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Why Is There a Waiting Period?

The length of time an insured must wait before some or all of their coverage takes effect is known as a waiting period. Benefits for claims filed during the waiting period may not be paid to the insured. Elimination and qualifying periods are other names for waiting periods.

Important:

Before insurance coverage starts, there is a waiting period, also referred to as a qualifying period.

There may be waiting periods for a number of insurance policies, including short-term disability, auto, and homeowners insurance.

Companies with high turnover rates frequently implement waiting periods.

For cancer or maternity care, some private health insurance plans have longer waiting periods.

How to Use a Waiting Period

Depending on the insurer, policy, and type of insurance, different periods must pass before the insured can file claims. The price of a premium could be slightly lower for longer waiting periods before coverage becomes active. There are several different types of waiting periods in health insurance.

An employer waiting period mandates that an employee wait a predetermined amount of time, like three months, before they are eligible to receive health services that are covered by the employer. A clause like this will frequently be present for a business that anticipates a high rate of employee turnover. A further waiting period may apply after an employee enrolls before they can submit a claim for benefits.

There are waiting periods for affiliation with Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO). Affiliation wait times are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and are limited to two months (three months for late enrollees). One to 18 months can pass during the exclusionary period for pre-existing conditions. These waiting periods refer to particular medical conditions that a person might have in the six months prior to signing up for a health insurance plan.

The pre-existing condition may result in coverage restrictions or exclusions. That coverage, however, can count toward the pre-existing condition exclusion if the insured can show uninterrupted insurance prior to switching policies. Exemptions permit people to avoid this requirement if they have had group health insurance for at least a year at a single job and a period of no more than 63 days.

Certain types of coverage under some private health insurance plans have lengthy mandatory waiting periods:

There may be a two-year wait for cancer and cardiovascular care.

Wait times for maternity care can range from 30 to 90 days, but they are typically 10 to 12 months. There is typically a 6- to 12-month waiting period for dental services.

The frequency with which the insured may receive particular dental treatments is also governed by restrictions or additional waiting periods imposed by some insurance companies. Denture replacement, for instance, might only be permitted once every five years.

Choosing the length of the waiting period for a policy, policyholders must take their ability to pay for expenses into account.

Different Waiting Times

Typically, there are 30- to 90-day waiting periods before homeowner insurance takes effect. Policyholders may submit claims against the policy following the expiration of the waiting period. The insurance company will have different waiting times. Additionally, in some areas, such as coastal zones, when a named storm is nearby, new regulations won’t take effect until the storm has passed.

Other insurance products may be subject to wait periods in some states. For new auto insurance policies, Texas will impose a 60-day waiting period. During this time, the provider can determine whether the driver fits their risk profile or not. If the insurance provider has reservations about the risk profile or unreported issues during the 60-day period, they may cancel the auto policy.

Wait times for short-term disability insurance can be as little as a few weeks, but the premiums for these policies will be higher. The majority of short-term policies delay coverage for 30 to 90 days. Wait times for long-term disability benefits can range from 90 days to a full year. No benefits are payable during the trial period, just like with other insurance products. Disability payments from Social Security will also have a five-month waiting period.

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What Marketing Campaigns Mean and How Can Arete Automation Help?

Any company that wants to connect with its target market and accomplish its marketing objectives must invest in marketing initiatives. However, planning and managing marketing initiatives can be challenging and time-consuming. Arete Automation comes into play here.

Arete Automation is an effective marketing platform that makes it simple to design and run marketing campaigns, monitor their performance, and access many resources to assist you in achieving your goals. Businesses of all sizes may use Arete Automation to engage with their target markets and develop campaigns that motivate them to take action.

You need a marketing platform like Arete Automation if you want to engage with your target audience and accomplish your marketing objectives. This user-friendly platform makes it simple to build and manage marketing programs, monitor their effectiveness, and access a wealth of tools to support you in achieving your goals. Businesses of all sizes may use Arete Automation to engage with their target markets and develop campaigns that motivate them to take action.

How to Use Arete Automation to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

Are you trying to figure out how to make a marketing strategy that will work? If so, you might want to think about using Arete Automation. You can accomplish your marketing objectives with the effective marketing platform Arete Automation. You can quickly develop, track, and optimize your marketing initiatives using Arete Automation l. You can also readily evaluate your outcomes. Additionally, Arete Automation offers you the resources and tools to develop effective marketing campaigns. Read on to discover more about Arete Automation’s marketing strategy if you want to build a successful marketing campaign.

Let’s first examine what constitutes an effective marketing strategy.

A strong marketing strategy includes the following essential components:

1. Identify your marketing objectives — Establishing an effective marketing strategy begins with identifying your goals. What do your marketing strategies want to accomplish? Do you want to boost brand recognition, produce leads, or enhance sales? Setting concrete, quantifiable goals that will enable you to monitor and evaluate your progress is possible after you are clear on what you want to accomplish.

2. Find out who your target market is by researching them. Who are your marketing campaigns’ intended customers? What needs and wants are there among people? Why do they do it? Your ability to establish marketing initiatives that are both effective and relevant to your target market will depend on your ability to do so.

3. Choose the appropriate marketing channels — The third stage is choosing the proper ones. You can use various online and offline marketing techniques to connect with your target market. Consider your goals, target market, and budget when deciding which channels are best for your company. After that, try out a few different channels to see which ones are most effective for you.

4. Create magnetic content: The fourth phase involves creating engaging content. Your content should be relevant to and valuable to your target audience. Your material should also be well-written and interesting to attract readers and encourage them to take action.

5. Promote your content — Promoting your material is the fifth step. Once you’ve produced excellent content, you need to expose it to your intended audience. Your website, social networking platforms, email marketing, and other internet channels can be a medium to promote your content.

6. Assess your outcomes — The last step is to assess your results. It will allow you to evaluate your marketing initiatives success and recommend improvements. Monitor your website’s traffic, leads, and sales to gauge your success. Additionally, get client feedback to determine what your campaigns worked and didn’t.

You can design an effective marketing strategy that will assist you in reaching your business objectives by using the methods listed below.

How to Use Arete Automation to Reach Your Target Audience

Let’s look at how Arete Automation can assist you in connecting with your target audience now that you know the components of a successful marketing strategy. As we’ve already mentioned, Arete Automation is a powerful marketing platform that gives you the materials and tools you need to build effective marketing campaigns. You can quickly develop, track, and optimize your marketing initiatives using Arete Automation. You can also readily evaluate your outcomes. Additionally, Arete Automation enables you to segment your audience for more precise targeting.

Making customized and targeted content is one of the finest strategies to engage your target audience. Arete Automation allows you to divide your audience into various categories, enabling you to accomplish this. By doing this, you may produce material that appeals to each demographic and distribute it via their preferred channels. Arete Automation further gives you solid tools for managing and developing your content. These tools make it simple to produce high-quality content that interests and converts your target market.

Email marketing is a fantastic method of reaching your target market. Arete Automation gives you the tools to design stunning and successful email campaigns to find and engage your target audience. Additionally, you can customize your email campaigns with the Arete Automation segmentation function so that each recipient sees pertinent communications. Your email marketing will be more successful and have a greater conversion rate.

To sum up, Arete Automation is a powerful marketing platform that may assist you in connecting with your target market and achieving your professional objectives. You can quickly generate targeted and tailored content using Arete Automation, monitor your results and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. Check out Arete Automation immediately if you’re seeking a strategy to advance your marketing.

Arete Automation Alternative

Many companies are switching from these platforms to Arete Automation due to the low cost and simplicity when comparing Arete Automation to Hubspot, ActiveCampaign, and Clickfunnels. A wise substitution for these other platforms is Arete Automation.

