Top7 or 10 Tips

Top Ten Client Feedback Questions

As program chairperson of my SCORE ** chapter I am always looking for new presenters to address the group. I frequently ask my fellow business counselors to give me some ideas for topics of interest to them.
In August one member approached me with an idea. He suggested inviting some of the clients that the counselors had worked with this year to one of our meetings to give us some feedback on our counseling techniques -both the highs and the lows.
Five clients were invited to our meeting and they were asked the first 5 questions of this Top Ten list. We learned a lot from the answers we got.
As 2005 comes to a close and we begin 2006 perhaps you are interested in finding ways to get clients to give you feedback about the products and services you offer. Here is a list of 10 questions you could use. Select a few that suite your situation. The key is to ask the question and then allow the client uninterrupted time to answer. Your job is to just listen!
1. What was the greatest benefit you derived from my service***? This question helps you to understand what is working. Sometimes you will be surprised by the answer. Our SCORE chapter has a limit of 3 counselors at one location to counsel one client. Our client panelists said the more counselors the better! We have now eliminated the restriction on the number of counselors.
2. What would you like to see more of when you work with me? For our session the panelists told us some counselors introduced themselves by telling about their business background during the sessions while others did not. The clients said they wanted to hear the qualifications of the counselors who were working with them. Are you forgetting to be consistent when delivering your product or service to your clients? We were! ☺
3. How could I improve my service? Clients often have ideas that are easy to implement but somehow you haven’t thought of. SCORE does both email and face to face coaching. These were face to face clients who wondered if they could get support between sessions through email. Easily done now that we know it might be helpful. (Our email addresses are already on our SCORE business cards!)
4. Is there anything you would like to see me stop doing? This question gives the client the opportunity to tell you about something that isn’t useful to him or her. It was suggested in our session that sometimes it is difficult for the business owner to meet with the counselor because the owner can’t leave his/her place of business. The SCORE clients wondered if it would be possible for the counselors to occasionally meet them at their own place of business. The answer was “Yes”. Again not something we had thought to offer consistently.
5. Is there anything you didn’t get from my service that you were looking for?
Here is an opportunity for the client to tell you other services that you might provide. If you are looking for ways to expand your offering this question is important. In the SCORE session one client wanted to know how he might get a counselor who actually worked in or owned the specific type of business that he had. Access to a database of the counselors in our chapter and their background would be helpful to the counselors and our clients. We will be putting one together. (We did have one counselor with exactly the right background for this client.)
6. Has my staff treated you with care, attention, and courteousness? This would be an important question for a service provider with an administrative staff to ask. Clients don’t always complain about their experience with your staff but might share something significant when asked.
7. Is there an issue that I have not spent enough time on for you? Sometimes clients allow you to move forward but are still thinking about a previous issue. This kind of question helps them to revisit areas they may have not understood and still have an unanswered question.
8. Am I doing what you want me to do? Most of the time we are doing what we think the client wants. It is good to check once in a while to find out if you are actually doing what the client wants.
9. Where have we been less than proactive in addressing your concerns? It may be that the client is expecting you to move into different areas that you think are being covered by other vendors or staff members. “Being proactive” may have a broader definition to the client than you are using. Asking this question might uncover new business.
10. Is our billing clear? Are you getting value for your money? The bill is often a source of anxiety for the client. He/she needs to know exactly what he/she is being billed for. Does your bill show that? This final value question is critical to insuring your client is satisfied with your product or service.
**SCORE – This is an organization that is part of the Small Business Administration in the US. SCORE volunteers are experienced managers and business owners who counsel small business owners without charge.
***I have used the word service here and also client. You could just as easily substitute product and customer.

About Alvah Parker
Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker’s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. To subscribe send an email to join-roadtosuccess@go.netatlantic.com.
Parker’s Value Program© enables clients to find a way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. She is both a Practice Advisor and Coach to attorneys, managers, business owners, sole practioners, and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at http://www.asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

