Fostering Exceptional Patient Experiences – 7 Steps for Health Care Leaders

There are many leaders in health care environments – each with an opportunity to exert positive influence on those who follow them. If you’re in a position to guide and shape the behaviors of those around you, here are some specific things you can do to help foster exceptional patient experiences:
Set the expectation. Leaders may have a strong internal commitment to the patient experience, but they sometimes fail to explicitly convey that commitment, along with their expectations. Don’t assume that your staff knows what is expected of them. You need to clearly communicate your expectations.
Get out of your office and talk to patients and staff. Leaders can’t influence from behind their office doors. You need to get out of your office and interact with both patients and staff to help reinforce your expectations and commitment to a positive patient experience. And above all listen and learn about the needs and expectations of those you serve as a leader.
Do an attitude check. Attitude is everything. As leaders we have to develop a mindset of being service excellence champions ourselves. That starts with an attitude check on ourselves beginning with the question: “Do I have an attitude that conveys that I expect excellence?” Saying it is one thing. But, it is what we do that most influences those who follow us. Do you have a crusader mentality – an attitude that communicates to everyone around you that a positive patient experience is a must and that you’re going to do whatever it takes to make it happen?
Get out of the way. It’s an old and often over-used term, but organizations that really, truly, empower their staff to make decisions on the spot and on a day-to-day basis, will provide exceptional service. They are rare, but they don’t just happen spontaneously. They are developed at the hand of strong leadership that has the confidence to get out of the way and let their employees do their jobs, including whatever it takes to create exceptional patient experiences.
Recognize and reward the behaviors you wish to see. Catch people doing something right. And when you catch them, recognize and reward them. This can happen in large and small ways. A simple, sincere and specific “thank you for…” means a lot to an employee and reinforces the behaviors and actions you want to see again and again from each and every individual in your organization.
Hold people accountable. The flip side to recognizing and rewarding the behaviors you want to see is swiftly addressing the behaviors you don’t want to see. As leaders we need to have a zero tolerance for things that overtly conflict with our organization’s mission, vision and values. If we’ve hired people who reflect our mission, vision and values; clearly and explicitly communicated our expectations; and provided the training and tools they need to meet those expectations then we need to hold them accountable. This may be both the most challenging – and the most impactful – leadership action we can take. Nobody likes to think of themselves as being deceptive. But, for every day that we tolerate behavior that is inconsistent with our mission, vision and values, we’re being deceptive. We are deceiving people into thinking that these behaviors are permissible when they are not.
Create a cultural expectation that everyone in the organization is responsible for spotting, recognizing or correcting actions and behaviors they see every day. Anybody walking through the organization, from the housekeeper to the CEO, that sees something amiss should feel a sense of responsibility to do something about it. Just as our collective consciousness was raised after the tragedy of September 11, 2001 to be alert to suspicious activities that might suggest terrorist behavior, as health care leaders we need to have a heightened awareness of the patient experience – really seeing and experiencing every interaction through the patient’s perspective.
Whenever we fail to convey our expectations, model our expectations or hold people around us accountable for meeting those expectations, we fail our patients, our staffs and ourselves. We owe it to them – and to ourselves – to take our role as health care leaders seriously and to take steps every day to build a culture of service excellence.

Commercial Mortgage Lenders – Overview

There are essentially four sources of capital from commercial mortgage lenders. Basically all commercial mortgages come from theses sources, which are commercial private money lenders, conduit or CMBS lenders, SBA lenders and portfolio bank/lenders. Though these distinctions can be somewhat blurred, for example some national banks pool and sell their loans like CMBS lenders, these four categories are what make up the commercial mortgage market. Let’s take a brief look at each individually.Commercial Private MoneyThis category is comprised of individuals to private hedge funds that loan their own money secured by commercial real estate. These sources also go under the names bridge loans and or commercial hard money. There terms are usually short at 12 -24 month, with interest only payments with rates and fees on the high side. Borrowers should expect to shell out 3 -6% on the front with rates between 12% – 16%. These programs are often used by individuals that have short time frames and or have been turned down by banks.Conduit or CMBS LendersCMBS or Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities type loans have been getting a lot of press lately as this category has been dragged down by the residential subprime mess. Basically this is the Wall Street side of the business where commercial loans are originated and then pooled together in batches often over $100 million and securitized into bonds. These bonds are than sold to large investment companies such as insurance firms or pension funds. The main benefit for the banks and lenders is the liquidity created by selling the loans off rather than holding onto them. By freeing up their capital, they are in the position to reinvest into other commercial mortgages. The main benefit for borrowers with these types of loans are many, such as long term fixed rates, longer amortization periods and competitive rates.SBA LendersLenders and banks that are set up with the SBA boast a few strong advantages over traditional bank loans. I.e. 90% financing and longer fixed term rates are 2 examples. It’s important to note that the SBA does not lend its own money but guarantees banks, in case of borrower default, that the bank will receive all or a portion of their money back. Think of it as an insurance program for the bank. The funding bank or lender are often more aggressive with their terms because of these guarantees. Unfortunately SBA loans are only for businesses that occupy their building and not available for investors.Portfolio BanksPortfolio banks or lenders essentially loan their own money which they often receive from deposits. This is the most traditional type of banking and was the norm in the past. These banks that still operate in this fashion are often smaller local banks that often only cover one or two states. They do have some flexibility with their underwriting as they are making much of the decisions to fund on their own. However most portfolio lenders are conservative in nature. It’s interesting to note that portfolio lenders are experiencing good growth (relative to the whole banking industry) right now as many are in strong positions as they are not dependent on Wall Street for their capital.

