MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.

TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY

MANAGEMENT.
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CUSTOMER CARE.

Def: customer service is about giving customers what they want and when
they want it and in the best possible way.

IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD CUSTOMER CARE.

1. Increases customer numbers.

2. Referrals.

3. Frequency of customer visit.

4. Satisfied customers/ customer certification.

5. Creates a good work environment for employees.

6. Good relationship of a customer.

HOW TO BUILD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH A CUSTOMER.

1. Always greet the customer.

2. Work towards meeting the customers expectation.

3. Advice the client- NHIF, Business insurance.

4. Keep client updated with any changes within the organization.

PRINCIPLES/SKILLS OF A GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE.

MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
1. Clear communication skills- Use the language that the customer can
understand.

2. Ability to use positive language always- show the customer that

everything may be possible.

3. Knowledge of the product- Know your products from front back to be

able to satisfy your customers.

4. Attentiveness- Listen to a customer feedback and using the right

language.

5. Patience- Be patient to listen to clients e.g. the frustrated ones.

6. Show customers they are valued- Dont assume them, take care of
their need or request in a timely, efficient and in the correct manner.

7. Time management skills- always keep time as you have promised the
clients e.g. visiting them.

8. Integrity- Do what is right always.

9. Listen to customers complaints.

10. Closing ability-Looking for a solution to all complains.

11. A calming presence.

The Eleven Characteristics of a Loan Officer

Very little time I have spent of these first three weeks of my internship in the actual office of
Santo Domingo Norte. Instead, I have spent most of my time running around with the loan
officers from meeting to meeting, from community to community. And during this time I have
become fascinated by the work these women do (in this office all of the staff are women). On
average, loan officers start working as early as 6:30 am and do not stop until 6 PM or so.
Therefore, during this time I have nailed down just some of the requisites needed to be an
Esperanza loan officer. My hope is that after reading this post you will understand how
incredible it is that Esperanza has found people with such unique characteristics.
What is an asesor or asesora (loan officer)? What is her role? And what characteristics does
he/she need to have to be successful?
1. Authority: Handling a bank of hope requires discipline. One of the disciplines of
Esperanza requires every associate to be present at every bi-weekly meeting and to be
there on time. They also collect money and that is always a topic that needs to be treated
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
carefully. To establish that discipline in the Dominican culture requires controlling,
rewarding, and yes, sometimes punishing too.
2. Friend: Esperanza is not a bank and thus, loan officers are more than just the people who
collect the money. They need to act as personal, spiritual and business counsellors. In
order to have a successful bank of hope, there needs to be a good relationship between
the associates and the loan officers. Therefore, loan officers need to establish trust with
the associates and turn that trust into a friendship.
Newton de la Cruz uses humor to establish a relationship with a community in Los Alcarrizos
3. Independent: While it is true that loan officers spend a lot of time in meetings where
there are many people, these women also spend a huge part of their day by themselves.
When they are walking, travelling in carros publicos (type of public transportation
similar to a taxi) or motoconchos (motorcycle taxis), and when they deposit the money
at the bank they have no one to talk to (in a way I think that is why they enjoy my
companion so much). I bet it is difficult for Esperanza to find women as independent as
these loan officers are.
4. Fearless: These women get into the poorest communities of Santo Domingo with their
phones and cameras, they travel with money in public transportation, and ride in old
motorcycles without helmets. After three weeks with them, I can tell you that doing all of
that in a single day is pretty dangerous. Yet, they seem to enjoy it; apparently they like the
adrenaline involved with it.
Three people in a small motorcycle, with no helmets, and riding through non-cemented streets is
a daily activity for loan officers here
5. Extremely flexible and adaptable: Weekly schedules are pretty much coordinated on
Mondays every week, but in a country like the Dominican Republic schedules are only
plans. You can try to follow the plan, but many things can happen during the day and loan
officers just need to improvise and adapt to the situation. They have to think fast, decide
fast, act fast in order to visit the greatest amount of people in one day.
6. Competitive: So maybe this is not a requirement, but it may help. I found two loan
officers who have been working for three years in the same office. And both of them are
considered two of the most successful loan officers across Esperanza just to give you an
idea of what I mean by successful, they are both pretty close to having 500 associates.
The two loan officers are really good friends, but they are also great competitors. They
both strive to get more associates and to have successful banks that pay their loans on
time. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons for their success.
7. Energetic: It is 3 PM in the afternoon, right after Dominican lunch time (a lunch made
out of rice, beans and steak). The sun is hot and bright and humidity feels like 3,000%. To
make things worse, the zinc ceiling of the church where the bank meeting is going to be
held is keeping all the heat inside. Just like the loan officer and me, the associates are
feeling the hot too and they are tired cause its been a long day. However, the meeting has
to take place right? Well, if you want your associates to have energy, you better start
showing it yourself. That is what happened last Wednesday in a Bank of Meeting where
Kenya, one of the loan officers, responded to the situation in a way that I am still amazed
to remember. She got up from her chair and started singing loudly her Christian songs.
Kenyas energy and intensity was contagious so the associates followed her. Wow!
Imagine doing that 8 times a day, every day.
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
8. Conflict manager: So many times the bi-weekly meetings go pretty smoothly. The
associates are on time, they bring all the money for their payment and a little extra in case
someone didnt. But many times the associates are late to the meeting, they dont bring
their money and the rest of the bank refuses to pay for their fellow associates. As a
consequence, conflict arises at the meeting in the form of gossip and sometimes in
shouting. And the mediator of that situation, of course, has to be the loan officer. Not
everybody can handle a conflict like this between 30 Dominican women, I can assure you
that.
9. Punctual: Although this may seem like an obvious requirement for any job in the world,
you have to remember that in Latin America in general there is different conception about
time. In the Dominican Republic they call it the Dominican time to refer to that 30-
minute to one-hour time frame in which it is OK to be late. However, Esperanza is
constantly seeking to change this mentality and this conception in their associates.
Punctuality in fact is one of the disciplines that every associate accepts to follow when
they accept their loan, and it is part of the verbal contract that is repeated at every bi-
weekly meeting. Therefore, as an Esperanza representative, loan officers are supposed to
be the example of such punctuality.
10. Patient: At least once a week, every loan officer experiences problems with payments. A
loan officer cannot leave the meeting until all the money for the payment is complete
and that can take a while (2-3 hours sometimes). Seated under the sun and sometimes
skipping meals, loan officers have to be patient and wait until the associates collect all the
money that has not been paid yet.
11. Leader: In conclusion, that is how most associates think of our loan officers: as leaders.
Associates are followers because loan officers are caring for them, helping them, teaching
them, and controlling them as well. Therefore, loan officers have to be able to meet the
expectations and act like leaders of her banks of hope and their communities. And well,
you know how difficult it is for most organizations and companies to find leaders right?
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.