Pakistan – Karachi Calling Cards

The Top 10 Reasons You Need a Point of Sale System

10. You have employees.
If you have employees you are open to theft, sweet-hearting and careless mistakes. You need a point of sale system to manage your employees, enforce your policies and insure that your money gets to you.
9. Pricing and Math Errors.
It is still amazing how many restaurants still use a calculator and hand written tickets. According to studies done by various institutions you are open to math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% of your annual volume. In a restaurant doing as little as $1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year. (Less than the price of our 2-terminal Sweet Deal Package) To eliminate pricing and math errors you need a point of sale system.
8. Time In Attendance.
Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked and most easily managed portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 – $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn’t take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system.
7. Reducing Theft.
This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800’s. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today’s world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn’t steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you.
6. Speed of Service.
There is only 1 thing we can think of that will drive customers away faster than bad food and that is slow service. When a customer places their order their own internal clock is running in overdrive. No matter how long they took to look over the menu and to place their order, once they have given your server or cashier their order their hunger clock is speeding along faster than a fan on high! You need a fast, reliable way to get orders into your system. This should mean a terminal that is fast, easy to understand and quick to respond to the touch of the server, cashier or bar tender. The system should also distribute the order properly to the kitchen prep station or bar. Your point of sale system should also measure your speed of service and report on how you are doing. Reducing the time it takes to get your customer’s their food is critical and can even make up for less quality. For proof I give you some of the major fast food chains. Is their popularity based upon the best tasting, best dressed and best served burger or speed of service? If you want to speed up your customer service you need a point of sale system.
5. Enhanced Reporting.
What is the use of having a computer and not taking advantage of the power? If all you need is to have a total amount of cash in the drawer that sometimes matches to the amount of sales shown you probably don’t need a point of sale system. However, if you want more detail and information to help manage your operation and make it more profitable then you need a point of sale system. It used to be that having a good product was enough to get you by. Now it takes a lot more information in order to compete with all the other restaurants in your market that are all looking for the same customer you have seated in your restaurant. You need to understand the buying habits of your customers. What are they ordering? When are they ordering it? What is your most profitable item? How many of it did you sell? What items on your menu are not selling? If you cannot answer all of these questions with total confidence in your answers then you need a point of sale system. If you hesitate to correctly answer (without guessing) any of these questions you need a point of sale system.
4. Exporting of Data to Other Systems.
Even most small businesses today have some form of electronic accounting in place either in their operation or through an accounting service. In addition, most businesses have an electronic payroll service or software that creates payroll. Point of sale systems capture critical data for you and then export this data in formats that automatically put this information into accounting and payroll packages, eliminating hours of tedious manual input that often leads to mistakes and human error. If you have an electronic accounting or payroll service/software or even if you want to track your sales in Excel, you need a point of sale system.
3. Integrated Credit Cards.
If you are not currently taking credit cards as a form of payment you need to start today. Never mind the fees. The loss of business that you are suffering in today’s plastic minded economy will more than compensate for the fees charged. If you are currently taking credit cards through a stand-alone terminal you could be being charged exorbitant fees for the terminal when you could be processing through your point of sale system. In some cases, the elimination of the terminal rental will pay for the credit card interface in less than a year. With integrated credit card processing you are assured that the amount of the sale will match the amount charged on the credit card, eliminating the need to go back and match individual sales when the credit card batch does not match credit card sales. When high-speed Internet connections are used to process credit cards we receive approvals in less than 2 seconds. No longer is slower speed of service an excuse not to take credit cards. If you want to quickly, accurately and smoothly process credit cards you need a point of sale system.
2. Competitive Marketing.
a. Frequent Diner Modules. Who are your customers? What do they buy? How often do they visit? Of your frequent visitors, who hasn’t been in to see you during the past month? Of your frequent visitors, who has a special day coming up this month? These are questions that you should have the answer to. All the major chains and all of your competitors are after the people who come to your restaurant. They want to take them for themselves. How are you going to compete with the billions of dollars being spent to draw your customer away? By marketing your operation and your menu. Your point of sale system should be able to manage your customer base, keep up with their buying habits, how often they visit, when was their last visit and what special occasions they have coming up. Your point of sale system then should be able to sort these into groups that should be sent mailers, coupons, invitations to special events or simply told that they are appreciated and asked to visit you again. If you have competition you need a point of sale system.
b. Gift cards have become the norm for so many businesses today. An entire industry has been formed around the old concept of giving a paper gift certificate. Today, you will find gift cards at most major checkout lines. A point of sale system should be able to sell, redeem and control balances for your own gift card program. No longer do you need a book of certificates that are kept in the safe. Today, all you need is a stack of blank plastic cards with your colorful logo on them. These cards carry no balance and have no cash value until sold and a balance placed on account. As an owner you should keep a few of these cards with you. Each of these cards might have a small balance on them for you to hand out to pull customers to your restaurant or to give in case of a poor experience to help bring someone back. Think of these cards as your personal marketing tool. When the customer looks in their purse or wallet and sees your logo they will be reminded to come visit you. If you use gift certificates or gift cards you need a point of sale system.
1. You Don’t Need Any More ‘Partners’.
Sure you need gift cards. Yes you need to better understand your customer’s buying habits. You absolutely need to have credit cards integrated with your point of sale system. You need enhanced reporting and export of these reports to electronic accounting and payroll services. You need to eliminate errors, reduce mistakes and keep track of your payroll. But more than any of these you don’t need any more partners. Especially the ones that take their portion of the profits before you get yours. We are talking about the servers, waitresses, bartenders and cashiers who:
a. Undercharge customers in order to enhance their own tips. Show a $5 tab and a $50 tip. (Yes, I have seen this!)
b. Deliberately void or delete an item after it has been paid for.
c. Stuff coupons into the cash drawer in exchange for cash.
d. Don’t charge customers for soft beverages to enhance their tips.
e. Ring up a lower priced item (well brand) and serve a higher priced item (premium brand)
f. Give discounts to their friends.
g. In a buffet line, ring up a buffet and a tea. Reprint this ticket 10 times and sell and collect for themselves these reprinted receipts instead of ringing up new customers.
If you want to stay in business, you need a point of sale system.

Jerry D. Wilson is Director of Internet Sales for DirecTouch Restaurant Point of Sale. With over 25 years of hospitality point of sale experience, he has written several articles explaining the benefits of touch screen and retail point of sale software. Please visit http://www.directouchpos.com or http://www.directretailpos.com for more information.

