NLP Connections - the ultimate NLP resource on the internet - and the largest NLP forum!

Well, bascially I work for a collection agency here. I'm pretty good with persuation techniques when I'm meeting with someone face-to-face, but such a thing often (if not always) requires rapport, even if only subtle rapport. With a sales situation, one is almost always faced with the situation in person. With collections, this is almost never the case. 98% of the work is done by phone.

My question is how effective would language patterns/NLP in general be in the environment of collections? This considering that in most cases, the person you are trying to contact with is generally not wanting to hear from you from the very start. Gaining rapport is easy in many cases, but is it enough to be able to use NLP by phone successfully?

Do you think you need rapport?

I always assumed that I would, but perhaps I do not? If I were to say things like,

"yeah, this sort of thing certainly makes you pay close attention to your finances, except my advice is a little different than just management. I don't necessarily even feel compelled to follow our policies. I mean obviously you'll feel the financial weights being relieved when you pay in full, so really it's just a matter of choice, wasn't it?"

etc. Bad exmple, I don't even know how to format those, but you get the idea. I would assume rapport would be a necessary factor...why wouldn't it be? And if it is, how far do I need to go with that? Would a language pattern (or something similar in format) work for someone you speak to for the first time?