay now or else” isn’t in our vocabulary. Instead, we use calm and neutral language to express that customers need to pay their bills. For example, we phrase our debt collection letters as balance validations. By conducting a balance validation, the customer has the opportunity to correct mistakes, which eliminates your risk of permanently alienating them with an accusation if your system happens to be in error. Assuming your data is correct, this comes across as non-accusatory and gives customers the chance to settle their balance without feeling attacked.

How We Ensure Diplomacy during Every Step of the Collections Process

Along with following the steps above, we have an entire diplomacy department that records and reviews every inbound and outbound call to use for training and growth. Understanding our customers in the propane and fueling space is our top priority, and our years of experience communicating with homeowners has allowed us to collect a wealth of knowledge that rivals most others in the industry.

We are pleased to be the only debt collector endorsed by the National Propane Gas Association. If you would like to learn about discounts through your propane association or find out more about our collections in general, please get in touch. We look forward to sharing the benefits of our diplomatic revenue recovery service.