"Hi, Mr. Rivera. This is Sue Davis from Amalgamated Steel calling."

"Hi, Sue. It's good to hear from you again," said Mr. Rivera. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, it's about that matter we discussed last month," Davis said. "As I'm sure you realize, your construction company is behind on its payments."

"I remember," Rivera replied. "And I certainly appreciate the fact that you've given us a little more time to pay. But this has been a bad month for our company. Do you think we could get, say, another 30 days?"

"That's really not our policy," said Davis. "At least not for most companies."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Rivera.

"Well, from time to time, my boss has made some special arrangements for certain of our credit accounts," said Davis.

"What kind of arrangements?" said Rivera.

"Oh, just extra time to pay, or sometimes a way to recalculate payments to make them easier to handle," Davis said.

"Well, then, that's what I want," replied Rivera. "I want one of those special arrangements. Can you see what you can do about that?"

"Just a minute," stammered Davis. "I didn't mean that you could have more time."

"Why not?" Rivera said. "Your company doesn't discriminate, does it?"

Where did Davis go wrong?

Click "Next" for the answer.

Answer and Analysis

In wartime, loose lips sink ships.

In business, they can sink the bottom line.

In this case, it's hard to know where to start in terms of what went wrong.

First, Davis, her boss, and company need to be careful about potentially preferential treatment for ANY customers, lest they run afoul of the antitrust laws, which hold that all customers in a particular class must be treated equal.

It's possible that there might have been some justification for past transactions that were set up. We don't know in this instance, and that's not the point of this week's tip. But certainly, it's not any other customers' business. Bringing it up is fuel for their fire and definitely a way to lose control of the conversation.

Your job as collector is to deal with the facts - and only the facts - of your customers' situation.

When you're calling a customer about a late payment or any other problem, stick to that approach.

It's one thing to form a personal relationship with an account and engage in some pleasant social banter.

It's a different story altogether to reveal information about your company to your customers that they have no business knowing.