The Verdict

According to our Arete Automation review, Arete Automation is the only option if you search for an all-in-one platform to manage your sales and marketing initiatives. As we share our Arete Automation review, we want to emphasize that the system offers all the tools required to get going, including email marketing, lead management, and set up Arete Automation assistance. Do keep in mind that it can be a little intimidating at first. Due to its extensive functionality, there is a steep learning curve. But we have overcome that learning curve and are ready to assist!

To find out more about how we can assist you in creating a profitable online presence for your company, get in touch with us immediately. You may use our platform to generate more leads and sales with the assistance of our experts to set up your account and get going.

Here at ARETE AUTOMATION, you can reach out to more people and grow your network without having to do too much.

SIGN UP TODAY! www.areteautomation.com

#leadconnector #smallbusiness

Credits: Joan Arciga

Published: August 04, 2022

Source: https://medium.com/@webautomation17/what-marketing-campaigns-mean-and-how-can-arete-automation-help-d3aaa3c6fa17

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Making Health Care Systems Better

As health insurance companies increasingly shift health care costs onto patients through high deductibles and coinsurance, more than one-third of insured Americans report spending more in out-of-pocket expenses than they could afford in the last month. That’s not how insurance is supposed to work.

Many patients may not know it, but there are tens of billions of dollars in rebates and discounts on medicines that are given to insurance companies and other middlemen. Too often, these rebates and values don’t get to patients who need them. As a result, some patients pay more for medicines than their insurance company pays.

Unlike government price setting, which threatens Americans’ access to crucial, breakthrough medicines, we should ensure the rebates and discounts insurers receive get passed on to patients at the pharmacy counter — not pocketed by the insurance companies, hospitals, and middlemen.

Putting an end to the pandemic and strengthening the system

Our first order of business is to end the COVID-19 pandemic. We must also prepare for the challenges ahead. To do so, we need more of the innovation and discovery that led to the COVID-19 vaccines and treatments and a more muscular scientific delivery system from top to bottom.

Credits: Rechelle Barbato

Published: September 08, 2022

Source: https://medium.com/@rechelle.automationbeyond30/making-health-care-systems-better-71e6c441e802

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How to Take Out a Loan Against a Life Insurance Policy

A perpetual life insurance policy’s cash value is readily available for borrowing. The money can be used for any purpose and repaid anytime you choose, and a life insurance policy loan has comparatively low-interest rates. There are no loan restrictions or prerequisites (other than the amount of cash value). The drawback? You run the risk of losing your policy (and its cash value) if you don’t pay the loan’s interest, plus you’ll probably owe a lot of money in taxes. It’s simple to get cash by borrowing against your life insurance policy, provided you can make your payments on time.

Can you borrow against your life insurance policy?

How much can you borrow?

How do you take out a life insurance policy loan?

Pros vs. cons of taking out a life insurance loan

Does your life insurance coverage allow for borrowing?

The amount of money you would get if you surrendered your life insurance policy is its cash value. A portion of the premium you pay for a life insurance policy with a cash value, such as whole or universal life insurance, goes toward the cash value each time you make a payment. The policy’s terms specify the interest rate, which is how the cash value increases over time. You can borrow cash from the insurer if your permanent life insurance policy builds cash value by using the cash value as security. This choice is usually only accessible until the cash worth of your life insurance policy has grown to a certain level, which might take five to ten years of premium payments. Due to the absence of a cash value component, term life insurance plans are less expensive than permanent ones. They cannot be used as collateral for loans, and if you decide to surrender a term life insurance policy, you will not be compensated.

How Much Can You Borrow from a Life Insurance Policy?

How much you can borrow from a life insurance policy varies by insurer. Still, the maximum policy loan amount is typically at least 90% of the cash value, with no minimum amount.

When you take out a policy loan, you’re not removing money from the cash value of your account. Instead, you’re taking a loan from the insurer and using the cash value as collateral. This is a significant benefit, as the cash value remains within the life insurance policy and continues to accumulate interest.

You don’t need to pay back the loan in a set period, as many other forms of loan are required. However, if you don’t pay the insurer the annual interest, which can be fixed or variable, what will add the interest payment to the value of your outstanding loan?

Length of the loan

You’ll get hit with compounding interest if your loan stretches over many years. And if the total outstanding loan exceeds your policy’s cash value, the policy will lapse. If this happens, you will lose coverage and hit a high tax bill if the outstanding loan exceeds the amount you’ve paid in premiums.

There is a risk in borrowing nearly the total amount of the policy’s cash value, so if you take out a policy loan, continually carefully monitor its size compared to your cash value. In addition, we would recommend making interest payments whenever possible.

How do you take out a life insurance policy loan?

The process of taking out a life insurance loan is straightforward. You fill out a form from the insurer and often get the money deposited in your account within a few days. You may need to confirm your identity, sign a confirmation document or provide a notarized confirmation before receiving your loan if:

You provided new account information to the insurer in the last month

The policy changed ownership recently

The loan exceeds a specific size, such as $50,000

Pros and cons of taking out a life insurance loan

Life insurance collateral loans are a simple way to get money on short notice with few restrictions. You must be very careful about managing the account’s cash value and paying off interest as required.

However, besides the risk of the policy lapsing, there are a few downsides to borrowing against your whole or universal life insurance.

There are no qualifiers for a policy loan.

You can borrow against your life insurance policy without having to meet the requirements for conventional loans. The loan does not reflect on your credit report because there was no credit check. You also don’t need to present any income documentation. You will need to provide identification and evidence of your loan request at most.

If you need money immediately, as for an urgent medical need, life insurance collateral loans might be a perfect alternative because there are no requirements or checks. They can also be used as a bridge loan while you wait for a loan from another source to be authorized. It usually works in your favor to repay an insurance loan as soon as possible. The loan’s interest accrues annually, and the policy will expire if the balance is too high. If this occurs, you would have paid premiums totaling thousands of dollars with nothing to show (no coverage). You can also owe taxes if the loan balance is more extensive than your paid premiums.

Another justification for repaying the policy loan is that the outstanding sum will be subtracted from the death benefit that will be distributed to your dependents after your passing.

Pay it back anytime

You do not have to repay a debt against your life insurance policy. Additionally, if the total amount owed (initial loan + accrued interest) does not exceed the policy’s cash value, you are exempt from paying the yearly interest. Therefore, if you’re unsure how long you’ll need the money, borrowing from your life insurance policy is a great choice. It usually works in your favor to repay an insurance loan as soon as possible. The loan’s interest accrues annually, and the policy will expire if the balance is too high. If this occurs, you would have paid premiums totaling thousands of dollars with nothing to show (no coverage). You can also owe taxes if the loan balance is more significant than your paid premiums. Another justification for repaying the policy loan is that the outstanding sum will be subtracted from the death benefit that will be distributed to your dependents after your passing.

Credits: Marianne Obseqiuo

Published: August 16, 2022 

Source: https://medium.com/@MarianneLifeBlogs/how-to-take-out-a-loan-against-a-life-insurance-policy-dbbe47a256f8

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Working together, startups and established life insurance companies are the way forward.

Although much has changed in the insurance industry over the past 325 years since the Amiable Society for Perpetual Assurance Office produced the first life insurance policy, the industry’s long-standing, reliable procedures have remained primarily unchanged. Insurers have logically concluded that since their industry is risk-averse, nothing needs to be fixed.

That formula makes a lot more sense when consumers aren’t primarily responsible for driving significant changes in the life insurance industry. Most people have little interest in it; only 15% of 1,000 customers polled in late 2020 rated life or health insurance as one of their top three financial priorities.

But therein lay the difficulty faced by life insurers: attracting new clients while keeping existing ones interested and involved. This is especially true for clients who don’t believe life insurance offers much value to their lives. It is simpler to recruit, keep, and engage those most likely to require insurance, but this exacerbates the issue of adverse selection.

