Shari Roberts BlogShari's Blog
The Monthly Confessions of a Peter Win Memorial Scholarship Winner
July Blog
I've been living through Auckland's wettest July in years, all three men in my life have been sick and seem to have kept the momentum of a head and chest cold moving throughout the month with each one passing it in turn to the other until it starts to do a full round again. I know what you are thinking; here come the excuses for non-performance. Wrong!
I've been on top of it all and am now half way through my Credit Management Level 3 Certificate. During July I completed three more modules. In fact my study is probably the only thing that has kept me sane!
Module 2 was excellent it went into a lot of depth covering areas of work that I do in my job. It offered lots of ideas on how to improve procedures at work. It focussed on the recovery process and put why we do what we do into perspective. It covered different collection methods and introduced lots of different letter formats.
It introduced text messaging as a new form of communication, which made sense given that often a mobile phone number is our only means of contact for many clients and the usual pattern is no answer. With a text message you can be pretty confident that the message has been received.
Module 3 was really interesting exploring debt collection further and looked at what to do when debtors are ignoring you. It gave lots of examples of typical responses from debtors and offered effective ways to respond to them. For instance that classic line, "I'll put a cheque in the post to you today". Of course we all know how mysteriously all those cheques can get lost in the mail; best to respond, " great, I can save you the postage, we have a Rep in your area today I'll get them to visit and pick up the cheque."
There was also some really helpful debate about the appropriate attitude to take when dealing with debtors on the phone. To keep things up beat and not to lose it when people get angry, also not to lose perspective when you hear stories you can sympathise with; you are there to do a job and that is to retrieve debt, you have to make progress and it is persistence that will win through in the end.
Persistence… now that's a challenge I had this month. How to continue studying on my laptop after Isaiah, in an inspired moment of creative dance, raised a limb in the direction of his cup of hot chocolate and in an astonishing pirouette connected with the said hot liquid and sent it cascading over my keypad. There was only so much licking you could do! I now own a new laptop, its marshmallow pink, not that I am trying to attract any more hot chocolate.
Despite the best efforts of my three-year-old dancer though, I did move on and complete Module 4. I've really begun to move into areas of new learning now. This module was about the resolution process, attending the Disputes Tribunal and the procedures that precede a hearing. I understand now the need to take notes on everything that happens. If you don't document the history of your case you can face problems at the Disputes Tribunal that can produce unsatisfactory outcomes. I was terrified the one and only time I had to speak at the Tribunal. I know I will be much more confident the next time I'm called upon to do so because now I understand the process and what to expect.
My knowledge of the entire credit process is widening, and what I love about this internet based learning, is that I can do it anywhere. I can be out at my mother's and while she's wiping Isaiah's sticky fingers and cooing at Jeremiah, I can play on my girly pink lap top.
Oh and the big celebration of the month. I got an A- for my Massey business paper. |
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