Читать книгу One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money - Harold Morse Dunphy - Страница 80

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That a smile, a pleasant word and a liberal amount of good humor will succeed better in the collection of accounts than the bullying method, was the idea of a young friend of ours who decided to make Collections a regular business.

About all he had with which to make a beginning was a desk, three chairs, a small rug, a second-hand typewriter, and $50 for some printed matter and a month’s office rent.

He had arranged with a young lawyer friend of his to attend to whatever litigation might be necessary, and the attorney’s name appear on his letter heads as counsel for the agency.

Then he called upon the leading merchants and solicited their accounts, on a basis of 5 per cent on the fairly good ones, and from 24 to 50 per cent on others.

In every case where it was possible, he called upon the debtor personally, and possessing a most pleasing and sympathetic manner with which to meet the usual “hard luck” stories he encountered, he was able not only to impress the fact that he was the debtor’s friend but to compel a recognition of the creditor’s rights and equities in the matter.

As a result of this method he collected many old accounts that were regarded as hopeless, and made his business pay.

In those cases, however, where the debtor was defiant and inclined to not to care he dealt with them judiciously.