The picture for life insurers is obvious once these considerations are taken into account, along with the rise of creative insurance businesses that have proven competent at acquiring clients through customized solutions and elegant user experiences. Insurance companies cannot rely on the industry to remain as it has over the past four centuries while functioning without severe upheaval.

The bright side is that they can count on having support as they go through this change. Working with industry newcomers to build a whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts is the best way to accomplish change on the necessary scale.

The Importance of Established Companies for New Ventures

What necessitates this alliance of forces? Legacy life insurers offer the extensive experience, sector knowledge, and resources necessary to function efficiently and create new projects that will produce the intended results; despite whatever inefficiencies have hampered them.

Unlike other types of insurance, life insurance is unique. The cost of a life insurance policy depends on a far more complicated set of factors connected to policyholders’ health and life expectancies than the cost of a home insurance policy, which can easily be insured on a house based on its neighborhood, age, security features, etc. This increases the complexity of the actuarial tables used by life insurance and highlights the need for a steady hand when forming new business opportunities.

Reinsurers are the most prominent participants in the insurance industry’s historical legacy. These reputable organizations have a history of overcoming the particular difficulties facing the sector. They have the capital reserves necessary to handle the significant, individualized risk distribution that life insurance requires. In sharp contrast to the $2.7 billion insurance industry size, the whole reinsurance market was predicted to increase from $402 billion in 2020 to $435 billion this year — a growth rate of 8%. Although managing general agents (MGAs), which gives them the same rights as an insurance carrier, is advantageous for some insurance businesses, it’s obvious where the funding required to power customized insurance experiences rests.

The Importance of David in the Face of Goliath

How can established life insurance companies benefit from working with up-and-coming firms when they require the same established firms’ market power, financial resources, and industry expertise?

Although risk aversion is prized in the insurance industry, many life insurers may benefit from the innovation and risk-taking of startups to finally implement the necessary but long-overdue improvements that will boost customer acquisition and retention. A similar dynamic emerged in the auto sector, where the need for greater sustainability is opening the door to accessible, effective electric vehicles. Partnerships between established automakers and EV startups have greatly hastened this transformation.

In the world of life insurance, such partnerships typically aren’t complicated. Working directly with insurance firms that function as MGAs and use their technical capabilities to reach larger audiences allows reinsurers to circumvent insurance carriers.

In addition, new businesses play a critical part in helping established ones transition to the digital era. This is an urgent need in the life insurance industry. A 2018 Deloitte study found that only 11% of respondents who buy insurance do so digitally. However, research shows that digital purchasing options speed up and make it much more convenient for customers than drawn-out, analog processes.

Finally, startups provide the data-savvy attitude, tools, agility, and imagination that legacy firms need to develop excellent services and solutions as the insurance industry shifts away from static evaluation methods toward more dynamic approaches, such as rewarding and incentivizing policyholders to make healthier choices. An AI-driven assessment process, for instance, might be used to match applicants to various tiers of insurance depending on legacy-startup partnerships. The AI may foresee consumers’ requirements and lifestyle changes and present them with new policy options as circumstances change. Without startups by their sides, legacy insurers risk being disrupted and becoming another Kodak or Blockbuster — long-dominant industry titans that succumbed to competitors who were more creative and innovative.

Indeed, life insurance has changed little in principle over the previous 325 years. However, if the new century has taught us anything, change is coming faster than before. The speed with which insurers act to establish new forms of innovation and collaboration will determine whether those winds are at their backs or in their faces.

Credits: Paolo Moyet

Published: August 19, 2022

Source: https://medium.com/@jrpmoyet/working-together-startups-and-established-life-insurance-companies-are-the-way-forward-71c0cd0e08e8

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Insure your assets.

Life insurance is essential for multiple reasons.

•Financial planning for your family is an act of affection.

•Death is a reality for all individuals.

•You wish to ensure the safety of your family after your passing.

•Life insurance helps pay off your debts so that your family doesn't have to worry about them.

Book a call now! click here

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Increase Lead Conversions With a Marketing Automation Audit

When was the last time you conducted a marketing automation audit? If your contacts are not converting to qualified leads, your marketing automation may be out of sync with the needs of your potential buyers. Improve your lead conversions with a marketing automation audit that uncovers missteps and gaps in your marketing content and lead nurturing.

What is a Marketing Automation Audit?

A marketing automation audit is an evaluation of your contact database, lead scoring system, marketing workflows, lead nurturing emails, and reporting. The purpose of a marketing automation audit is to determine whether or not your contact segmentation, lead scoring, workflows, and emails are moving contacts through your pipeline and helping you meet your marketing goals.

Marketing automation is essential to running successful inbound marketing campaigns. Well-run marketing automation not only helps you meet your marketing goals, it ensures your buyers enjoy a positive experience with your brand. Over time, your brand and your knowledge of your buyers will evolve. Your segmentation, content, and marketing workflows need to change as well.

If your contacts are not receiving the right content to help them move through the marketing and sales pipeline, it may be because:

Your brand messaging changed

You learned more about your buyers’ needs, but your segmentation is not aligned

You created more targeted content as you learned more about your buyers, but don’t use it in your lead nurturing

Your lead scoring doesn’t reflect your buyers’ behavior

Broken links and outdated content stop leads from moving forward

With all the moving parts in marketing automation, workflow errors are bound to happen. Regular marketing automation audits will help you spot errors and fix them quickly so you can continue delivering the right messaging and content to your buyers at the right time.

How Can a Marketing Automation Audit Improve Lead Conversions?

The goal of marketing automation is to leverage technology to move contacts through your marketing funnel from interested visitor to purchaser. Delivering the right content and the right time in your buyer’s journey warms up their interest in your product or service and helps them make a decision to purchase. A marketing automation audit ensures you are leveraging technology and data on your buyers and their needs to move them from contact to lead.

Completing the audit and making the necessary adjustments to your marketing automation system will enable you to:

Gather the necessary information on your contacts

Put your contacts in the right lifecycle stage buckets

Use tracking to determine contacts’ interest and engagement with your website and content

Deliver content to help qualified leads make a purchasing decision

Move qualified leads to either Sales or a purchase page

How to Conduct a Marketing Automation Audit

Before you begin auditing your marketing automation workflows, it’s helpful to gather data to pinpoint areas of concern. Statistics that indicate there may be issues include:

Low conversion rates or inability to track conversions

Low email open rates

High email bounce rate

High unsubscribe rate

Inaccurate data on leads in each lifecycle stage

Inaccurate lead scoring

Based on the data gathered, determine where you need to focus your marketing automation audit. This may include evaluating the following checkpoints in your marketing workflows:

Forms

Review the forms you are using to collect contacts, including forms on your landing pages and any pop-up forms used on your website. Make sure all your forms are working properly and are directing new contacts to the correct page after submittal. If your forms trigger an automated email reply, make sure the email reflects your current branding and opportunities to engage with you further. Ensure there are no broken links in your email replies.

Are you collecting all of the information you need from contacts, including information that will help you segment contacts based on interests and needs? Is the amount of information you are gathering aligned with their stage in the buyers’ journey? A blog subscription form will typically ask for name and email. Subscribers are generally not ready to give more information and may be deterred by lengthier forms. Downloading a case study, on the other hand, indicates the contact is considering your service or product. Contacts at this stage are willing to provide more details about themselves, such as their company, role, and interests.

Database Segmentation

Segmenting your contact database into subsets based on your buyer persona profiles enables more efficient and effective targeting. Audit your segmented lists to determine whether or not they are still relevant. You may have lists that were developed for one-time campaigns. To keep your lists current, archive any lists that are no longer used.

You may have lists that require a criteria update. Perhaps your lead scoring has changed over time. Look at the parameters for inclusion in your lists and make sure they are still relevant. Make changes as needed.

Segmentation can be streamlined by allowing your contacts to self-select their interests or by adding contacts to lists based on behavior monitoring and lead scoring. Set up workflows that add contacts to lists based on interest, behavior, and lead scoring criteria.