Uzbekistan – CELL Calling Cards

10 Riveting Ways To Nail Down Instant Sales

1. End your slow sales periods by planning ahead.
Plan to add extra bonuses, hold a sale or package
your product with other products.
2. Make more commissions off the affiliate programs
you join by giving your personal endorsements for
the products. They usually pull more sales than ads.
3. Speed up your internet access. You can get your
online business tasks done faster which will help you
stay ahead of your competition.
4. Allow people who do not have time to explore
your site to download your web site in ebook format.
This will allow them time to view it offline.
5. Use tons of headlines and sub headlines on your
web site. This will keep their attention and keep them
at your web site longer.
6. Take advantage of popular fads. If something is
popular at the current time, put up a web site about
it. Just promote your main site on the fad web site.
7. Allow your prospects to chose between a retail
or wholesale price. Charge people a membership
fee to always get the products at wholesale cost.
8. Allow other related web sites that don’t have a
chat room to link to yours. They’ll get use of a free
chat room and you’ll draw extra traffic to your site.
9. Increase the perceived value of your free stuff or
bonuses by including the retail dollar amount the
freebie would normally sell for.
10. Create your own web ring. You will gain highly
targeted traffic to your web site and others will link
to your site because they’ll want to join the ring.

About the author:
Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

Mexico – Monterey Calling Cards

Critical Elements of a Successful Business

10 CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
The rules that a successful business operate by today are very different from the rules of 20 to 30 years ago. The widespread use of technology has dramatically cut response times and elevated customer expectations of service. Competitive advantage is the catch cry, but most business owners struggle to articulate what their point of difference is. The statistics are well known: a staggering 40% of all new businesses fail within the first 12 months. Within 5 years, more than 80% will have failed. And yet, people are flocking to start up new businesses in ever increasing numbers.
What is it then, that sets apart the successful businesses from the unsuccessful ones? Here are my top ten tips for creating and maintaining a successful business. As you read, think to yourself – how does my business stack up?
1. Successful businesses have repeatable, scalable systems
The processes in the business are clear, usually documented and followed religiously by all. This ensures the customer gets the same experience, every time they deal with the company.
2. They don’t depend on one person
If all the knowledge and skill resides in one person’s hands or head, then the business is in serious trouble when that person wants to take a holiday, has to go to hospital, breaks an arm or leg etc.
3. Successful businesses can articulate what makes them different from others in their field
Businesses that can do this run the risk of competing on price alone, a war that nobody wins (except the customer)
4. They always add value to the customer’s experience
The customer perceives that value has been added either through service, product features, distribution etc. The customer’s perception is what’s important – find out what’s of value to them
5. Use strategies that recognize and reward their employees
Reward and incentive programs should be based on performance, not just years of service or other demographic criteria. Employees are human; they respond to recognition – both financial and non-financial
6. Most successful businesses have a powerful vision
They dream and think big, then they share it with their employees to create a uniting purpose
7. Planning – short term, long term, medium term
There’s no escaping it – working out where you want to go and planning to get there, will set you apart from the great majority of businesses that don’t perform this activity well. Doing a plan at business start-up stage and never looking at it again doesn’t really count as planning either. Plans should be reviewed at least twice per year, and done properly, can be your most
powerful business tool
8. Product innovation – re-create or die
The world moves on, people’s needs change, and so must your products or services. If you don’t offer it, no doubt your competitors will. Take time out to develop one or two new offers – road test them with your customers.
9. Surround themselves with the right support
Successful business owners know what their skills are. They also know exactly what skills they don’t have (and probably will never have). They employ or rent the expertise they don’t have – after all, it’s impossible to be an expert at everything
10. Have an exit strategy
Most people don’t plan to be in their business until they reach the end of their lives, but
most people fail to plan how they will exit their business. Successful business owners know this before they start, and this drives the actions and decisions they make during the life of their business.

Complete potential is here to help you make more of your business. More profits, more income, more of what you want. Remove obstacles to growth and create new opportunities. To get more practical business strategies and tips, sign up to our ezine – Profits for Professionals – at http://www.completepotential.com