DELIQUENCY MANAGEMENT.

Defnt:

Delinquent loan defn:

5 CS OF LENDING.

Commonly referred to as the five Cs, heres what your banker wants to know
about you and your business:

1. Character: Hopefully the banker sitting across the desk from you is just as
interested in your character as your credit score (many are not), the way they judge
your character probably has a lot to do with your score. In September I wrote about
Traci Flynn, a community banker, who considers character an important part of
how she evaluates potential borrowers. How she evaluates borrowers might be
insightful. Shes not looking for the perfect borrowershe knows there arent very
many of them. What she is looking for is a good management team, realizing that
even someone with a bruise or two who has done everything they can to stay current
with their obligations, could be a good customer. If they have a good management
team and they have some of these other factors in place, we can make a case to the
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
lending board that the business is a good candidate for a loan, she says. Of course
there is a credit threshold we wont go below, but we want to make sure were doing
the best we can for all the small businesses in our community. When she says
some of these other factors shes also talking about how you and your business
approach the other Cs.

2.Credit Score: Although this is listed as number two, it should probably be number
one. Its pretty much a go-no-go measure for most traditional lenders, and although
alternative lenders are willing to work with borrowers with credit scores as low as even
500 (on a case-by-case basis), they all have different credit score thresholds they wont
go below. Whenever I talk to lenders, they uniformly suggest that credit score is really a
measure of your willingness and commitment to meet your financial obligations. Its
pretty cut and dried at most banks, but many alternative lenders understand there are
myriad reasons why someones credit score might be low. And, depending on the reason,
may still be willing to work with you. Even though there are lenders that will work with
small business owners with less than perfect credit, your credit score is critically
important. For the smallest small businesses, your personal credit score is critically
important. When meeting with a lender, you should know your score and be prepared to
explain anything negative on your report. Give the lender a reason to look beyond the
score.

