September 16th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Card-not-present merchants are battling increasingly frequent friendly fraud. That type of fraud..The I don’t recognize or I didn’t do it dispute. This occurs when a cardholder makes a purchase, receives the goods or services and initiates a chargeback on the order claiming he or she did not authorize the transaction.
This problem can potentially cripple merchants because of the legitimate nature of the transactions, making it difficult to prove the cardholder is being dishonest. The issuer typically sides with the cardholder, leaving merchants with the cost of goods or services rendered as well as chargeback fees and the time and resources wasted on fighting the chargeback.
Visa recently changed the rules and expanded the scope of what is considered compelling evidence for disputing and representing chargeback for this reason code. The changes included allowing additional types of evidence, added chargeback reason codes and a requirement that issuers attempt to contact the cardholder when a merchant provides compelling evidence.
The changes give acquirers and merchants additional opportunities to resolve disputes. They also mean that cardholders have a better chance to resolve a dispute with the information provided by the merchant. Finally, they provide issuers with clarity on when a dispute should go to pre-arbitration as opposed to arbitration.
Visa has also made other changes to ease the burden on merchants, including allowing merchants to provide compelling evidence to support the position that the charge was not fraudulent, and requiring issuers to a pre-arbitration notice before proceeding to arbitration, which reduces the risk to the merchant when representing fraud reason codes.
The new “Compelling Evidence” rule change does not remedy chargebacks but brings important changes for both issuers and merchants. Merchants can provide information in an attempt to prove the cardholder received goods or services, or participated in or benefited from the transaction. Issuers must initiate pre-arbitration before filing for arbitration. That gives merchants an opportunity to accept liability before incurring arbitration costs, and Visa will be using information from compelling evidence disputes to revise policies and improve the chargeback process
Visa made those changes to reduce the required documentation and streamline the dispute resolution process. While the changes benefit merchants, acquirers and issuers, merchants in particular will benefit with the retrieval request elimination, a simplified dispute resolution process, and reduced time, resources and costs related to the back-office and fraud management. The flexibility in the new rules and the elimination of chargebacks from cards that were electronically read and followed correct acceptance procedures will simplify the process and reduce costs.
Sometimes, an efficient process for total chargeback management requires expertise or in-depth intelligence that may not be available in-house. The rules surrounding chargeback dispute resolution are numerous and ever-changing, and many merchants simply do not have the staffing to keep up in a cost-effective and efficient way. Chargebacks are a way of life for CNP merchants; however, by working with a respected third-party vendor, they can maximize their options without breaking the bank.
Reason Code 83 (Fraud Card-Not-Present) occurs when an issuer receives a complaint from the cardholder related to a CNP transaction. The cardholder claims he or she did not authorize the transaction or that the order was charged to a fictitious account number without approval.
The newest changes to Reason Code 83, a chargeback management protocol, offer merchants a streamlined approach to fighting chargebacks and will ultimately reduce back-office handling and fraud management costs. Independent sales organizations and sales agents who understand chargeback reason codes and their effect on chargeback rates can teach merchants how to prevent chargebacks before they become an issue and successfully represent those that they can’t prevent.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: account, account number, acquirers, agents, Back Office, card, card holder, card-not-present, Card-not-present merchants, cardholder, cards, chargeback, chargeback fees, chargeback rates, cnp, CNP merchants, CNP transaction, fees, fraud, fraud management, Independent sales, independent sales organizations, issuer, management protocol, Merchant's, organizations, protocol, purchase, Rates, resolution, resolution process, resources, risk, sales agents, services, transaction, visa
August 13th, 2014 by Elma Jane
No sales manager wants to hear that his or her team is losing sales. For some companies, customers jump ship or don’t give them a chance at all, because of a negative experience with an individual sales representative. The outcome of a bad in-person sales experience is more dramatic than just a delay in the sales cycle. In fact, according to a recent survey and research, 70 percent of marketing and sales professionals said a bad sales call results in a loss of revenue and 70 percent noted that it can take months or even years, to recover from it, but for many organizations, lost revenue doesn’t just occur because of bad sales calls. Often, small inefficiencies in the sales process add up to a lot of wasted time and by extension, wasted opportunities.
