The Balance Between Sales Conversion and Superior Customer Experience

Sales brings smiles to leadership and commissioned front-line agents alike. Customer Acquisition is important to the overall health of a business, but retention is a success factor that should never be neglected.

This underscores the importance of striking a proper balance between sales conversion and maintaining superior customer satisfaction scores.  In my experience, we have found that focusing on the two items in parallel can lead to an increase in both metrics.

To accomplish this, it all begins with training.  The tips we shared as best practice behaviors all lead to this balance.  When agents are conversational and patient, the sales process flows more naturally and the prospect is more likely to either buy or at least remain a current customer.

Sales are critical but so is brand experience.  We recommend to our clients that average handle time (AHT) requirements remain flexible on all sales programs to protect the brand experience for the customer. Additionally, this improves the experience for employees as they are better able to focus on listening and responding to objections or customer concerns.

Although the statistics vary slightly by industry on the exact cost of retaining customers versus acquiring new ones, all brand leaders can agree that retention and customer experience should always be the primary focus.  Aligning to this mindset when planning and executing sales programs can truly make a difference in long term value for businesses of all sizes.

About the author:  Matt Hunt is the CEO of OmniCare365, a customer experience provider with a practice dedicated to managing Health Risk Assessment communications on behalf of leading healthcare providers.

Best Practices for HRA Success

Healthcare providers rely on the vital information gleaned from Health Risk Assessment’s to proactively manage the health of their vital members. Completing these assessments can be a somewhat challenging task for many providers to achieve in high numbers.

OmniCare365 developed a series of best practices that have led them to delivering stellar completion rates for their clients, even among high risk populations. Additionally, these best practices were built on the foundations of strict security / compliance guidelines and adherence to both quality and service level requirements.

When selecting a partner to manage Healthcare Risk Assessment outreach, OmniCare365 recommends that providers seek out those that adhere to these high standards.

Develop a Strong Dialer Strategy

Varying the attempts across different days and time of days along with more than 4 attempts nets higher completion rates. Historical performance shows highest completion rates using up to 8 attempts for each member without negatively impacting member abrasion.

Establish a Data-Driven Mentality

OmniCare365 reporting utilizes a sophisticated real-time data analytics platform, giving our client partners real-time access to all contractual Key Performance Indicators and detailed insights into how improvement initiatives are impacting the business.

Offer Multiple Communication Methods: Standard HRA mail delivery and phone outreach are only two options for communicating with members. OmniCare365 recommends a full matrix of outreach channels which not only increases completion rates but allows members to utilize the communication channel they feel most comfortable using.

Multiple Languages support

The need to utilize a language line to communicate with your members decreases completion rates by up to 20% and negatively impacts member experience. OmniCare365 provides a certified bilingual team to ensure we maximize opportunities to complete HRAs internally for your members needing a language other than English.

A True Partnership Mentality

Full alignment between OmniCare365 and our Client Partners are the key to success. Our suggested program cadence provides the necessary alignment and collaboration opportunities to consistently review, document and track program improvement initiatives that will positively impact the business.

Train your teams to be Champions

From overcoming member objections to showing empathy, specialized HRA training is an essential part of our team’s success. OmniCare365 established a clearly defined training program that includes a mock-call certification program that HRA Specialists must successfully complete prior to their first live call and considers this to be an important component to overall success.

Exceed Quality Monitoring Requirements

Little problems can quickly turn into larger ones if they are not identified early. OmniCare365 leaders recommend that HRA Health Plan providers insist on rigorous Quality Assurance monitoring to make the necessary adjustments that make the difference in completion rates, member experience and compliance.

Effective Coaching and Feedback

With strong data systems and strict Quality Monitoring in place, proper coaching that is well documented and tracked is critical to a successful coaching / feedback session and is integral to maintaining a culture of continuous improvement.

Accurate and Timely HRA Outreach and Compliance Reporting

The final step of providing exceptional HRA services to our Client Partners is through accurate and timely reporting. OmniCare365 understands the importance of the data that is delivered back to our client partners and is committed to providing weekly reporting that includes at a minimum, all outreach attempts made to each member as well as the outcome of each of those attempts.

High completion rates and great member experiences are the most obvious form of success for any HRA program. Following these best practices will ensure high completion rates that are balanced by superior member satisfaction and compliance.

Data Driven Customer Acquisition

In the age of this pandemic, acquiring customers has taken on a different level of complexity.  Acquiring, retaining, and upselling customers is now more important than ever.  In addition, brands must be creative on how to do this as consumer lifestyles have shifted significantly.

As a result, we have noticed that the role of the contact center in customer acquisition is becoming increasingly more valuable in the process of customer acquisition.  We have also noticed that relying on data to help guide our front-line team members to successfully manage those communications is also growing.

Below are a few key observations that we have identified as success factors in selling based on the data:

Timing 

Data tells us the precise moment that a customer is ready to be ‘asked’ for the sale.  Leaning into this data allows us to train and coach our agents on exactly what to do before, during, and after the ‘ask.’  Asking too soon may negatively impact the customer experience.  Waiting to ask may result in missing the tight window of opportunity.  Again, access to the right data gives us this crystal ball.

Training

Training on timing is critical.  Training on the right message that is compelling for each customer is equally important.  Analyzing success and failures help narrow this message and replicate the correct message throughout the front-line teams.  Without access to the right data, this very necessary step can be missed.

Pivoting

Having access to great data is one thing.  Using it wisely makes you successful, especially in sales.  We review data hourly and daily to spot trends quickly and pivot when needed. Sometimes the most minor adjustments can make the most meaningful impact in the selling process.  Taking the time to study the data and seek out potential areas of improvement can help drive a successful selling process. At OmniCare365, we use AmplifAI as our core data platform.  Whatever you use in your contact center, make sure that your entire sales teams are locked into using it as a standard best practice for customer acquisition.

About the author:  Matt Hunt is the CEO of OmniCare365, a customer experience provider with a practice dedicated to managing Health Risk Assessment communications on behalf of leading healthcare providers.

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