Page:Roy Ralph Hottman - Practical Collection Procedure (1923).pdf/68

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54
PRACTICAL COLLECTION PROCEDURE

debtor that you mean business, that you are determined to get the money. If a call is made perhaps a week or two weeks after the date agreed upon, the debtor feels that the collector is more or less disinterested and careless, and that having been put off one time, he will be just as easily put off a second time.

Should the debtor not be in when called upon, it is well to leave the bill there after penciling thereon that a second call will be made the following day or several days later. If he cannot be reached upon the second call, the same performance may be repeated. It is always well to leave some evidence of your efforts to collect the bill; the debtor is thereby constantly reminded of the debt, is aware that you are becoming insistent, are in earnest, and when you finally do meet him, he may regard you as a pest, but will in all probability pay up. He is also very apt to be considerably ashamed for having ignored your repeated requests for payment, left in his absence, and be apolo- getic for having caused you so much trouble. Where you are convinced that the debtor is purposely avoiding you, then the sending of some very strong letters to him, mentioning the calls made, will be of great benefit.


Tracing Debtors.

Where the debtor has moved from his former location, it is often difficult to trace him. However, one who always carries the bills in an inside pocket and does not produce them until the debtor is confronted, has a great advantage over the man who is conspicuous as a collector. Most people have little liking for the collector and enjoy very