Want to Streamline Your Marketing Process? Use These Top Marketing Automation Software!

Marketing automation is one of the great processes that help businesses not only to automate their repetitive marketing tasks, but they can also help to track and measure the performance of campaigns. Using this tool, you can also boost productivity as well as improve efficiency by decreasing manual actions. If we talk about marketing automation, it primarily refers to a category of software which helps to automate, measure and streamline the marketing tasks and workflows in an efficient manner. Whether you are owning a big MNC or have just started a new venture, marketing automation is a must for you. Here’s why you should use this software: -Generate Top Quality LeadsIn any business growth, one of the most important steps is lead generation. By using robust marketing automation solutions, you can generate top quality leads. This will give you more detailed and richer picture of prospective customer behavior. What’s more, you can drive wider marketing campaigns such as customized emails, trigger-based marketing messages, Twitter/Facebook messages, etc.Make Informed Decisions with Better DataFew businesses know how to collect/utilize big data. Marketing automation will give you an ultimate platform for analytics and dashboard systems, collecting/storing data, and closed-loop reporting. Such platforms are also the robust solutions that not only help to measure campaigns but also aid to determine consumer behavior with a limited budget.Boost Your Company RevenueInvesting in marketing automation platform can help you to justify the upfront investment if you utilize it in a proper way. This will aid you to increase sales opportunities from top quality leads. You will get good returns on your investments with the automation process.Streamline Your Sales and Marketing ProcessesWith the best solutions, you can streamline your sales and marketing process. In Sales and marketing, communication is the key to make the entire process smoother. Through automation, lead qualifying and nurturing have become easy.Generate Detailed ReportsThis software also helps to monitor and track all the channels in an easy way. Once you get data, you can create insightful reports to save them. The report will help you analyze the graphs and statistics of different campaigns and determine which campaign is performing well.Time SaverIf you are facing problems to automate your regular marketing tasks, then using marketing automation software is the best decision for you. It will aid you not only to automate your marketing tasks but also to save time. Hence, you can do more focus on other marketing strategies. What’s more, you can also make campaigns for sending scheduled-customized emails to the customers, automate messages for different social media channels, and set-up auto-responders for daily follow-ups.Give Excellent Customer ExperienceThe main feature of marketing automation is that you can give a great experience to your customers using this software. When it comes to this technology, it helps to send behaviorally triggered emails without any hassle. Whether you want to browse through certain products, sign up emails or abandon items in the basket, this solution can help.In other words, we can say that marketing automation is a powerful tool that helps entrepreneurs to grow their business. But all you require is to find out the right platform just for you.Top 6 Marketing Automation Software that Every Business Owner Should UseHere, we bring to you an extensive list of top marketing automation tools available that you can choose which fits the best just for you.Hotspot – The Best Ever Marketing Automation SoftwareIn the marketing world, one of the well-known names is Hotspot. Using this inbound marketing software, you can easily automate a large number of tasks at a scale. This will also aid to customize highly targeted and sophisticated workflows with a visual editor. It is also useful to manage complex campaigns or follow-up messages in a simple way using multiple touch-points in the entire customer journey. If you want to automate your mails using drip campaigns, then this is the best software for you. If we talk about the monthly fee, you will find it nominal.Active Campaign – The Ultimate Software for Small BusinessesNumerous businesses prefer to use Active Campaign for marketing automation. Being the best visual automation builder, it comes with drag and drop functionality on the market in today’s date. The best part is that anyone can use it easily. No matter, whatever your skill level is – you can easily set up both simple as well as complex marketing automation. This software has everything ranging from event tracking to site tracking and automation goals to split actions. Coming to its subscription, it comes with eCommerce integrations, lead scoring, and email marketing.GetResponse – Come Equipped with Best FeaturesIf you are looking for the most affordable and powerful marketing automation solutions, then using GetResponse will be the best answer. This software is ideal for large organizations and small businesses. This is the best platform to automate marketing processes. Using this tool, you can enjoy a host of benefits such as get engagement from website traffic, recovering abandoned carts, and boost sales. What’s more, you can easily set up an automated customer journey by applying filters, actions and conditions.OptinMonster – Perfect For Generating Landing Page LeadsIf we talk about OptinMonster software, it is quite different as compared to other platforms. This is an ultimate custom acquisition and lead generation tool that will let you boost sales, minimize cart abandonment and grow your email list. Using this platform, you can easily design website campaigns, pop-ups and high-converting landing pages. Once you sign up, you will get risk-free 14 days. However, if you are not fully satisfied, then you can get a 100% refund without any question asked.Salesforce Pardot – Ideal for B2B MarketingIn today’s date, one of the well known and most reputable CRM solutions is Salesforce. No surprisingly, this software gets the top ranking on the list. It is specially designed for B2B organizations. Some key features include sales integration, email marketing, smart lead generation and smooth lead management. It uses AI power to devise the best sales strategy and improve marketing efforts. With its insightful report, you can easily determine which campaigns are working and what need to be improved. Also, it offers an affordable pricing plan to choose from.ConvertKit – Enhanced Software for NewbiesFor those who are using marketing automation software for the first time, investing in ConvertKit will be the best option. However, it is considered as the best email marketing software; but it has more advanced features. Whether you are selling SaaS, running an e-commerce business or a content site, you can get success using this tool. It offers a free forever plan to up to 500 subscribers. But there are no visual automation funnels.To sum up, finding the right marketing automation tool for businesses is a very daunting task. Mostly, there is no single platform that is perfect for everyone’s solution. So, you have to select the tool according to your specific needs. So, what are you thinking? Just select the right platform today and improve your marketing processes dramatically.