Stimulating Sales (financial services coach)
No commentsBy Mason Hinton
What is it that gives business life and vitality? Yes, sales. Without sales, our businesses will dry up and die. On the other hand, a healthy growth in sales means an increase in profits. Yeah, we business owners spend a lot of time watching for signs of growth, and plotting to make it happen. Here are 5 sure-fire ways to get customers to shell out the bucks before they leave your place of business.
1. Tantalize Their Emotions
When was the last time you bought a candy bar? Exactly what is it about chocolate that makes us waste perfectly good money on something that lasts less than five minutes? Yep, it’s the feeling of satisfaction we feel after we’ve eaten the sweet morsels.
Everything consumers purchase is for one purpose… to satisfy some emotional feeling they are looking for. Don’t believe it? Why do we buy cars? …security, to show off, personal satisfaction? Sure, we all want to look good and know that we’ll be able to get where we’re going safely.
Take advantage of the emotional pull purchases have on your customers, and dramatize. Paint word pictures that will enhance to pleasant feelings that come with the purchase you are trying to get them to make.
2. Scare The Heck Out of Them
What are your customers going to lose if they don’t buy your product? No, we don’t always have to stick with the pretty pictures that leave us all warm and fuzzy. Fear is as effective of a motivor as pleasure… sometimes greater.
Do you have fire alarms installed in your house? A dramatic mental picture of waking up in the night and not being able to rescue you child isn’t at all pretty, but will be much more likely to motivate you to invest in a fire alarm system than any pretty picture ever would.
Don’t hesitate to use a little negative influence if your product calls for it. Many people fear what they could lose more than they get excited about what they could gain.
3. Keep Buying A Simple “Yes” or “No” Choice
Are you planning a special sale? Take care to promote only one of each type of product at a time. Decisions can make the buying process more complicated and cost you sales. Yeah, the buyer who can’t make up his mind often leaves without taking anything with him… that’s money out of your pocket!
Do you have several related items you want to offer? Combine them into one package and watch your profit skyrocket!
4. Make It Easy To Buy
Several years ago, I found myself spending my lunch hour in a long line at the nearby fast food restaurant. After patiently waiting for more than 30 minutes, I placed my order only to discover they didn’t accept debit cards. Now, there’s no feeling of frustration quite like spending the best part of your lunch time waiting in line with a yammering stomach, only to be denied.
Your customers want to be able to pay in whatever way they choose when they walk to the cash register. If you want to attract the most customers, be sure they can pay using their favorite method.
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Customer Service Points in the Credentialing Business
By Monte Mccarty
Quality credentialing verification organizations (CVO’s) create an environment beyond simply generating credentialing reports for medical providers. A CVO with good customer service responds quickly to questions; has trained staff that is assigned to a particular client; can streamline the credentialing process; has good technology resources; and offers extra support, such as internal audits and tracking license renewals. An emphasis on customer service means that the CVO can supply substantive information and support to establish a true working relationship with a medical organization.
There are five areas of a CVO’s customer service to consider: flexible credentialing processes which can be adapted in response to client needs; a range of quality services; quick responses to clients; individual support; and solid technology practices. Although some service points, such as a fast response to questions, can seem small, these areas display the quality of the CVO, which will define the long-term relationship between the CVO and its clients.
Adapting credentialing services to client needs.
CVOs should be responsive to their clients’ needs. The CVO should be accredited by either accrediting organization: National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) or the Utilization Review Accreditation Councile (URAC) or comply with their credentialing standards. In addition, the CVO should add new credentialing standards for their clients and should also be able to adapt their credentialing processes by adding special criteria or using a subset of criteria. This flexibility includes making recommendations to streamline processes and working with clients to determine what they need rather than following a preset checklist.
Individualized support and quality controls.
Individualized service means that there is a dedicated representative for each client. There should be a known manager to handle difficult situations and an established route to lodge complaints. All personnel should be trained to perform credentialing reports according to the accrediting organization’s standards.
There should also be an established quality control system and regular internal audits for managing feedback, rewarding good service, and evaluating bad practice. The CVO should be able to supply a copy of their quality control policies and practices documentation. If they are accredited by NCQA or URAC, then there is a guarantee that these practices have been reviewed and audited and that their service meets industry standards.
High quality services.
Two attributes of quality work are timeliness and thoroughness. Good CVOs will return credentialing reports as quick as industry norms, meaning around 60 days for hospital standards (JCAHO) and 30 days for managed care standards (NCQA and URAC). The credentialing reports will also be complete - no missing data or criteria and with full supporting documentation. CVOs should have an established maximum number of requests they make to organizations for information and other avenues of finding information. Problem files should be brought immediately to the review committee’s attention. All of these practices work together to make a thorough credentialing report.
Additionally, good CVOs offer services such as tracking licensing dates and requirements (expirables) and disciplinary actions by various organizations (surveillance); consulting and training classes about credentialing processes; and support during internal audits.
Quick response to client contact.
Good CVOs respond to questions within 24 hours. They should answer any questions fully and as quickly and directly as possible rather than postponing or transferring them.
Technology resources.
CVOs should be using the most recent technology, such as databases, paperless credentialing, and web access with adequate security and access control.
Customer service is key to creating a good relationship between CVOs and medical organizations. Quality control policies, flexible credentialing processes and criteria, quick response time, good technology use, and responsiveness to questions and requests are five major areas where a CVO develops good customer relations. All these areas mean the CVO is responsive - that the CVO is paying attention to individual customer needs and consistently doing its best to meet them.
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Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 1:30 am and is filed under finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