Lead Scoring and Workflows

Lead scoring moves your leads through your contact lifecycle stages and helps qualify leads for your sales team. Over time, you will learn more about your leads and the behavior that signals their interest in your product and readiness to engage further with your company. Also consider that you may add new ways for prospects to engage with you such as webinars, email campaigns, and resource downloads. Inevitably, your scoring criteria will change and your workflows will need to be updated to reflect those changes.

Review your content and the buyer personas and buying stage that each piece serves. Make sure you are delivering the right content to the right people based on their persona and lead score. You may need to edit your triggers and automation rules.

Conversion Points and Tracking

Are your contacts converting from contact to qualified lead at the expected conversion points? If your conversion rates are low, evaluate any issues with the content, timing, and messaging that are preventing contacts from moving through your sales funnel.

Metrics to track and analyze include:

CTA clicks

Form submission rates on landing pages

Open and click rates on emails

Demo requests

Content Delivery

Aligning your content to your contacts’ customer journey is essential to marketing automation success. Automating email workflows triggered by list, lifecycle stage, or lead scoring is at the core of marketing automation. During your audit, make sure you have set up your workflows to deliver content that answers your prospects’ questions based on their current lifecycle stage and leads them to engage deeper with your brand. If you notice that leads consistently drop off at a certain point in your funnel, evaluate the content you are delivering at that point in their journey and align it with their needs.

As your brand matures, you may find that some content assets outperform others. Look at CTA click rates and landing page form submission rates to determine which assets perform best. Also, analyze click-through rates within your eBooks and guides to determine whether or not your contacts are engaging further while reading the content.

It’s common to have an abundance of awareness-stage content and fewer consideration-stage and decision-stage content pieces. Where are your content gaps? Make sure you have consideration-stage and decision-stage content to offer your leads to help them develop trust in your brand.

Email Marketing

Marketing automation software enables email drip campaigns to be sent to contacts. It’s crucial to evaluate the performance of your email campaigns regularly so you can make adjustments as needed. Look at your email open and click-through rates. They will indicate whether or not your emails are well-designed, use effective subject lines, and include engaging copy. A/B testing subject lines, copy, and calls-to-action in your emails can help you refine your email marketing campaigns.

If you notice a low open rate or high bounce rate on your emails, they may be landing in your subscribers’ spam folders.

Another item to check in your marketing automation audit is email frequency. How often are you emailing your contacts? Do different segments receive emails at different frequencies? If your emails are underperforming, consider optimizing the frequency and timing of your emails.

If you currently don’t send a welcome email sequence to your new contacts, consider automating a SOAP sequence that focuses on building a relationship with your new prospect, creating trust as well as interest in your brand.

Contact Database

The goal of marketing automation is to help you connect with engaged prospects and nurture your relationship with them before, during, and after they make a purchase. If you notice a low engagement rate on your emails, the issue could be poor database hygiene. If your list is bloated with contacts that have hard bounced or who are no longer interested and have disengaged from your email campaigns, it will affect your email metrics.

HubSpot explains, “Email senders with high rates of opens and clicks look more trustworthy to email security filters. And most email accounts, including Gmail, automatically filter out emails that recipients aren’t opening or clicking.” Learn how to improve your email deliverability here. It’s a good practice to cull your contact list periodically and archive or remove any contacts that have not engaged with your emails in recent months.

How Often Should You Conduct a Marketing Automation Audit?

A marketing automation audit is not a one-and-done event. Make it part of your quarterly marketing performance analysis to identify issues and gaps that are preventing you from optimizing your lead conversions.

Credits: Joan Arciga

Published: July 27, 2022

Source: https://medium.com/@webautomation17/increase-lead-conversions-with-a-marketing-automation-audit-21cc9ff78f15

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What Is a Claimant in Life Insurance?

Definition of Life Insurance Claimants

A claimant or beneficiary of your life insurance is the person who will receive a specific sum of money in the event of your passing. When you purchase a life insurance policy, choosing an heir is an important step because it is the only way legally to designate who will receive the money if you pass away during the policy’s term.

If you are a beneficiary, you should understand how the policy pays out, your options, and anything that might make things more difficult. To find out more about naming or being a beneficiary of life insurance, continue reading.

What Is a Beneficiary in Life Insurance?

You can designate an heir, who may be a person or an organization, when you buy a life insurance policy. Also possible is having more than one. They receive a predetermined sum of money or a series of payments if they pass away during the policy’s term.

You can distribute the funds however you like as the policy owner:

One person can be designated to receive everything.

You can designate two or more people to split the total sum however you choose.

Your estate may have a name.

You can designate a trust to receive the proceeds from the policy if you have one or desire one.

When they pass away, some people prefer to leave money for a charity; you can mention any recognized organization you like.

If necessary, you can give names to your minor children. It helps to be aware that most states call for an adult guardian to oversee minor assets if you intend to do this. The process of choosing a guardian can be expensive and time-consuming.

It’s crucial to contact the insurance provider and present a death certificate if you are the beneficiary of a life insurance policy and your loved one has passed away in order to begin the payout procedure.

Making a trust or custodial account is one way to hasten this procedure. Your children’s money is placed in a trust, where a trustee will look after it until they are of legal age or the age you specified for them to inherit it. If you don’t specify anyone, the “de facto” beneficiary is your estate.

How Should Insurance Beneficiaries Be Known?

Make sure you give accurate information when naming people to receive insurance money. You’ll need to know things like their birthday, social security number, and contact information. Additionally, make sure everything is correct before submitting it by checking it twice. If there are mistakes, the wrong people might get the money, or your heirs might have to deal with legal issues.

Let’s take the example where you list “spouse” as your beneficiary. Two years later, you get divorced and remarry without altering your insurance policy. After your passing, both your current and former spouses might make an attempt to collect the money.

You’ve created a legal problem that could delay payout because the definition of “spouse” is ambiguous. One was your legal spouse at the time of your death, and the other was your legal spouse at the time the insurance policy was written. Along with all the legal fees, stress, and heartache that always follow fights over money, a fight over money is likely to take place.

Contingent and Primary Beneficiaries

It is frequently advisable to add one or more supplemental beneficiaries to a policy. If the primary beneficiary (or beneficiaries) passes away or cannot be located, a contingent beneficiary is a person who gets some or all of the money.

Note: If you list multiple people, specify how much money (in a percentage form) each one should receive.

For example, suppose you buy a policy with a $1 million benefit. You designate the beneficiary as your spouse. Your partner will receive the entire sum should you pass away while the policy is still in effect. However, you might pass away before your main beneficiary.

Your three adult children are added as contingent beneficiaries because you want to ensure that the money is passed on to your children. You include each of them in the policy and distribute the funds equally. In this manner, your children will each receive a third of the money after your passing, even if your spouse dies before you do.

Per Capita and Per Stirpes

The decision of whether to choose per capita or per stirpes when naming beneficiaries is another factor to consider. If no other contingent beneficiaries are listed on the policy and one or more of your beneficiaries pass away, these specify how the money should be distributed.

Per capita (“per head”) is frequently used as the abbreviation. This implies that you don’t have to describe every potential event in great detail. Instead, an equal portion is distributed to each of your living beneficiaries.

For instance, if you have three adult children and one of them passes away before you do, the other two will instead receive half of the face value each. If you choose per stirpes and one of your beneficiaries passes away before you do, the beneficiary’s children, if any, will receive their share.

A per stirpes arrangement would give your two grandchildren the one-third that your three adult children were going to receive, for instance, if one of your three adult children passed away before you and was survived by two children. One-sixth of the funds would be given to each grandchild.

Life insurance is a wise choice for estate planning. In light of that, it might not be the best course of action for you and your situation. Consider speaking with an estate planning lawyer, who can assist you in putting together a strategy to ensure that your loved ones have what they need after your passing and that your assets go to the people you want them to.