Russia – S.Peter Calling Cards

Selling Insurance Online: How to Bowl a Strike

I started selling life insurance on the internet in January of 2001. Online direct response marketing was a fairly new concept at that time, so gradually I’m becoming a person people go to when they are trying to decide whether to get into this career. Recently, someone went so far as to ask me for ten practical steps to establishing a successful online life insurance business. Ten steps. How does one convey the vision it takes to succeed, in ten steps? How can the steps be practical without becoming drudgery?
I started subbing on a bowling league in January of 2005. Some simple tips offered by my teammates helped me discover the thrill of making strikes. Whether those ten pins scatter like buckshot, or trickle down like dominoes, strikes make you feel great. I found myself excited to repeat the steps that enabled me to bowl strikes. And suddenly, my ten-pin/ten-step analogy was born.
Making life insurance sales online feels at least as exciting as making strikes, and has the added bonus of making you money! Having a goal that rewards you emotionally is what will enable you to follow, with enthusiasm, these ten steps to success. So here are ten pins to get down to experience the thrilling achievement of consistently making “strikes” in the direct response market.
1) Understand the game. Selling life insurance online is not the same as selling in an office. I have heard many traditional life insurance agents say that the hard part used to be getting someone in the door, the easy part was making the sale. The easy part of selling online is getting the client “in the door”; the hard part is making to the end of the process with a check in your pocket.
So what are online leads like? That can depend on how they came to you. If they were using a search engine that led them to a web site where they filled out requests for a quote or application, they are most likely motivated to buy. They are already your customers, and you had best serve them efficiently and expediently, because they will go on to the next web site, if you don’t!
Perhaps your leads were prompted to request a quote as the result of reading or hearing an ad. Others are “incentive” leads, which means they’ve filled out a quote request form as a hoop to jump through in order to get some type of other reward. You may think that kind of lead is not serious, and some aren’t. However, most are asked to give enough info that the truly uninterested ones will usually bow out before their form is submitted.
You’ve got to put yourself in their shoes to understand how to approach them. If you don’t answer leads promptly, they may get the feeling the ad or form was insignificant, and blow you off. Some will see the ad or form as a “nudge”; you’ll want to assure them that you can easily help them get the coverage they have been putting off. Some incentive leads will hear you out because they know every prize has a price. They may be pleasantly surprised to find that they’ve received a good insurance price along with their other prize!
It takes some conversation to get to know your leads and to build their trust. But you also have to respect their time, because people use the internet to save time and fuss. Unless they have complicated needs, it’s best to start by offering the simplest solutions possible. No matter how your leads came to you, they did ask. So you have every right and every chance in the world to make that sale. And you WILL make strikes with internet leads.
2) Know the rules. You’ve got to have knowledge of all the products being offered at your fingertips to be successful in online life insurance sales. Leads often aren’t willing to wait for answers, so you have to give them as much as you can on the first call. If you need to delay the quote due to needing medical records or having to first obtain a preliminary offer based on their health, it’s important to explain that if anyone else is giving them a quote without that step, that quote will most likely be wrong and could end up with a blot on their MIB.
Ordinarily, you will find the best quotes for those with perfect health from about 3-5 competitive carriers (rated at least A by AM Best) that use traditional underwriting. Likewise, the best quotes for those with health problems will come from about 3 impaired risk carriers. You’ll want to know which 3 instant issue carriers offer the best rates for those of good health, and about 3 simplified or guaranteed issue carriers for those of poor health. Those choices will more than satisfactorily meet almost every need, and anyone can learn the underwriting guidelines, ratings, etc. of a dozen carriers. This also helps you approach your leads from a point of wisdom, building their trust in you and enabling you to serve them most responsibly.
Along with understanding the underwriting guidelines, you need to get familiar with how each carrier works, i.e. whether they require a preliminary offer, whether the app can be filled out online, etc. You also need to know what health conditions are best met by what carriers. This sounds like a lot, but within 6 months, you’ll have it down. Knowing the rules of the game will help you get many more strikes.
3) Have good equipment. Good bowlers know they will get more strikes with the right ball, shoes, etc. It is essential to getting sales to have a well equipped office. An all in one fax machine (fax, copier, and scanner) is great for a small office. A phone headset is a must with today’s online apps. It’s nice to have an auxiliary color printer, but mainly using a black laser printer will save cost. I don’t waste one sheet of paper on a lead that isn’t at least somewhat interested. Therefore, a good computer and some way to organize leads is essential. It’s to your advantage if your lead provider offers software designed to manage your leads. If not, My Documents, an online calendar, and/or Mail Merge can help. It’s important to get a system set up to systematically keep track of your leads, because it takes lots of leads to make lots of money, and otherwise you’ll get overwhelmed.
I would have business cards and stationery printed for the apps you send out by mail, and to include with policies. You have very few chances to make an impression, and your mail is one way to make one. Use a phone with Voice Mail. Have a toll free phone and fax number. Be sure you have Adobe Acrobat Professional. Try to have an email address that identifies you with insurance. Have a web site, if possible. Good equipment is not only practical, but identifies you as professional, and that is a big part of consistently making strikes.
4) Invest in the game. You have to go bowling to get strikes, and you have to work leads to make sales. That means setting aside the time and/or money to work at least several leads per day. It will take at least 2 months before commissions start coming in, and about 6 months until you start getting some good stats. But at that point, you need to start keeping close track of how much time/money you are spending and earning, per lead. You will continually increase your profits if you commit to increase your lead volume as you are able, increase your average premiums and application placement rates (this will come with experience), and control your expenses.
Most good agents hire assistants after a while, because they see that they can make much more by SELLING more. Assistants free you up to sell. You can get to the point where you don’t want to do anything but sell in this business, because your time so literally, is money. However, you’ve got to be able to follow up on the leads your have, keep track of your commissions, fix your computer, pay your bills, and all that other stuff that goes with your own business. So keep your finger on that other stuff, but have someone else do as much as possible, and aim for those strikes.
5) Start off on the right foot. Bowlers disagree as to whether to approach the lane on the left or right foot, and online agents disagree whether to first contact your lead by email or phone! But if an introductory email is sent to your leads as soon as they are assigned to you, there is no doubt that a phone call is the best action to take after that. Your leads are expecting a call, and you become a person to them so much faster by phone than email. You can ask the questions that enable you to give a valid quote, and ideally, you will make the sale on that very first phone call, app and all.
If a lead won’t answer the phone within 24 hours, I go ahead and send an email, telling them I tried to call and would like to visit with them to find out their wishes and give them an accurate quote. If there is no response to that email or subsequent phone call attempts, I’ll send them a second email with a guess at a quote, based on what info they gave. That is usually the email that will draw out leads who will only respond by email; they generally won’t respond to later emails if they don’t respond to that one.
Calling can go on longer, because you might just keep missing people, and eventually catch them at home. However, you’ll want to make a rule of thumb as to how many messages you’ll leave, because after that they might see your efforts to contact them as harassment. Getting a hold of your leads by phone within minutes of receiving their contact information is ideal, and the very best approach to getting strikes.
6) Come from a good angle. You get a strike by aiming at the strike pocket. Internet leads have many motivations that can form that pocket. Some are:
a) looking for a competitive price on life insurance
b) looking for a price they can afford
c) being unable to find life insurance anywhere else
d) having some life event that caused them to think about life insurance
e) wanting life insurance but not liking to meet with an agent
f) wanting life insurance but not wanting any hassle (e.g. exam)
g) wondering if what they have is their best deal (most do this with Term, while ignoring their UL which could be their biggest albatross)
h) hoping their request will convince their spouse/parent/etc to apply
i) curiosity
How do you find that pocket? You will lose them in the first seconds if you don’t approach them from the right angle. I ask for the person by first name, introduce myself by my full name, and say that I am responding to their request for a quote for life insurance from our web site. That intro, done in a friendly, conversational tone, almost always opens the door to a response, and that is the first goal, just to get them to respond.
If their response is, “I don’t recall filling that out”, I usually ask if maybe their pouse did it for them, and give them a little info about themselves so they know that someone that knew them had to fill out the form (but not their health condition). Any response is good! Any response can lead to a sale. And if their response is no, you can thank them and go on to the next ones who truly want your service and products. You have nothing to apologize for in answering their requests with the best there is to offer!
Once they respond, pick up your cues from them in chatting for a little while. If they don’t start chatting, I say something like, “I needed a little more information from you in order to find the best quote”. And I start out with something very basic. E.g. if they’ve checked diabetes, I’ll say, “I see you marked that you have diabetes. How old were you when you got that?” I’ll stay on that, being professional but also trying to convey empathy with my tone of voice, until we’ve covered that (or until they give a sign that they don’t want to talk about it any more… you can always go back to it). If no health conditions are checked, I’ll usually start out asking how much insurance they would like me to quote, then go on to risk factors. Be sensitive, respectful, yet direct in guiding them to the details you need to know in order to quote them correctly. We do no one a favor by avoiding delicate questions if the application is later declined (or worse, payment of the death benefit is contested) due to our reticence to ask what the carrier wants to know.
In that conversation, you find out their strike pocket, and appeal to that. Hopefully, you can either convince them to wait until you get a preliminary quote back to them, or fill out an app right there on line. You might even sell a policy to a family member.
At the end of the call, I always tell them I’ll send them an email with all my contact info, even if I’ve just made the sale.
7) Follow through. Once you’ve obtained the application, you need to submit it and follow the carriers’ guidelines to issue (your brokerage could be a big help in this). However, you also need to guide your clients through, so you don’t lose them in the process. I send emails to my clients with applications in underwriting about weekly, just to let them know how things are going. The minute you find out about requirements, use that as an excuse to touch base and let your clients know you are still on top of things (or as an excuse to find out what’s going on with them). Following through will ensure that the strike is made!
9) 10) Don’t give up strikes for taps. The 8, 9, and 10 balls are the most common “taps” in bowling. A tap is a pin that stays standing even when you hit the strike pocket. Likewise, up to 3 out of every 10 leads you get may not respond affirmatively to you, if at all. You can try to pick them up, but don’t give up strikes to do it. You knock down those first 7 pins to successful direct response life insurance selling, and the strikes will fly!

