Collections Foundations Training Course
New course for 2025!
$428 Per Person
(Volume Discounts Available!)
Do your employees need the confidence and skills to handle sensitive financial discussions while maintaining positive customer relationships?
Managing collections can be challenging—employees must balance empathy, assertiveness, and professionalism to secure outcomes that work for both your business and the customer.
The Collections Foundations Training Course is specifically designed to transform how your employees approach collections, equipping them with proven skills to manage customer interactions effectively, even in tough situations.
Why Choose Our Collections Foundations Training Course?
When searching for collections training, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the options.
Many courses focus on generic customer service skills without addressing the unique challenges of collections.
Our course goes beyond the basics, blending customer service excellence with specialised techniques for negotiating, de-escalating conflict, and managing debt recovery conversations with professionalism and empathy.
Developed by seasoned industry experts and aligned with the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA) Quality Standards, this course provides actionable skills tailored to the realities of collections work.
Delivered live, online, and in an interactive format, the training ensures your employees gain practical expertise to approach every interaction with confidence and competence.
Learn more about the course by scrolling below or jump straight to a section:
Collections Foundations Training Course Fast Facts
Optimised for Online Learning (Virtual Training)
This course has been specifically designed for live, online delivery via Zoom, combining convenience with highly engaging, interactive development methods.
Employees benefit from short, focused sessions that ensure they stay motivated and retain critical collections skills.
The virtual format allows your team to participate from anywhere with an internet connection—whether they’re in the office, working remotely, or at a different location.
The Collections Foundations Training Course guides employees through the essential behaviours and techniques required for effective collections.
These skills empower them to manage sensitive financial conversations with empathy, assertiveness, and professionalism, driving better outcomes for both customers and your business.
Delivered in two short, 3-hour modules, this course minimises operational disruption while maximising learning outcomes.
Employees can immediately apply the skills learned in the first session, reinforcing their capabilities and confidence before progressing to the second module.
Course Suitability
The Collections Foundations Training Course is designed to support employees in any role that involves managing customer interactions with a focus on financial discussions and collections outcomes.
The 2 x 3-hour sessions are structured to allow employees to learn and immediately apply their new skills between modules, reinforcing confidence and capability.
These practical skills are relevant across all industries, products, and services, ensuring employees are equipped to handle collections scenarios effectively, regardless of their work environment.
Typical roles include:
- Admin/office staff managing payment or account-related enquiries
- Collections and accounts receivable teams
- Call centre agents handling financial or billing interactions
- Receptionists/front-of-house staff responsible for managing account-related escalations
- Telephone account management representatives
- Technical support teams addressing service issues tied to payments
- Complaints teams handling financial disputes or billing concerns
- Any frontline staff interacting with customers regarding payments or accounts
Course Outcomes
The Collections Foundations Training Course is crafted to provide employees with the essential skills needed to navigate financial conversations with professionalism, empathy, and confidence.
From managing sensitive payment discussions to diffusing conflict and negotiating effective agreements, this course delivers actionable techniques your team can implement immediately.
Tailored specifically for collections, the course draws on proven content from our most successful programs, ensuring your employees master the delicate balance between empathy and assertiveness required in every interaction.
With a focus on practical learning, the training incorporates hands-on role-playing, engaging activities, and real-world scenarios. This ensures employees build the competence and confidence to handle even the most challenging collections situations in a supportive online environment.
By the end of the course, your employees will not only receive a certificate of achievement but will also be empowered with skills to improve collections outcomes, strengthen customer relationships, and contribute to measurable success for your business.
Key course outcomes include:
Course Modules
6 hours of training delivered over 2 x 3-hour Sessions
The public version of the Collections Foundations Training Course is a six-hour program, delivered over two 3-hour sessions to minimise operational disruption while giving employees time to absorb and apply their new skills between sessions.