There may be a box to check on some beneficiary designation forms so you can choose per stirpes. If there isn’t a box, ask your agent if you can enter per stirpes.

Who Has the Authority to Alter the Life Insurance Beneficiary?

When submitting a life insurance application, name at least one beneficiary. It doesn’t follow that you can’t alter it later. If you are the owner, you always have the option to remove or add people. You might decide to appoint someone else because of changes in your life, for instance.

In the event of a marriage or divorce, you might want to appoint someone else. A good reason to review your policy is the birth of a child. Alternatively, you might have another justification for the change. However, if you designated a beneficiary as “irrevocable,” you will need to obtain their approval before making any changes (they must sign the policy change form).

Additionally, in some circumstances, your insurance provider or state may place limitations on who you can name. For instance, married couples who reside in states with community property laws might need the consent of their spouse before naming anyone else.

Note: Contact your insurer and ask for a “beneficiary change form” if you want to add or change an heir.

Do beneficiaries of life insurance policies have to pay taxes? A life insurance death benefit received as a lump sum is typically not regarded as taxable income. There are, however, some circumstances in which you might owe taxes.

For instance, any interest paid above the face value of the money if it is received as monthly payments or an annuity is taxable income. Additionally, if the funds are transferred to your estate rather than a specific individual, estate taxes might apply. The good news is that there won’t be any estate taxes assessed unless your estate is worth more than $11.7 million.

Summary

If the insured passes away during the policy term, a beneficiary of life insurance receives the death benefit.

Multiple beneficiaries, including primary and contingent beneficiaries, may be named, along with a person or trust.

Your beneficiaries must have accurate identification information so that they can be located and legal disputes are kept to a minimum.

The majority of life insurance proceeds are tax-free, but in some cases, a portion of them might be.

Before you proceed, be sure you are aware of your state’s life insurance laws and how to handle naming minors.

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Life Health Advisors

Everything you do now is for your future. https://client.ethos.lifehealthadvisors.com/nelliem

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How does life insurance work? What is it?

Most individuals will explain life insurance to you as a purchasing policy that provides money to your family during your death. If you ask them to describe the main aspects of the guidelines, the many options, or how they operate, they will likely try to divert the subject.

However, those factors are crucial if you’re looking into life insurance. Your inquiries will be addressed in this post, specifically:

What constitutes a life insurance policy’s essential components? A life insurance policy is a contract between a person and an insurance provider (or legal entity). Every life insurance policy is unique, and every state has a different set of rules that govern insurance contracts.

The insurer: Only a select group of organizations are permitted to offer life insurance, and state insurance regulators oversee these organizations. The person or organization that owns (or “holds” the policy is referred to as the policyholder. Examples include a family trust or a company. The policy has two options for coverage: either the holder or a third party. The individual whose life is insured is known as the insured. The sum that the insurer will pay out upon the insured’s death is known as the death benefit.

The recipients of the death benefit are known as beneficiaries. It can be distributed proportionally among many different persons and entities (for example, three children could each receive 30% and 10% could go to a charity), or it can all go to a single person (for example, the surviving spouse). The duration of time the insurer agrees to provide a death benefit is known as the policy length. This can be for a set period of time, like 10 or 20 years, or it can be permanent, meaning that as long as premiums are paid, the policy will be in effect for the insured’s whole lifetime. The monthly or yearly payments required to maintain the insurance in force are referred to as the premium. monetary value: Whole life insurance and permanent life insurance both feature a cash value component that accrues over time2 and can be withdrawn or used as collateral for loans. Term life insurance has no cash value.

What are the different kinds of life insurance policies, and how do they work?

There are two basic types of life insurance: Term and permanent life insurance. A term life insurance policy provides coverage for a specific period of time, typically between 10 and 30 years. It is sometimes called “pure life insurance” because, unlike the permanent policy or whole life insurance, there’s no cash value component to the policy — once the term is over, there’s nothing left.

Permanent life insurance provides coverage that lasts your entire life. Unlike term, it’s not a “pure life insurance” product because it includes a cash value component that helps make coverage last while the insured is alive and premiums are paid and while providing other financial benefits. A portion of your premium dollars grows tax-deferred over time — but the entire death benefit is immediately payable from the first day you have the policy. The cash value, on the other hand, may take some years to build up to a significant amount.

There are two main types of permanent insurance: whole and universal life. Whole life insurance is simpler — the premium remains the same for life, the death benefit is guaranteed, and the cash value grows at a guaranteed rate. Universal life insurance can be less expensive, but the premiums, death benefits, and cash value growth rate can vary, making the policy more complex.

What advantages do people receive from life insurance at various times? Most adults should consider getting life insurance because it may be a potent weapon for safeguarding their financial confidence and, more importantly, the economic trust of those who depend on them. However, you should consider what kind of financial protection you require at this time in your life before purchasing a policy.

Questions and answers about life insurance What is the price of life insurance? Depending on the type of insurance (i.e., term or permanent) and all the factors that can affect your life expectancy, including age, weight, health, gender, lifestyle, occupation, and risk factors like smoking, the cost of a policy — for a particular level of death benefit — can vary significantly.

How may my needs be met by a life insurance policy? Riders, which are optional features almost all life insurance policies contain, can offer valuable extra benefits that specifically adapt the approach to your needs. For instance, Guardian offers riders that can assist save family assets by covering end-of-life expenses while the insured person is still alive.

Credits: Rechelle Barbato

Published: September 02, 2022

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Compare prices from multiple life insurance providers instantly without providing your phone number.

Everyone dreads seeing the dreaded “phone number” section while online filling out information to acquire immediate life insurance quotes.

Why do so many people find that objectionable?

Because you are aware that your phone will ring endlessly until you answer and that you will be added to a call list. Once you respond, the salesperson on the other end won’t stop until he has persuaded you to buy something you didn’t need at a price higher than what you originally desired.

That isn’t how things ought to be. You are, after all, seeking rapid life insurance rates. You don’t want to wait for a commission-based salesperson to call you back at a time that is inconvenient.

In the end, “quick quote” websites that want your phone number do so because it will benefit their business, not because it will make your life simpler or your shopping experience more pleasant.

You won’t have to worry about that inconvenience if you hunt for your quotes in the appropriate location.

We eliminated all the anti-consumer tactics we saw on other websites when we created our fast quote engine, including the requirement for your phone number. Instead, we concentrated on gathering the necessary data we require to offer quotes that are more accurate than those you will find elsewhere online.

If you don’t wish to keep your quotes to refer to them later, we don’t even demand an email address from you — fewer speed bumps and no later regrets.

Of course, we’re pleased to assist you there if you wish to be contacted. We have in-house experts available to chat with you if you give us a call. However, doing so is voluntary, and you’ll never be asked for your phone number. Furthermore, our agents don’t receive commissions significantly sets them apart from other agencies.

Do you know how you feel when a used car salesperson talks to you? This can also occur when you try to get life insurance since many will attempt to upsell you on whole life insurance. Whole life insurance is useless and more expensive when compared to term life insurance. On the other hand, commission-based agents receive a more extensive check.

It seems to sense that customers are hesitant to share their phone numbers.

Calling an insurance agent on the phone shouldn’t make you nervous. Be aware if you are required to give your number to receive immediate life insurance quotations. However, suppose you’re doing your research correctly. In that case, you can wait to call until you’re prepared to apply and keep your contact information to yourself until then.

Credits: Paolo Moyet

Published: August 17, 2022

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Six Significant Advantages of CRM for Retail and E-commerce Businesses

CRM technology has advanced steadily in the B2C market due to the recent rapid expansion of eCommerce retailers and mobile shopping. The majority of significant CRM system suppliers now provide a variety of features specifically designed for the e-commerce sector, which they have identified as one of the trendiest business models. If you are interested in learning more about the advantages of CRM for eCommerce and retail businesses, you have come to the correct spot.