http://www.insuranceresponse.com/

Norfolk Isl. Calling Cards

10 Ways to Improve Your Healthcare Practice?s A/R

Receiving maximum reimbursement with quick A/R turnaround in any healthcare practice requires careful attention to obtaining, documenting and communicating information. From the time a patient schedules a visit until the charge is closed out, proper management of information to and from your billing representative means the different between fast reimbursement cycles and slow, drawn out A/R. Information about insurance coverage, demographics, diagnosis and status of claims – coming from virtually all areas of your practice – should flow clearly and efficiently to support clean claim submission the first time around. Here are 10 opportunities in the lifecycle of a patient encounter where efficient management of information will improve A/R.

Initial Patient Contact – Front office staff or the patient scheduler should capture ALL pertinent information when a patient calls to schedule an appointment. Capturing general information like name, phone number and reason for appointment is a good start, but make sure you’re catching payor information as well. Does the patient have insurance? If so, who is the carrier, what’s their plan number? If not insured, are they prepared to pay up front and have they been briefed on your payment terms? Either way, answers to these questions will help in the insurance verification step and/or set proper expectations for payment at the time of service.

Insurance Verification – Either the scheduler or billing representative should use the information from initial patient contact to confirm with carriers BEFORE the office visit. This opportunity offers the chance to confirm enrollment, coverage levels, co-pays/deductibles, etc. Traditional verification of benefits over the phone is effective but time consuming; remember that you can usually save a lot of time using on-line interfaces offered by many carriers today. If the result is “no coverage” for this visit, or the carrier is unable to verify coverage, a follow up call to the patient should yield updated coverage information or at least guarantee everyone is aware of payment responsibilities.

Patient Registration – When the patient arrives at the office, the receptionist or a member of the front desk staff should verify ALL registration forms are accurate and complete. If it’s an existing patient, the receptionist should re-confirm that records are up to date. This step is the key to obtaining/confirming the detailed demographic data required for insurance claim submission – if anything is incorrect or missing, reimbursements can be delayed as much as a month or more. It’s also helpful for front desk staff to reiterate co-pay or self pay obligations at this time to confirm the patient is prepared to remit payment once the visit is complete.