Sales teams spend 30 to 50 percent of their time not selling, they’re calling, chasing and waiting, trying to get the customer to agree to an appointment. When you change this behavior and drive it down, sales go way up.
How can sales managers solve these issues that stand in the way of growth? Gathering customer feedback may seem like the obvious answer, but before you do, try seeking internal feedback from your team about where they’re struggling.Managers should look at underperforming sales reps and inquire about the obstacles that are keeping them from being successful, is it training or the enablement material? Can they find the right material for each stage of the sales cycle? It’s important that managers understand both the positive and negative patterns so they can provide critical feedback to marketing on content effectiveness and help salespeople orchestrate better conversations.
Another effective strategy for collecting useful feedback is to ask employees what tactics are helping them to succeed. Ask them for the single best thing they’re doing relating to sales. Questions that ask for just one thing generate the best results. It’s easy to act on those answers and it’s valuable and engaging to share them transparently with the rest of the team. Once you’ve asked your team about their process and figured out what’s working, there’s one last question you need to ask yourself as a sales manager, what do you need to stop doing as an organization to free up more time for the tactics that actually work?
If your team is wasting a lot of time on nonselling activity, the best thing to do is eliminate that dead time of waiting around for the phone to ring. Sales teams confuse making 70 phone calls to prospective clients and leaving messages with selling. That activity is not selling. Get prospects engaged in a productive conversation the first time you pick up the phone or meet them by finding out what the customer’s problem is, and if your product or service can solve it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: companies, customers, marketing, organizations, product, sales, sales calls, sales process, Sales teams, service
June 12th, 2014 by Elma Jane
About 5.5 million family-owned businesses operate in the United States, according to Family Enterprise USA. The secret to their success? It just might be the family aspect that makes these organizations thrive.
The business world knows that if you take care of the customer, the bottom line will take care of itself. Family-run businesses take it a step further, if you take care of your employees and treat them like family, they will take care of your customer and treat them like family. The business will thrive with loyal patrons and employees and continue to grow and be profitable even during tough times.
What truly drives many family businesses is the sense of connection and identity the owners and their family members feel with the business.
In family businesses, the founder and employees have an incredible passion for the business, a focus and energy that you’ll never find in a non-family employee. They’re so focused on the business’ success that it’s part of their identity. The business isn’t the life of non-family employees. In general, they won’t identify themselves with the business being part of who they are the way family members do. Non-family businesses can learn a valuable lesson from this family business attitude.
The core values of a family-run business are based on the core values of family life. Every member of a family is there for the other members in their time of need, no matter how big or small that need is. A non-family business can benefit from applying family values to their operations by creating a culture that has people wanting to work harder for them because they feel like family not a number.
A family business attitude makes all employees feel like part of the business. You watch out for each other and make sure all customers are treated the same every day, every time, by everyone. Like family. A dad expected more from a family than the employees because they had to lead by example and being more than just an employee working a job. Family is expected to do more and be better. That behavior flows into all employees and helps meet daily goals.
Despite the strong company culture typically found in family businesses, not all of them succeed: Thirty percent of family-owned businesses are passed down to the next generation, and only 12 percent remain viable into the third generation. A recent TAB survey found that lack of succession planning is one common reason that family businesses fail to stay within the family. Twenty-nine percent of business owners do not have a succession plan. Without one, it’s easy to understand how owners of family businesses can lose the legacy they’ve worked so hard to build.
Family business succession also faces the issue of a lack of training. Although 45 percent of owners say their children are involved in their business, 62 percent say it’s unlikely their business will remain family owned when they sell or retire.
A lack of confidence in leadership abilities could account for this gap. Training family members early and thoroughly can go a long way in building that necessary confidence. The perceived special treatment of related employees and the mixing of family and work issues can also cause points of contention in a family business setting. To ensure the success of any family members hired, family business owners should operate with a certain level of objectivity. If you bring a family member into the business, get them to work outside the company first. Make him or her learn how to take direction from others, so the family dynamic is neutralized. If spouses work together, make sure your roles are separate. Don’t discuss family matters at work or work matters at home.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: business world, company culture, customer, loyal patrons, organizations