1. Customer Segmentation

My feed is immediately overwhelmed with highly relevant sponsored advertising as soon as I go through my social media accounts after researching search engines, and I end up clicking on most of them. You have likely had the same experience. Social media shows us the advertisements we are most likely to click on since it has learned our search habits. Wouldn’t you want the same relationship with your customers if you were running an online retail business?

Sales agents can interact with clients most effectively by viewing customer groups organized by gender, interests (fashion, gadgets, etc.), spending history, and other factors.

2. Having access to the most pertinent data

How many visitors to your website abandon the page without making a purchase or paying for the things they added to their cart?

The average cart abandonment rate is a staggering 68.81 percent, according to Baymard. You may take action to turn these visitors into customers with a carefully thought-out CRM implementation in your retail firm!

3. Time Management Techniques

It turns out that sales representatives can only devote 11% of their time to active selling. Problem-solving and administrative tasks take up the majority of the time.

A CRM Customization for eCommerce can automate several self-service procedures, freeing your agents’ time to concentrate on their primary duties. Enterprise processes must now be more intelligent, and the easiest way to do so is to hire a CRM consultant before choosing a system.

4. Centralized Use of Social Media

We bet you are not operating an internet retail business without actively managing your social media profiles.

eCommerce traffic is primarily generated by paid advertisements and social media recommendations. Customers ask questions on social media, and how you respond to their questions affects how they view your customer service.

Consumers who complain on social media in 42 percent of cases anticipate a 60-minute response time. Through our Social Media Integrations, our clients have better-managed response times. You can also use the potent tools that many CRMs offer their clients. For instance, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a game-changer for marketing in any eCommerce organization.

5. Payment Info

It can be challenging to analyze payment data if your site accepts various payment channels. You can handle everything using CRM, from billing and invoicing to payment failures. Even better, you can incorporate a payment gateway into your CRM.

CRM’s advanced analytics can monitor payment trends, giving you the power to examine:

● Best sources of income

● The most valuable clients

● Several measures you may use to tailor your offerings

6. Order Administration

Lead generation through revenue generation is all included in the order management process. You can see and take action on each product’s order placement, order processing, shipment tracking, delivery, and customer feedback.

Order management is one of the most critical features in a CRM for e-commerce. CRM for Startups can also help you organize your firm and increase productivity if you are starting out.

Credits: Joan Arciga

Published: August 02, 2022

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Will Funeral Expenses be Covered by Life Insurance?

Many unexpected financial obligations remain to be handled after a loved one passes away, such as paying for the funeral if no initial plans were made.

Although nearly 60% of Americans have life insurance, you may not always be able to pay for funeral costs using the money you would get as a surviving family member. Even if your loved one had insurance, you might not get the money in time, or it might not cover the total cost, forcing you to pay out of pocket for funeral expenses.

We explain why a prepaid funeral policy might be a better option for covering expenses to avoid this.

Life Insurance: What Is It?

A life insurance policy is an agreement with an insurance provider in which you pay premiums over time, with payouts made to your loved ones in the event of your death. This payment, referred to as a death benefit, is to replace the lost income and assist in paying off debts and taxes, not necessarily to cover funeral costs.

The policyholder’s demands and preferences are considered while selecting the type of life insurance. In general, there are two forms of life insurance, including:

Term: This policy is intended to offer monetary security for a set amount of time. Term life insurance is often less expensive than permanent life insurance. Still, it only covers you for as long as you need it to support your beneficiaries. However, the policy ends when the term is over.

Permanent: This policy is intended to offer lifelong protection. A permanent life insurance policy typically requires more significant premium payments than term life insurance due to the lifetime coverage period.

Families frequently assume that life insurance benefits will be used to cover funeral costs. Still, there can sometimes be several unforeseen issues.

If you have life insurance, your family must pay the funeral home in full at the time of the funeral. However, the life insurance company may not deliver the death claim for several weeks or months. The payment date may be extended if there are delays in submitting a claim or gathering the necessary paperwork. During an already trying period, this makes loved ones frustrated and financially burdened.

Note that some life insurance policies also provide funeral insurance (called a final expense plan). This extra purchase provides money to assist your beneficiary in covering funeral costs. This plan’s benefit is that, in contrast to other life insurance policies, it doesn’t call for a medical examination. As a result, many people can qualify, increasing prices.

A Prepaid Funeral Policy: What Is It?

The purpose of prepaid funeral coverage is to cover the cost of the funeral. The services you choose are secured at today’s prices by making final arrangements in advance, protecting you and your family from rising funeral costs.

Planning provides flexible payment options. You can spread out payments to match your budget rather than a sizable lump sum upfront, safeguarding surviving family members from having to assume responsibility for this debt on their own.

The price you agreed to at the original prearrangement is final because, according to Ohio law, all prepared plans are completely transferable at any time. And in most circumstances, if you pass away unexpectedly before making all of your payments, the insurance will take care of the outstanding sum.

Other Reasons I Should Think About a Prepaid Funeral Policy

Beyond the practical benefits, planning gives you and your family peace of mind. Having a plan in place minimizes the strain on loved ones and allows you to express your preferences in writing. Additionally, it will enable you to reflect on how you want people to remember you.

When you get prepaid funeral coverage, you work with an advisor to write down your last wishes. Together, the two of you can create a unique memorial that honors your chosen funeral arrangements, such as:

You can choose between cremation and burial.

Your preferred service is a get-together, visitation, funeral, or memorial service.

Which things do you want? (ex: casket, headstone, cremation urn).

Individual touches (ex: video tribute or photo display).

This ensures that your final desires are honored and frees up your family from having to handle the details alone, allowing them to concentrate on spending quality time together during this terrible time.

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Does the Program also come in CRM-SaaS Form?

Using CRM-SaaS has many benefits (short for CRM as software-as-a-service). Despite earlier suspicions in Germany, more and more businesses are adopting this strategy here. Can your business use the model as well? Here are some supporting and opposing data. Call if your inquiries are not correctly addressed.

Describe CRM-SaaS.

CRM-SaaS is a cloud-based operating system for CRM software. An outside service provider manages and makes the cloud CRM and related IT infrastructure available.

The CRM software can be used within your organization without needing additional IT personnel. Typically, the calculation takes the form of a monthly lease cost per user.

What advantages does CRM-SaaS offer?

Is using CRM software as a cloud solution or an on-premises installation more beneficial? The current pattern demonstrates that businesses are becoming more aware of the advantages of CRM SaaS.

There are numerous motivations. One significant benefit of SaaS CRM is that you may use robust programs without having to deal with pricey hardware installations or software updates by just accessing them online.

1. Cost-cutting

Investments in licensing and the required IT infrastructure, like servers or administrative staff, are needed for the deployment of CRM. The benefit of removing these initial costs is the cloud model. The monthly charge per user can be estimated precisely and efficiently changed for changes in the number of users.

Please indicate in your cost statement that you also consider hiring personnel and paying for the essential services and equipment. The CRM-SaaS technique is frequently the most economical choice; thus, medium-sized businesses are strongly encouraged to consider it.

2. Extreme security

Due to their extensive CRM experience, CRM hosting companies have a comprehensive security approach. This safeguards data in the cloud more effectively than certain businesses with inadequate IT expertise. Compared to operating on your own, the costs are lower.

Your CRM SaaS provider handles everything from updates and data security to hardware upkeep.

3. CRM-SaaS projects are completed quickly.

Because IT projects are frequently shorter, there is less need to hire competent IT staff and buy technology.

4. Constant accessibility

When using a cloud CRM, you can access your data from any location with Internet connectivity. Whether using a PC, tablet, or smartphone, all your devices have access to your data.