Provide Care & Document Services – While the patient is in the exam room, or immediately following the visit, all diagnosis and care should be clearly documented on encounter forms. Patient forms are then forwarded to the front to cross reference with information gathered during insurance verification in Step 2, and the bill for co-pays and self-pay patients is generated.

Collect Co-payment – All patients should be required to stop by the cashier or reception desk to remit payment for co-pays, self-pay, etc. BEFORE they leave. If preceding steps are completed properly patients will already be aware of obligations, so there shouldn’t be any surprises. A receipt can also be generated now for the billing representative to document exactly how much was remitted by the patient, should any later balance billing be necessary.

Claim Generation, Submission, and Carrier Review – Clean claim submission is not just dependent on the information gained in steps 1 through 5, but also on processes that manage data efficiently. A good practice management or medical billing software will address this need, but remember that you usually get what you pay for – it’s usually best to not cut corners. The alternative to spending thousands on software is teaming with a professional medical billing company for, usually, a nominal percentage of receivables. Either way, if information is missing at initial claim submission, denial can add several weeks to the reimbursement process. If all moves smoothly, reimbursements can be forthcoming in as little as 1-2 weeks!

Insurance Reimbursement Received/Documented – Hopefully, all of the preceding steps have progressed smoothly and a clean claim was submitted. Our next step in managing claim information is proper documentation of reimbursements in the medical billing record. This step can often be simplified through electronic remittance and EOB notifications. If you’re not able to use electronic EOBs, then it becomes critical the billing representative is thorough in manual entry of all EOBs received. Keeping close eye on your EOBs – timing as well as reimbursement rates – can also identify which carriers are paying quicker and which might require a follow up call.

Patient Invoicing – This step is about communication with patients. Just like carriers, providing patients with thorough information will further help to reduce turnaround time and minimize questions. Be clear and note dates of service, insurance payments, fees collected at time of service, and total amount due. These statements should be sent out as soon as an insurance determination is confirmed. Many statistics have shown the sooner an invoice is sent, the more likely, and faster, it will be paid.

Enter Patient Payment – Upon receipt of the patient payment, the billing representative should enter payment information into the billing system and prepare to close out the charge. If payment is not received within a reasonable amount of time (i.e. 30 days), the practice should have clear policies in place for next steps. Small balances of say, under $5, might be taken as a write off; for larger balances a second invoice might be sent or the patient may be sent to a collections agency for further action. Regardless of your policies, don’t delay in taking action. A/R suffers most when these balances go unaddressed, carrying forward month after month.

Close Out Charge – Once final payment has been received, or a determination has been made to write off or send to collections, the billing representative should waste no time in closing out the charge.

These steps can generally be applied similarly with any patient visit in almost any specialty. Whether you have a staff of 20 or just one person, keep these opportunities in mind as you consider ways to improve the flow of information and reduce your practice’s A/R turnaround.

For more information on medical billing and medical billing companies, visit Diversity Technology – Medical Billng Services, a full service medical billing company offering customized medical billing services to practices across the US. You can also learn more about advancing your medical billing with in-depth Medical Billing Articles and Tools.

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Seven Secrets That Successful Trade Show Exhibitors Do Not Want You to Know

Why are certain companies consistently successful at trade shows? They understand and practice the processes of targeting and follow-up. You can increase your return on investment by utilizing the same secrets that successful companies want to keep hidden.
1. Understand the primary reason you are participating it the trade show
You can use a trade show for many purposes. You may want to introduce a new product or service, announce updates of classic products that better serve your clients, search for new prospects, scope out the competition or perform market research. Successful companies realize that they can only focus on one or two issues per trade show. They make easy-to-understand offers with which targeted clients and prospects can immediately identify.
2. Plan for your target audience
One main reason a company will fail to have a positive return on their investment from a trade show is because they expect to talk with all of the attendees who walk past their booth. They are not clear who their best prospects are, how to identify them or how to quickly qualify their purchasing needs. These companies have the “yank them in” mentality. They want volume, and waste time with poor prospects while the solid gold prospect get frustrated and leaves.
3. Pre-invite targeted customers and prospects
Once you know what products or services you are featuring at the show, you can contact the appropriate clients and invite them to visit your booth to give them a special preview of your offer. This is an excellent opportunity to cross-sell your existing customers and ask them for referrals. Successful companies realize that existing clients are a fantastic source for increasing sales, without the investment in time that developing new clients require.
4. Give them a real reason to visit you
If you use candy and gimmicks to attract people, you will get people with sweet tooths who like gimmicks, not good prospects who want what you have to offer.
The real reason must be clearly stated and benefit-oriented to the customer or prospect. They do not care if you have the latest or greatest product or service, they want to know how they will benefit from it. Unsuccessful companies (generally 90% of exhibitors) spend a great deal of time and money telling everyone who will listen how great they are and how good their service is. The 10% of companies who are successful forget their ego and focus on the customer’s benefits.
5. Don’t waste their time (or yours) at the show
Use the brief time you have with a prospect to ask them questions about their company and qualify them. Practice with your colleagues so that you will be able to determine if the booth visitors are appropriate prospects within 30 seconds. If not, practice thanking them for stopping by and excuse yourself.
If you determine that they are a good prospect that will benefit from your offer, ask for permission to contact them the week after the show. Make an appointment for a phone call. Keep that appointment. You will be the only person who does, and they will be impressed with your professionalism. Use that phone call to further qualify and set up a meeting or demonstration.
6. Do not plan to give demonstrations at your booth.
While it is appropriate to have your equipment or materials at the booth, it is not the place to give in-depth product demonstrations. If you want to have the ability to give a 10, 20 or 30 minute demo, rent a separate room and set up a quiet place (with refreshments) so that your customer or prospect gets your full attention (and you get theirs). They will love and remember the VIP treatment.
7. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up
You will dramatically improve your return on your trade show investment simply by staying in touch with the customers and prospects you have qualified at your booth. Most companies incorrectly assume that the prospect will remember them when they are ready to buy. If you stay in touch with them regularly with informative direct mail, faxes and personal calls, they will automatically think of you when the time is right.
These seven secrets are the keys to increasing the return on your trade show investment. Successful companies understand that it is necessary to involve all of their staff in the preparation, execution and follow-up procedures discussed here. Growing the profitability of your company can be assured when all of your team members understand the goals and can contribute effectively.