For added flexibility, the course can also be conducted privately, allowing you to tailor the dates, times, and duration to meet your specific business needs. For example, sessions can be scheduled one per week, delivered on consecutive days, or aligned with quieter business periods. The content can also be customised to address your organisation’s unique collections challenges.
Session 1 (3 hours)
We will teach your employees the critical skills and behaviours required to manage financial conversations effectively and achieve successful collection outcomes. This session focuses on building confidence, improving customer engagement, and mastering techniques used by top collections professionals.
1. The Psychology of Customers
Understand what customers want and need during financial difficulties, and how their emotions drive their behaviour in collections scenarios.
This module highlights why addressing both emotional and practical needs is essential to achieving business success.
2. How to Engage
Learn how to create a strong first impression that establishes trust and credibility from the very beginning of the interaction.
Employees will discover how to set clear expectations about the collections process to ensure transparency and collaboration.
3. Better Conversations
Apply advanced conversational techniques, inspired by the FBI, to gather meaningful information and build rapport quickly.
Employees will learn to assess customer needs effectively, allowing them to steer conversations toward productive solutions.
4. Negotiation & Problem Solving
Learn how to guide customers toward payment terms that meet business requirements while considering their financial situation.
This module focuses on overcoming obstacles with practical solutions that achieve realistic and sustainable outcomes for your business while maintaining professionalism and respect for the customer.
5. How to Educate
Equip employees with the skills to explain the collections process clearly while ensuring customers feel supported and informed.
Emphasis is placed on checking understanding and ensuring key information is communicated effectively.
6. Closing with Impact
Learn how to avoid awkward or abrupt call endings by using a structured approach to close with clarity and professionalism.
Employees will practise final checks, express gratitude, and leave customers with a positive last impression.
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Session 2 (3 hours)
Handling frustrated or upset customers is an inevitable part of collections, making it critical to equip your employees with the skills and confidence to manage these situations effectively.
In this session, employees will learn how to handle difficult customer interactions over the phone or in person, along with techniques for addressing complaints via email and online chat channels.
The training moves beyond outdated customer service clichés like “always have a smile in your voice,” instead offering practical, actionable strategies to diffuse tension and foster productive conversations.
Your employees will gain essential insights, techniques, and methods to actively listen, empathise, and take control of challenging interactions. These skills will enable them to de-escalate situations, address customer concerns, and achieve collections outcomes with newfound confidence and professionalism.
1. The Psychology of Complaints
Dive into the science of customer emotions and how they impact interactions during stressful financial situations.
Employees will learn to identify complaint types and tailor their responses to reduce tension and guide the conversation constructively.
2. Empathy and Intent
Understand how to acknowledge and validate customer emotions while transitioning into problem-solving.
Employees will build skills to balance empathy with assertiveness to meet both emotional and business needs effectively.
3. Handling the Most Difficult Customers
Learn vocal and behavioural techniques to de-escalate heightened emotions and address challenging customer behaviours professionally.
This module provides strategies for managing inappropriate or hostile interactions without compromising outcomes.
4. Group Practice
Engage in realistic role-play scenarios to apply key skills in a safe, interactive environment.
Employees will practise handling a range of collection scenarios to build confidence and reinforce their learning.
5. Online Communication
Develop strategies for crafting effective responses to customer concerns via email and online chat channels.
This module includes tips for clear, empathetic communication that resolves issues quickly and maintains a professional tone
About CX Skills
CX Skills is a specialist training business that only delivers customer service, customer experience (CX), contact centre, workforce optimisation (WFM/WFO) and workplace wellness courses designed and facilitated exclusively by industry professionals.
We're the official training provider of the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA), and we are proudly Australian-owned and operated.
We’re grateful to have been trusted by hundreds of customers, and we’re proud of the amazing customer testimonials we’ve received, so you can rest assured that when you book a training course with CX Skills, your training is in good hands.
Recent Customer Reviews & Testimonials
Knowledgeable and Engaging
I recently completed the Customer Journey Mapping course, and it was an incredibly insightful and valuable experience. The course content was well-structured and covered all the essential aspects of customer journey mapping, from understanding customer personas to creating detailed journey maps.
The instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, providing real-world examples that made the concepts easier to grasp. Overall, I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to enhance their skills in customer journey mapping.
It has equipped me with the knowledge and confidence to improve customer experiences and drive better business outcomes.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Kate for a lovely review of the course and we’re thrilled to hear it’s provided you with the skills and confidence you need to make a difference in your Council!
Great course! Great Trainer
I recently completed a 3-part training course with Simon (Reception PRO). It was incredibly helpful and practical, significantly enhancing my communication and writing skills. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to improve their communication abilities.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Kevin for your feedback and thrilled to hear you enjoyed the course!
Great session!
Simon was an engaging trainer, making sure we were all following up with his pace.
He was able to set examples and delivered a presentation with all the details we needed.
Thank you Simon for your passion and great work!
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Michelle, glad to hear the passion came through and that you enjoyed the training 🙂
Valuable Insights and Engaging!
The presentation by Simon was excellent. Simon is a very enthusiastic presenter who presented the information content very well. I learned some valuable insights into customer service and techniques with engaging people. Well done 🙂
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Stuart, really glad to hear the training hit the right spot!
Exceeded My Expectations!
I would like to say that Simon Blair from CX Skills has exceeded my expectations in providing the training in 3 sessions. The training content was apt and is helping me with my interactions on day-to-day basis. The ease with which Simon trained us is exceptional.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks for the wonderful review Bijal and we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed the training!
Excellent tips, tricks and skills!
Simon has a depth of knowledge and experience. He breaks things down using simple and easy communication, and is a fantastic trainer. I would highly recommend if you require sharpening some of the skills in your toolset.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Joel, glad you enjoyed the training and loved the short and sharp review!
Simon is an absolutely amazing trainer and educator!
Highly recommend Simon, his extensive knowledge and experience makes for really engaging and fun training sessions. He has an absolute passion seeing people excel at phone and sales skills. Highly recommend! Thanks again, Chris.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Chris for your lovely review – he really does have a passion for so we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed the training and we wish you well for applying the skills to support the growth of your business!
Thank you so much, great course!
I appreciate your time Simon, I have learned a lot and had fun in the process 🙂
Informative and fun!
Thanks for the training Simon, it was very informative and enjoyable!
Informative and Fun!
Simon was a very helpful coach who took great care in providing me with an enhanced understanding of customer service. The methods he taught me were followed by roleplay scenarios and the psychology involved. I greatly benefited overall as he gave me personalised application catered towards my job, with an in-depth reflection of previous difficult calls I received. Was both informative and fun. Would highly recommend.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Mitchell, what a great review that sums up Simon well! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
Great Course with a Great Trainer
Daniel was a terrific trainer, he was extremely engaging and encouraging to all participants. The content was great and provided myself and my colleagues a lot of clarity around how to improve our quality process. I definitely recommend this course for anyone looking to expand and/or improve their quality assurance procedures.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Shayanna, he’s definately one of the top trainers in the world for both expertise and engagement – glad to hear you enjoyed the course!
Great course! Great facilitators/consultants - thanks Rod and Simon
We can’t thank Rod & Simon enough for the flexible way they accommodated our team and our learning needs. We undertook the creation of our Customer Experience Journey in addition to our normal work and Rod & Simon enabled us to be supported to undertake the work in between our sessions so that each training sessions was then applied into practice.
We feel more than capable now to undertake more Customer Experience Journey Mapping exercises independently. Thankyou again Rod & Simon!
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Melissa for leaving a lovely review for Rod and Simon and we’re thrilled you’ve been able to adopt the learnings and lead the charge on customer journey mapping for your business!
Feedback for training
Good training, learned many new things regarding call centre & leadership skills. Training provided by Marc was excellent.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Shah, glad to hear you enjoyed the course with Marc and good luck on your progressing your career!
