AR Tactics and Life Masteries You Can Use Today to Sharpen Your Strategy and Get That Money
by Carla Buggs, Revenue Recovery Operations — Collections, Fastly
At Fastly, we optimize and secure the delivery of internet content. Basically, our technology helps web and mobile pages load faster and more securely. I’ve been with Fastly for about four years, and a big part of who I am in this role involves me thinking about how to be human, how to be strategic, and how to use that to collect more money.
Time Out to Tune In
I start every day with three minutes of meditation, setting my intentions, getting myself centered, and making sure I’m in the right mind frame for collections. Then I set my goals by choosing the top three things I want to accomplish for the day.
After that, I check Tesorio to see who hasn’t paid yet, and I contact those people first because I want to get that money. That’s what I’m focused on: How do I bring in more revenue?
I do a reflection every single evening at 4:30pm. What could I have done better? What was a success, and how can I do more of that tomorrow? I’ve learned to take some time for myself, even if it’s just 15 minutes of yoga, because it’s what makes me really good at my job. I’m constantly centered, always focused on my strategy, and consistently getting things done.
It’s All About the Customer
With my customers, I’m as human as possible. I try to make every correspondence natural and conversational, whether it’s my email subject line, body copy, or word flow for my automated campaigns. Since we’ve moved to Tesorio’s AR platform, I’m spending much less time going through Google Sheets and more of my day focused on customer relationships and refining my collections strategies.
I engage with other AP people, especially the AP people right in my office. I ask, “What makes you pay an invoice faster? How many times does someone contact you before you respond? What kinds of emails don’t you respond to?” Strategic information can be gathered from your colleagues right now — make your colleagues your partners.
I’m always thinking about the customer experience, and I’m creating a relationship with the customer. I’m not just dialing for dollars! I am the end of the sales process, so I continue that customer focus. I make it about them and not about collecting money.
Do Your Homework to Get Paid Faster
Being prepared is foundational to my strategy, and I work with my colleagues to prepare for every interaction. I want to reinforce sales’ messaging. I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep or claims we can’t back, so I gather all the information I can.
Onboarding is huge — your sales team must collect all the information up front that you may need on the back end if the customer doesn’t pay. The burden is not on collections but on sales to get every detail into the system. The more information I have about the customer, the better I can do my job.
If needed, I’ll look on LinkedIn or Crunchbase to gather intel on a customer. Maybe it’s learning whether someone goes by Mike or Michael so my outreach can be more personable. Or maybe there’s a dispute. I’ll communicate with the AM to see if they have information about the customer that I don’t, or I may even do a D&B search to get a better picture of the customer and assess risks in advance of a call.
No matter the task at hand, it’s all about staying focused, executing my strategy, and getting that money in the door. Since we started using Tesorio, we’ve definitely seen an improvement in our DSO — and I’m much less stressed!
Want to learn more from Carla? Check out Coffee, Collections & Cash Flow with Fastly.