Gloria Berthold is president of Marketing Outsource Associates, Inc., a firm specializing in targeting profitable prospects and planning a cost-effective follow-up schedule. For more information visit http://www.targetgov.com

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Buying to Let Guide – UK Rental Property Management

Buying to let top 10 guide
Buying to let
This is where most developers end up. Once executed, this can prove to be money for old rope. Ok thats a bit pushing the point, but here i can teach you some really useful tips on how to let with very little fuss. The essetial element is to first consider the previous chapters as just as important as the monthly cheque you receive from your tennants. In effect the two are very much releated. So re-read those chapters before you get to this exciting chapter on how to but to let.
My 10 Steps to success
Ok i’m going to make this very easy by revealing my 10 steps. Follow this and you will succeed, ignore a step and you may struggle. Here goes…
1. Find the right area to buy into and make some appointments with local letting agents normally estate agents will be able to offer help with letting too .
2. Once you’ve picked their brains to assess the state of the lettings market (and discovered what type of properties are most in demand) you can begin the house hunting game. Get several viewings under your belt to get a feel of the market.
3. Talk to mortgage providers early on in the game to ensure that you find the best deal. If you have a personal financial advisor, they will do this service free of charge, use this free service, it may save you money and time along with our useful free development guide on this site.
4. Once you’ve found a suitable property put in an offer and be patient. What you might think is a silly offer may prove to be a bargain, remember you can always increase your offer.
5. When your offer on the property is accepted you’ll need to get a licensed conveyor or a solicitor to deal with the legal and financial paperwork.
6. This is the step that can seem to go on forever, the survey and searches.You will also need to get it valued. Then you’ll be in a position to finalise your mortgage arrangements with your finance lender.
7. Who will property manage ? Once you’ve been handed the keys you’ll need to decide whether you are happy to manage the property yourself or if you want to hand it over to a letting agent.
8. The chances are that the house will need some work doing on it, so it’s best to get the workmen in there as soon as possible. You will find our buying to let profit calculator useful at this point.
9. If you’re planning to let the property furnished it makes long-term sense to invest in solid/ robust furniture (ideally carboot sales house clearances or local auctions are an ideal way of sourcing good solid furniture without putting costs through the roof).
10. Before your tenants take control of the property, do make sure that they are clear on the terms of your contract to avoid any later possible complications.

Rental Property Management

http://www.rentalpropertymanagement.co.uk

The Authority on Buying to let property in the UK
Your free property development guide

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Top Ten Tips for Hiring a Web Professional

1. Big Red Flag. No website? If the person you are planning to hire doesn’t have a site of his or her own, this is a big red flag. How will they know what works or doesn’t work if they haven’t tested it on their own site? If they are a professional in business they will have a website. Their website is a true reflection of them – study it carefully looking for anything that may indicate “this company looks great!” to “I have some doubts in working with this company”.
2. Listen to me. Can you hear me now? Are they really listening to what you want/need? OR immediately writing out a prescription like a bad doctor based upon what they think you need. If it is the latter – run-Forest-run.
3. Experience. How many years of experience does this person have? How will this benefit you?
4. Resources. How many resources does this person utilize? If they work only with one program or have one resource and derive all information/facts from that one source – probably not in your best interest to hire someone with such limited resources.
5. Speak to me. Do they speak your language? If they are speaking in technical terms you don’t understand ask them for the plain English version. If you still don’t understand and they aren’t patient with explanations – keep looking.
6. Questions. Are they asking you the right questions? What is the goal of your website? Who is your target audience? How we will reach that audience online and offline?
7. Follow Through. How long does it take the person to return your phone calls or emails? This is a strong indication of what it will be like to work with this person. A good businessperson will respond in 24 hours or less.
8. Get it in Writing. Will you have a written agreement outlining the scope of work and pricing details? It’s important to get it in writing so both parties are clear on the expectations, time frame and other details.
9. Stories. Ask them to tell you success stories of working with different clients/companies. Who is their favorite client and why? Have they had any situations where clients have been unhappy? How did they handle those situations?
10. References. Call at least two or three people that they have worked with or are currently working with. Check the Clients, Portfolio or FAQ pages at their website. Ask three important questions:
a. Can you tell me what type of experience you’ve had working with _______?
b. Have there been any surprises while working with ________?
c. As an XYZ company is there anything in particular you’d recommend I be mindful of before hiring a web professional?
Finding a good web professional can be a tedious process. Ask lots of questions. Go with your gut. Your own personal feeling about working with the person is going to matter more than anything else. Also remember that web professionals will be interviewing you at the same time to see if you’re a good fit for them. It’s a good idea to talk with at least three businesses to see who best fits your needs, timeframe and budget.