3. Capacity: This is the monthly or annual revenues question. No lender is interested in

giving a loan to someone who has no means to repay it. Whats more, even if you have
great credit and are in an idea-stage or early-stage startup and have no revenues, its
probably not a good idea to be looking for financing anyway. Ive been where you are and
understand the desire to get things up and running. Nevertheless, there are times when
its best to take a slower approach, bootstrap an idea to get it off the ground, or try what
the Pepperdine survey says 71 percent of your colleagues do, reach out to friends and
family.

4. Capital: Growing up in a small business family and working with my father and my
mother in the family business, I can think of more than one time when my dad would
say something like, If I had that, I wouldnt need a loan from the bank. He was
complaining about the cash his banker expected him to have on hand before he would
offer him a loan. Its important to remember that bankers are highly risk averse and
want to make sure borrowers have a little bit of skin in the game. From their perspective,
the thought is a little skin in the game will make it harder to walk away. It makes sense
too, but we all know your blood, sweat, and tears are a pretty substantial investment too.
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
Having some cash on hand for day-to-day cash flow and maybe a little set aside for a
rainy day tells the lender the business loan youre

looking for isnt a last-ditch effort to keep your company alive for the next few months
while your business continues to falter.

5. Collateral: Banks and other traditional lenders consider assets like real estate or
capital equipment as collateral. Alternative lenders might consider your accounts
receivable or monthly credit card receipts as collateralwhether or not they identify it
that way. I remember the days when I could get a little extra capital on my signature;
those days are over for most small business owners.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC)

1. Clients- a) Business- Min 6 months in operation.

-Copy of license.

- Business records.

- Business Neighbors.

- Impromptu visit.

b) Home- wall hangings- Photos.

-ask for glass of water, pen

-Request client to switch on/off the lights.

2. Visit guarantor home/ business.

3. Meet the next of kin.

THE NON FUNDABLE THREE PS

1. Police.
MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
2. Politician.

3. Pastor.

HOW TO MANAGE DELIQUENT LOANS.

4 CATEGORIES OF A DEFAULTER.

1. Has ability to pay and willing to pay.

2. No ability to pay but willing to pay.

3. Not willing to pay but has the ability.

4. Have no ability and not willing to pay.

Analyze the loan risk.

RECOVERY PROCESS:

a) 1 day- 30 dayscall and visit the client, ensure the loan is paid and if not
paid issue a warning letter and copy the guarantor.

b) 31days-60 days- issue 1st and 2nd demand letter and involve the guarantor.

c) 61days-90 days- Recoveryuse of auctioneers or team work.

CAUESE OF LOAN DEFAULT MEASURES TO CONTROL LOAN DELIQUENCY.

1.Poor appraisals 1. Ensure thorough appraisals are done and also have sec
2.poor monitoring in the 2. have check lists before funding the loan e.g. loan comm
lending process visit
3. Poor follow ups and
monitoring of delinquent
loans. 3. Daily follow up of the loan and daily update on the sam
4.poor customer care 4. Ensure you provide the clients with the best customer c
5.overfunding 5. do good business appraisals
6.sickness 6. insure the business
death
natural calamities

*Lack of due diligence by officer

* Lack of transparency- Officer and client

MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.

QUESTION AND ANWER SESSION

MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.

EXAM.

STAFF NAME:
..

POSITION:
.

DATE:

1. Explain five Cs to consider before funding?(10 marks)

MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
2. Give five reasons why do we need to have good customer care?(10
Marks)

3. Highlight the key indicators that show the customer is satisfied with
your services? (5 Marks)

4. Give five causes and measures of loan default.(15 marks)

MICRO FINANCE TRAINING.
TOPICS: CUSTOMER CARE AND DELIQUENCY
MANAGEMENT.
5. John visited Palla credit to apply for a loan of Ksh 20,000, Mark his loan
officer after visiting the client in his business; he found out that John
was in a position to pay Ksh 50,000 comfortably. Since the clients
business was doing well, he didnt visit his guarantors and the clients
home Mark advised his client to increase his loan amount to Ksh
50,000. Discuss(10 Marks)