Yours very truly, "Alibi" letters of this sort are seldom, if ever, as effective as letters that possess the characteristic of credibility, discussed in Chapter III. Even a letter like the following tends to arouse doubt, and in many cases would not be as effective as one that gives only a plain statement of the facts.
Dear Sir: It was, no doubt, merely an oversight on the part of your bookkeeper that discount was deducted on invoice No. 8,941, dated October 10th, as we did not receive your payment until December 3rd.
Will you kindly include this amount ($1.Q0) with your next order? Yours very truly, • 7. Collection letters; general requirements.—There is no fundamental difference between the require ments for writing effective credit letters and those for writing successful collection letters. The main difference between these two types of letters is in the object, or end; one prevents, the other attempts to cure. This difference is marked, but the means of gaining the end is the same in each case—writing from the reader's point of view.
As in the case of other letters, the right attitude toward the addressee is of fundamental importance.. What attitude toward him will best enable the cor respondent to write a letter that will secure payment, if possible, without arousing antagonism? That is a big question. To induce any addressee to pay out money and at the same time to keep his good-will, is, in most cases, a task that requires no little skill and tact.
"You can't get even with a man and get his money at the same time," is an epigram that contains sound common sense. The man who writes a successful col lection letter generally insists confidently and firmly, but courteously, that the debt must be paid. He makes it clear that it is not a question of the debtor's conferring a favor by settling, but that it is rather the privilege of the debtor to pay promptly what he owes. As stated in the letter in Chapter II, Section 9, "You have a little of my money," is the idea that the correspondent should emphasize. If he does so it is not likely that he will make the mistake of writing in the apologetic tone that marks so many collection let ters, and so he will probably avoid the mistake of of fering an excuse for wanting the money. A corre
spondent who takes this point of view will also, in all probability, make requests regularly for payments due. The fact that payment is often demanded only at irregular intervals explains why many accounts are uncollectable. They grow bad gradually, on account of the collector's lack of promptness and firmness.
Another general requirement is careful considera tion of the true cause of the debtor's failure to pay promptly, as agreed. If the bill is not promptly paid when rendered, simply because the debtor is careless or is not in the habit of paying until he is requested to do so, a courteous request for payment is usually sufficient to secure results. If the debtor is unable to pay, the cause of inability to pay determineS the kind of letter. Sometimes debtors are classified ac cording to this basis as "good pay," and "bad pay," but such general classifications are seldom accurate, except when there is not the least doubt in which class the debtor belongs. It is best to cultivate consider able confidence and optimism in carrying on collection correspondence. It is accordingly clear that a gen eral use of the "bad pay" classification is likely to in terfere with success. This does not mean, however, that it is not well to recognize the probability when a debtor has apparently made up his mind not to pay, but it does mean that it is seldom wise for a firm to let the debtor who is, without doubt, in the "bad-pay" class know that the house realizes what the situation is.
8. Use of form collection correspond ence each case is difficult. Carefully prepared form letters are used extensively, but they are most effec tive when skilfully adapted to the individual cases. Some collection men, however, favor the use of letters that are obviously forms because their use would plainly show the debtor that he was being treated in the same way as other debtors. It is safe to follow this practice in cases in which a simple reminder is all that is necessary. Yet, even in such cases, the use of a form might result in further delay since a form letter would carry the definite suggestion that delay is common, that other debtors are in the same boat, and that the failure to pay is considered lightly by the creditor.