Anita Larson, The Web Muse & Co., http://www.thewebmuse.com
Creating websites to attract your ideal clients.

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Just Say No to Sign and Wait – 10 Steps to a Fast Action Start

So you just signed up for a new, exciting opportunity… wait did you realize?
The majority of Americans are taught to follow the leader, follow instructions, and do a good job. There has been a trend for some years now to begin a home business. The lure of this trend is more time with family, less travel time, less fuel expense and more.
Unfortunately many quit their new business before they really begin. The lure of a dream life is not enough to keep them on the path to success. Many of the networking companies that they join are reputable, viable businesses with excellent compensation plans and training. So why is there so much attrition?
Though many dream of having their own business and not having to answer to a boss, unfortunately they are doomed to that life. It takes a special kind of guts to break away from what we have been taught and delve into uncharted waters.
Many start standard brick and mortar shops and services and are faced with a number of known expenses to get going and service customers. Those starting with seemingly low start-up like networking have a definite advantage. But both may forget important factors like the need to proper market and advertise their business. Some people are actually misled that all they have to do is sign up and they will have the work done for them and other such balderdash – huh?
So what can you do to give yourself and edge and a fast start for the long haul?
First, realize you are the boss. Don’t treat your new business like a hobby or think about “trying it out for awhile” (Quit now and save yourself time and aggravation if that is the case). No one is going to give you your schedule – you have to make a schedule. No one is going to make you punch a time clock – you need to make the most of your time. Answer this question for yourself, “Can I work put as much or more effort into my own business as I would for someone else’s business because my “job” depended on it?”
Second, (something you probably should have known before signing up by-the-way) use the product. Answer this question, “Why do I want this product?” Answering that question will eliminate virtually all your sales issues. People buy things they want —- not need. Remember this, even essential purchases end up being purchased that way because one product is wanted more than another.
Third, determine your target market. Who wants what you are offering? Where do they live, shop, eat, etc.? Your answers will help you to reach out to them and connect them to what they need.
Fourth, determine your advertising budget. If it is small you will be starting small but that is ok. If you have more you can set aside then you will be able to reach your goals quicker (especially if you can do TV advertising like the “big guys” *smile*)
Fifth, determine how much time you can dedicate to your business. Make a schedule – and stick to it. Let everyone around you know your schedule just as if you would be away for X hours in the day so you are busy in their immediate presence. (Try and set aside an area away from family traffic flow if possible.) Allow for distractions in your schedule but preferably set aside family and friend time because we all started our own thing just so we could have the freedom to work loved ones into our schedule. This is really an important area that can cause failure either with family or business so you will really want to plan this one well for the long haul.
Sixth, create or order your advertising mediums. Business cards can be made or printed. T-shirts, hats or any other promo materials ordered. Ads in local fliers or online classifieds or both can be created and posted. Affiliate links can be promoted online by sending out safelist ads, ezine ads, solo ads, traffic exchanges, search engine pay-per-click ads and more. Some of these options can be free or economical depending on how much time you are willing to dedicate to doing the work yourself.
Seventh, start a blog. If you don’t have your own website, you will probably want to get one as soon as possible. A weblog, or blog is one of the new crazes that will not only help to drive traffic to your website but if you can not budget a website yet then a blog is a free way to start a web presence. I would recommend www.blogger.com because of it is owned by google, which can help being ranked sooner. All blogs are meant to be content-rich which is what all search engines love.
Eighth, set aside at least one hour a day, at least five days a week to do something that drives sales. The first and foremost should be talking to customers, prospects, leads. Though it is important to read, learn and set up promotions to get the customers to you, the bottom line is the sale. Many people forget this. Though I have promoted offline and online it seems it is mostly forgotten online when we expect sales to be done behind some kind of cyberspace wall. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) we tend to still not only buy things we want but we buy them usually from people we get to know, like and trust.
Pick up the phone, email, mail – however you do it communicate with customers, prospects, leads, preferably talk to them over the phone or in person. The world is becoming so small, I even use an online VOIP conference center that brings customers to my virtual room were we can speak and even see each other if both have webcams. I even meet with groups of people at the same time. I marvel at technology!
Ninth, focus. Understandably there will be interruptions, more within a home environment then in a workplace environment but if you have a plan and a schedule then you are half way to being truly focused. The other half is up to you to make it work and remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Don’t let distractions take your eyes off the plan to become independent and free to do things they way you choose to manifest them.
Tenth, have fun! Who would add this to list but me, lol (laugh out loud). Really, we choose to become independent to free ourselves from the “mean ole boss”. I have told you first and foremost that now, “YOU ARE THE BOSS” which means take your business seriously but it doesn’t mean you still can’t have fun. Remember, we choose to manifest money, love, relationships, and fun. Choose to get the most out of your life, love and business. Enjoy the ride!

All rights reserved by Marie Gervacio, founder and editor of Article Blender.com ShineYourStar.com, and SimpleBeautyTips.com. Get free content for your website, ezine or blog and/or publish your articles at ArticleBlender.com.

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