We all know that person. The one who, no matter what, refuses to pay or, even worse, ignores you hoping that you will forget. These people are complicated to deal with, but with some helpful tips, even those tough people become bearable. As mentioned in other articles, this is aimed at membership organizations, but most suggestions will apply to various organizations. When collecting, it is essential to remember that if you are working in a membership organization, these are your friends you do not want to isolate them. I always had the policy that if you kept in contact with me and were upfront and honest, I would work with you to devise a plan that worked for you.
Harassment
The first step to any successful collection is communication, and by communication, I mean continuing to call and message the person. I know it sounds mean and annoying, but remember, this is your job. Harassing is a simple but effective move to encourage those who delay paying. When I was responsible, I would message those who were late for one week. It would then be weekly messages that would grow into a message every 3 or 4 days. If someone said they could be on XXXX day, then I would not message them until that respective day. As mentioned above, I will work with you if you keep in contact. This also allows you to talk with these people and, if you so choose, accommodate those who might need some financial help. No matter what you do, communicating and "harassing" those who have yet to pay should be your first step.
Late Fees
Late fees would be a good second option if the harassment did not work. These also work on two levels, making them super effective and probably my favorite tactic to get people to pay. The first way these fees work is the expected way; people will pay before the late fees hit, so they don't get the fees. Everyone expects this when they think of late fees; however, I have found another way to use the fees effectively. So after people are late, and the late fees have been applied, offer a deal for them. Wipe all of the late fees if they pay within the next 24 hours. This probably is the most effective tool I used, and everyone walks away happy. You get what you were sent to collect, and the other person feels like they got a deal. Yeah, you miss out on some fee money, but that is worth much less than the principal amount. Regardless, late fees are a solid second step, as it still is entirely internal to the group.
Restrict Privileges
I always would choose this option as my third choice, which is successful but has its downfalls. Basically, this option has you revoke whatever privileges your group offers until the person pays up. This could be anything from refusing to allow them to enter events to removal from group chats and anything in between. Restricting privileges should have a lot of success; however, it requires firmness from you and the rest of the group. If people do not back you up, it becomes tough to enforce these punishments. However, if you have a good group behind you, this action is one of the more effective ones.
Collections or Outside Help
I understand that this is everyone's least favorite option, and it sucks, but sometimes it becomes necessary if none of the other options have worked. I never used to do this unless they were dodging my calls and messages, and in two years, I think I only used this once. However, immediately jumping into a collection agency might not be the best option. Instead, I would message the family or significant other to give at least one final warning and give the family a chance to get them to respond. If they responded, we would work something out; if not, I would have to reach out to a collection agency and let them take over. It is important to note that I would never, and you should never, send someone to collections unless you have exhausted every other option as well as I would only do it if they had caused issues or had caused us a bill that we were trying to collect on. An example of such is if someone broke a window and we were trying to collect that bill.
Remember, these are often your friends, and you should avoid burning bridges as much as possible; however, sometimes, the other person backs you into a corner and gives you no choice. You are not in the wrong, and you are just doing your job. You got this.
If you have any other tips, please send them in. Those are the ones I used most commonly, and if you have any others, I would be happy to write another article with any other tips you guys send in.