5. Freedom from conventional release cycles

Updates or minor adjustments can be live-streamed in a short amount of time so that you can view the outcome right away in your application without revision. But maybe with a restart or unsubscribe.

6. Rapidly incorporate additional cloud services

The ability to swiftly incorporate additional cloud solutions into the business application is a significant benefit of the cloud-based CRM application.

7. Quick and straightforward scaling

If your business decides to add more CRM users, it will be done in a single day without the need for testing, waiting, or software installation. Your provider grants the new user access to your CRM system after you modify your subscription. The procedure is the same for extra service and storage — all at the rapid pace businesses like about this strategy.

Is there anything terrible about CRM-SaaS?

Do you require an offline CRM?

Germany does not yet have a significant Internet presence. You require the proper offline client when your field service must operate in a dead radio zone.

Does a dedicated server support your security claim?

Few CRM SaaS vendors offer you access to their servers. Usually, several businesses collaborate on a single server. Ask inquiries that are appropriate for the CRM SaaS service provider.

What is your judgment?

Businesses worldwide are migrating to the cloud, where they can easily rent CRM SaaS and lead stress-free lives at work. As a result, businesses are using CRM-SaaS.

Money is saved. SaaS systems are less expensive to operate and more cost-effective than on-premises systems. Your business doesn’t need to provide any infrastructure, servers, upgrades, or upkeep.

Time is saved. Upgrades and setup are typically quicker, easier, and more effective.

It makes collaboration easier. CRM software and data are accessible to authorized users from any location with an Internet connection.

It changes with the times. Current trends like omnichannel integration or mobile strategy are simple to pick up on.

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Standard Relationship with Customers

By meeting client needs, a company can remain in operation.  A frequent review is necessary to improve the quality of services and products and to have a quality relationship with clients.  Organizations need a set of guidelines for measuring and enhancing this quality to achieve this goal.

The most effective way to ensure that a firm stands out from many competitors and obtains the benefit of being recognized as the finest among all is to provide the highest quality services to clients. Trust and dedication are the key components of a high-quality connection between a customer and a supplier.  Trust can be viewed as the most significant investment in creating long-lasting partnerships because it signifies confidence and security in any relationship.  When two parties encounter perfect and contented motives in one another, trust is built between them. Knowing more about one another reduces all uncertainties and hazards, which results in a successful company.  On the other hand, a lack of trust damages the foundation of a connection, increasing the likelihood of ambiguity and conflict.

Another goal that should be attained to establish a long-term mutual connection is commitment. Only when mutual trust and the two people share the same ideals can commitment be achieved. In a committed connection, the suppliers and the customers work to maintain the bond and never want it to end, making the glue more substantial and focused. In reality, transitioning from committed partnerships with one supplier and starting fresh ties with other suppliers entails high costs. 

Other characteristics that support a high-caliber relationship include the following:

Courtesy: Customers frequently lose their cool and misbehave for various uncontrollable reasons. However, the supplier must maintain composure and act appropriately. Delivering the responses in an excellent, courteous, and compassionate manner could boost customer satisfaction.

Availability: Frantic clients always prefer the availability of human reactions over computerized emails or messages. A business must make its executives accessible to clients at all times so they can answer their questions and requirements. Offering these services consistently encourages emotional connections between clients and suppliers, ultimately rewarding and leading to a successful business.

Responsive: Suppliers should always have prompt, receptive, and knowledgeable executives to satisfy clients. For instance, if a customer calls and inquires about some essential product features and the executive is unable to explain them or is unresponsive to the majority of his inquiries, the customer may decide to go to another company for better service, which could lead to the end of the deal and the relationship with that customer.

Intelligent: Good bargains, including discounts and reasonable rates, tend to draw in many clients. The best pricing and deal should be offered by the supplier in these circumstances so that the customer is not lost to the supplier, who can make at least a modest profit, if not more. This necessitates the development of predetermined strategies and the intelligent application of responses to these strategies.

Futuristic: Always be forward-thinking when it comes to technological advancements. Due to intense rivalry and a faster rate of technological development, methods, types of services, and goods may steadily deteriorate over time. A corporation should constantly work on updating its business tactics and persuade clients as a result, keeping this in mind.

Bringing the qualities mentioned above into a firm will always increase the quality of relationships with clients and suppliers, which is profitable for both parties.

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Research into Markets and CRM

Customer relationship management is one of the best fields in which market research can be applied. It enables a company to receive precise and insightful feedback on their performance, and through a variety of customer opinions, it enables them to comprehend how their target market feels about them. The subjects listed below are just a few where market research could provide insightful feedback:

Obtaining pertinent information for future market expansion.

Prior to investing in product testing and production, determine whether a new product is feasible and likely to be accepted by consumers.

Determining the cost sensitivity of the target market.

Finding novel product features that will appeal to consumers and being aware of the advantages and benefits they may offer.

Identifying the hidden qualities that a product possesses and figuring out how to use those qualities to get them in front of customers.

Determining the extent to which customers are satisfied with the company, particularly with regard to performance, technology, quality, service, cost, and completion schedule.

Identifying the strong points to build on and the weak points to strengthen in order to ultimately increase customer satisfaction.

Creating a database of competitor information and using this database as a benchmark or reference based on customer feedback.

Identifying the main areas where the company outperforms its rivals and those where they lag behind them

Finding market trends and the causes behind them.

Discovering the causes of bad business and figuring out which regions are most affected.

Offering commercial solutions for common issues in all aspects.

Figuring out which purchasing channels customers prefer. Do they prefer making purchases online or in person?

Finding perspectives for the future.

In many organizations, managers and executives frequently interact directly with customers. Face-to-face interactions with customers result in few negative reviews because doing so could be embarrassing. In a similar vein, they are hesitant to offer compliments out of concern that doing so might reduce their leverage in negotiations with suppliers. Therefore, it is crucial for the company to conduct market research and analyze the real feedback that they are unable to obtain from the customers.

In other situations, where customers are not present in person, suppliers are unable to directly solicit feedback from them. Only agents or middlemen who are infrequently atomistic and do not understand the true meaning can provide them with direct feedback. More thorough and analytical data is needed to produce business results and conclusions. To obtain appropriate and trustworthy customer feedback, it is therefore always imperative to conduct accurate market research or surveys.

This market research is integrated into CRM systems like market intelligence and is based on current customer data. Because of the integration of this data, all organizational departments can access it from a single location. However, it is also verified to ensure that no department without the necessary access cannot access the confidential data. For instance, notifications of customer late payments should only be accessible by the accounting department and not by customer service departments that are open to the public. Despite being centrally stored in a single CRM system, the data is intelligently integrated and customized.

Integration of market research and CRM has proven to be very effective because it reduces the amount of time required for analysis and produces more reliable results than conventional market research methods.

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13 Business Automation Ideas to Save Time and Money

Business automation can increase efficiency across an organization by eliminating a significant amount of repetitive workplace tasks and reducing hours wasted on redundant tasks and helping improve overall productivity. Those key benefits and others have led a growing number of organizations to infuse more and more business automation into their operations.

What Is Business Automation?

Business automation uses technology to take the manual labor out of day-to-day business processes. From hiring to email management to accounting, nearly every corner of a business’s operations can benefit from some level of business automation.

With business automation, companies can simplify and optimize workflows. Put simply, the ultimate goal is less to replace human labor and more to augment with technology in a way that helps improve the entire, end-to-end process.

Much more than just replacing paper and PDFs with dynamic digital data, business automation factors in the key steps in a company’s workflows and then attempts to make these processes cheaper, faster and less error-prone. By integrating these processes onto technology platforms, companies also benefit from better reporting capabilities and the ability to analyze data over time. That information then informs key decisions and helps the business grow.

Why Does Your Business Need to Automate Processes

Automating business processes saves time and money, but the rewards of investing in automated systems don’t end there. These systems also help reduce the amount of manpower that it takes to complete key tasks and allows workers to focus on more important projects. For instance, when you can automate your accounts payable processes or customer service chat rooms online, your paid labor can center its efforts on more critical, business-building tasks.