Highly recommended, informative and well structured
I would highly recommend Simon Blair to anyone looking to enhance their customer service skills.
He presented the material in a clear and engaging way, making it easy to understand and keeping everyone involved.
The session was overall fun and informative, thanks to Simon’s excellent teaching style.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Maria for taking the time to leave some lovely feedback, that’s great to hear you enjoyed the course and had some fun in the process!
100% Recommended!
Many aspects of daily communication that we may use, or may never have experienced are broken down into usable and repeatable key points.
It’s been one week since the course and I have already found a notable difference in the manner clients respond to my attempts at communicating, after implementing skills discussed in the course.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Todd, so thriled to hear that you are putting the skills to use and it’s making a difference – that’s exactly what we loved hearing!
Excellent Training Session on Customer Service
I thoroughly enjoyed the session. Made me re-think how I communicate in general, and the FBI techniques were very interesting and clicked once you figured it out.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Logan, glad you enjoyed it and yes, those FBI techniques are great once you know them!
Very Informative Course
The course was very interesting, we learnt skills that can be developed both professionally and personally!
The trainers were knowledgeable and delivered a informative course that had great content and was able to be tailored to our specific industry.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Rebecca, thrilled to hear you enjoyed the course and that the team also enjoyed the learnings and have already started to use them!
Highly Recommended , " Five Stars all the Way"
This training transformed my thinking both professionally and personally.
It emphasises Communicating clearly – Avoid dumping too much – Breakdown the information – Don’t Assume – Do your Checks.
These strategies are invaluable in any conversation. Thank you, Simon, for the excellent guidance – much appreciated.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Monika, great to hear the learnings have been invaluable!
Positive training course
I would like to show much appreciation to Simon and Nant for their customer foundation course. Simon and Nant were engaging and personable.
The teachings were related back to our work situations which was most helpful. The health and wellbeing model was a very valuable experience – allowing for vulnerability.
I have already used some of the strategies in my personal life and will continue to put the teachings into practise within my working relationships as well as my personal relationships with family and friends.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and guidance.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Erin, we love hearing that kind of feedback! So glad you’ve been able to use some of the strategies you’ve learned into practice and work and home 🙂
Strongly Recommended!
Did the introduction to contact centre manager course with Justin, and it was a fantastic experience!
You could clearly see the passion and joy Justin had for what he was teaching and it was clear to see his experience.
I really enjoyed some of the storytelling and practical examples Justin provided, it really helped tie everything together.
Strongly recommend!
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Jim, glad you enjoyed the course and some of the stories along the way – they certainly do help bring it all to life!
Some of the CX Skills Customers we've provided training for recently:
Flexible Pricing and Payment Options
Pricing: $428 AUD per person (ex GST) for six hours of live, online training. Discounts are available for group bookings:
• Save 15% when booking for three or more employees in the same transaction.
• ACXPA Members Save 25%: Membership includes additional benefits like access to self-paced training courses.
Private Courses: Tailor the content and schedule to your team’s needs, whether it’s one session per week, consecutive days, or times that align with your quieter business periods.
Payment Options: Credit card payments or invoicing (payment required before course commencement).
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you’re training one employee or an entire team, the Collections Foundations Training Course provides a proven pathway to improve collections outcomes, customer satisfaction, and business performance.
Secure your team’s spot today, or contact us to discuss private training options tailored to your organisation’s needs.
Purchase a ticket to a public Collections Foundations Course
All the publicly available Collections Foundations courses are listed below – click on your preferred date to purchase tickets.
Tickets can be purchased instantly with a credit card or, you can request an invoice on the checkout page.
If you have larger numbers (more than 6) and would like more flexibility with dates and times, contact us for pricing and availability on a private course.
We’ll be announcing our first public dates soon!
New public course dates are published on a regular basis!
This course is available for private bookings!
The course is also available to be delivered privately just for your employees, either onsite or online/virtually, with dates and times to suit you.