Automation also helps reduce costly errors and the time it takes to correct them. Most document processing and data entry mistakes are a result of human error.

Business automation can also introduce new levels of standardization into daily workflows by walking employees through detailed steps and tracking all relevant documentation. All of these improvements can help companies reduce both operating costs and overhead.

13 Top Business Automation Ideas

While automation has the potential to generate improvements across many aspects of your business, there are a few areas where it can be particularly impactful. Here are 13 areas of your business ripe for automation, and some advice on how to implement these ideas:

1. Hiring Process

Hiring new employees is a multi-stage process that starts with a job posting or recruitment of specific candidates, and ends when the employee is fully onboarded. Many steps along the way can be automated, making the overall hiring process simpler and less time-intensive.

A human resources management system (HRMS) is a valuable tool in automating the hiring process. As part of a broader set of functionalities, these systems automate the candidate management process. They can reduce the work that comes with making offers to candidates and setting them up with all the equipment and access to systems they need for the role.

An HRMS can enhance the overall candidate experience. That, in turn, improves the reputation of your company and helps you attract better candidates.

2. Employee Analytics

HR departments charged with evaluating employees’ work can use data to track all the tasks of each employee and generate ready-to-use reports for managers and leaders. If, for example, employee turnover in the warehouse has become unusually high over the last 90 days, the company can use HR tools to pinpoint the specific problem and make better hiring decisions going forward.

3. File Transfers

The days of moving files between different filing cabinets and walking them over to various departments are long gone. Today’s organizations rely on digital file transfers, but not all of those transfer mechanisms live up to expectations. Using a platform like Google Docs or a service like Dropbox, for example, comes with its own set of challenges.

Using business automation, companies can efficiently store and share files either within their four walls or with customers, business partners, and other stakeholders. Automated File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) software solutions move the files to servers. Users can then schedule an FTP/SFTP download or upload of one or more files without having to ask a colleague for help.

4. Report Generation and Distribution

If spreadsheets and reports are the foundation of your daily operations, then automating report generation and distribution will save your company time, money, and hassle. Businesses can use software to automatically distribute this information on a daily or weekly basis, and recipients can use it to review historical data, forecast future performance, and make optimal decisions.

The software allows automated reports to be generated at specific times (i.e., at the end of every week or quarter). The system can also trigger report generation by events like a manufacturing backlog or a product shortage in the distribution center.

Equipped with the reports they need to be able to do their jobs — and in a way that requires little or no work — employees are empowered to make decisions that benefit their departments and the company as a whole. This lets managers and supervisors spend more time on core tasks.

5. Email Automation

Most employees spend hours of their day receiving, sifting through, and replying to emails, many of which are irrelevant to their core responsibilities.

For many companies, the answer to the question, “How much more could your employees accomplish if they were twice as productive?” can be found with email automation. Rather than manually handling every message as it hits their inboxes, employees are using automation to organize their stacks of daily emails, sending automated responses to some and directing everything else to specific folders for further attention. By automating employees’ inboxes, companies help their workforce see and respond to relevant messages quickly and efficiently.

6. Claims Processes

Processing claims of any kind is a long (e.g., returns, repairs, etc.) and arduous process that often creates a lot of frustration for everyone involved. When some or all of the steps involved can be automated, it takes the pressure off the claimant and the organization and allows them to focus on the most important aspects of the process.

Using technology like robotic process automation (RPA), organizations can speed up the claims process. For example, a claims adjuster is able to automatically extract and transmit data, versus having to look for it online, call someone about it, or request it via email.

By developing an automated workflow for this and other steps, companies can cut significant time, money, and hassle out of their claims processes.

7. Accounting Tasks

Accounting is a time-consuming process that includes a lot of manual steps. By automating some or all of the steps involved, companies can save time, reduce errors and free up employees’ valuable time to focus on other tasks.

Take accounts payable (AP), for example. It also reduces data errors and helps prevent fraud through a system of “touchless” controls that happen behind the scenes.

Combined, these functionalities translate into important benefits for companies that adopt accounts payable automation software. This software helps companies reduce the amount of manual labor that it takes to process invoices, manage approvals, and process payments. By using a software solution for these and other tasks, companies can effectively simplify these processes and their associated workflows.

8. Meetings

Managing calendars, setting up meetings, and organizing the details of these events are all activities that have traditionally been handled manually. But a number of different automation platforms can help take the pain out of internal and customer meetings.

By automating meetings, companies can not only manage the event itself, but also the pre-and post-meeting logistics.

An alternative to traditional calendar tools, meeting automation platforms (MAPs) can be used to support the meeting itself, improve communication before, during, and after the meeting, and scale up or down according to the company’s individual needs.

9. Facility Management

Tasked with everything from managing to build security access to replacing leaky windows to repairing heating and cooling systems, facility managers often have to use highly manual processes (i.e., phone calls, emails, etc.) to manage those tasks.

These approaches are inconsistent and decentralized and would benefit greatly from automation that allows teams to react quickly, provide the right level of service and maintain audit trails. In most cases, the software works with an automated response mechanism, whereby an action (e.g., a piece of machinery that’s low on oil, a window left open in the winter, or a dangerous slip-and-fall incident on the factory floor) triggers a response.

Once alerted to the issue, the system either manages the problem automatically or triggers an alert to the facility manager — and all with minimal human intervention. This not only takes the guesswork out of facility management but helps create a safer work environment for all team members. It also helps companies save money.

10. Communication

Keeping team members, customers, and business partners up to date on important information is critical, but emailing, texting, or calling everyone to share information is both time-consuming and inefficient.

Automation can help. By setting up repeat meeting reminders, for example, sales teams can receive alerts for upcoming events without anyone having to send those reminders. The invites pop up on their calendars, they accept or decline them, and the meeting leader has his or her attendee roster for the upcoming event.

Similar automation techniques can be used when working with customers or prospects, who should receive regular check-ins and follow-ups during the course of a month or a quarter. Using automated drip email campaigns, for instance, companies can stay in close contact with their client bases without the need to write and send individual messages.

11. Batch Processing

Companies use batch processing to automate the management of either grouped or batched transactions. Rather than managing these transactions individually, the software “batches” multiple transactions and handles them all at once.

Batch processing requires little or no human intervention and works especially well for “end of cycle” transactions, such as processing end-of-month or end-of-quarter reports or weekly/biweekly payrolls.

12. ERP Integration

Integration with an ERP system allows automated systems to get information from — or feed information into — the ERP. When all these systems work from the same dataset, companies get a single, unified source of all business data, which can guide major business decisions.

The shared data that comes from ERP integration helps companies eliminate data inconsistencies, eradicate time spent moving information between systems and gain access to accurate, real-time information. Companies then have a holistic view of their operations and can take full advantage of their automated systems’ capabilities.

13. Marketing

Marketing is yet another critical business task that can be simplified and optimized with automation. Marketing automation software, for example, can organize leads and automate email blasts. It helps companies better align campaigns and programs with the efforts of their sales teams, as well.

With marketing automation software, companies can track, monitor and nurture highly qualified leads that are ready for sales representatives to reach out to and work with. This reduces the complexity of the lead conversion process and enables a faster sales closing process.

When companies use marketing software, they also gain access to tracking and measurement tools that reveal how they’re doing over time (i.e., at converting leads into sales) and allow them to make adjustments that ultimately lead to higher revenues.

With this type of business automation, companies can simplify and optimize workflows by reducing the human labor required with technology to improve the process. Business automation factors in the key steps in a company’s workflows and makes these processes cheaper, faster, and less error-prone.

Credits: Lisa Schwarz

Published: November 18, 2020

Source:https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/business-strategy/business-automation-examples.shtml