8 Simple Communications Tips for Factoring Brokers

PRN Funding truly values the relationships that we have with our factoring brokers because they are so passionate about finding the best funding source for their clients. Yet, we’ve seen plenty of cash flow consultants who struggle with communicating with current and potential factoring customers. The invoice funding specialists put together a few pointers to help our factoring brokers focus and get the word out about your cash flow  business and PRN’s healthcare factoring services,

  • Figure out how much time you intend to dedicate toward honing your communications skills
  • Decide how much money you are willing to invest into communications
  • Start with a list of who your current customers (Current customers are your best customers!)
  • Begin a second list of who you want to have as new customers (Hint: Start with ones that are similar to your current customer-base.)
  • Ask you current customers how they prefer to communicate (i.e. phone, email, text, social media networks, etc.)
  • Use the same communications channels that you current customer prefer to speak to potential clients.
  • Ask for feedback on your messaging efforts and fine-tune where applicable

Sounds simple enough, right?

CDIA (formerly MTIA) Closing its Doors

Did any of our medical transcription invoice factoring blog readers see the letter that the board members of the Clinical Documentation Industry Association posted on their web site?

If not, here’s a copy of what’s on the site’s home page:

Dear CDIA Members and Supporters,

The Clinical Documentation Industry Association (CDIA) has weathered many financial challenges over the past few years from the significant contraction in the marketplace and overall unhealthy economic conditions. In response, we rebranded the association to expand our reach beyond medical transcription, editing, voice, and speech recognition to encompass every touch point in the clinical documentation continuum. Our flagship event, the CDIA Annual Conference, had broadened the educational program to bring together these complementary audiences.

Unfortunately, the external factors have become too strong for the association to overcome and this is why we are writing to you today. On behalf of the CDIA Board of Directors, we regret to inform you that the association is closing and the annual conference planned for April 2012 in Baltimore, MD has been cancelled.

This has been a very difficult decision that the Board did not take lightly. The association’s finances could no longer sustain the organization to serve the members and support the annual conference. Over the next several weeks, CDIA representatives will be winding down the association and information will be sent regarding recent payments made to the association.

Thank you for your support of CDIA and participation in the association. We encourage you to continue to promote the spirit of CDIA’s mission, values, and advocacy platform as you continue your involvement in other associations, including the Health Story Project (www.healthstory.com) and AHDI (www.ahdionline.org).

Sincerely,

The Clinical Documentation Industry Association

The medical transcription invoice funding specialists asked the president of PRN Funding, Phil Cohen, what his thoughts were on the CDIA’s closing, and this is what he had to say:

First and foremost, on a personal level, I’m saddened by the announcement. I’ve either exhibited or attended the annual CDIA show since 1992! However, I don’t believe that the association’s closing is any indication that the medical transcription (or clinical documentation industry) is hurting. Rather, it just shows how the amount of mergers and acquisitions have been affecting the industry. To date, there are fewer smaller MTSOs in the industry and there are also fewer large players in the industry. For an association to remain active, viable and financially sound, it needs more contributing members, not fewer.

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on CDIA’s closing?

Temporary Hospice Staffing Factoring Case Study

The temporary hospice staffing factoring specialists at PRN Funding recently invited one of our current hospice staffing clients to “spill the beans” in a tell-all interview about her experiences with using PRN Funding as a medical staffing factor.

Although the video and printed interview is posted on PRN Funding’s web site, we also included them on The Factoring Blog for all of our medical staffing agency owners.

Chastity Williams has a big heart, and she had a big dream. As a long term care nurse she had many encounters with hospice nursing. In 2007, there was a tremendous nursing shortage and hospice was a very misunderstood area of health care. Chastity knew she could help make a difference in people’s lives and wanted to start her own hospice temporary staffing agency – Nursing by Demand.

“Like everyone else, I had an idea and thought I’d open a business. When I started I was all heart and had big ideas for the nursing part, but I didn’t know as much about the business part.” She felt uncertainty as many entrepreneurs do, and wondered how she’d be able to raise payroll.

“Chastity had a couple clients lined up before she started, but as in many new business situations, they didn’t pay quite fast enough. So she didn’t have the cash on hand to meet payroll. That’s a lot of pressure for a new business,” says Ryan Elliott, her Account Manager at PRN.

A business loan was out of the question – Chastity was adamant that she didn’t want to start a business with debt. She did some research and came across PRN Funding’s web site as well as some others, and looked into several.

Click here to continue reading why Chastity decided to choose PRN Funding as her hospice staffing factor.

How to Qualify a Factoring Prospect by Asking Three Simple Questions

It’s a factoring broker‘s job to deliver companies with cash flow issues to the appropriate funding source. Although this task sounds easy enough, in reality, it’s not always so simple. Picture this scenario:

You have a client in need of cash flow who has been in business for a year, has three large customers and gets paid in less than 30 days. Eager to help this entrepreneur get the cash he needs to expand, you refer this small business owner to one of your factoring partners immediately.

The factoring company tells you that they are interested in pursuing the lead, and they’ll have an update for you as soon as they reach out to the prospect. The next day, you get a phone call from the factoring firm telling you that they are no longer working the deal.

Has this ever happened to you? If you answered yes, then I have some good news for you. There’s a simple way to drastically reduce the chances of the above situation ever happening again. All you have to do is ask three key questions before referring a lead to a factor…

Click here to read the entire article on Factoring Investor or watch the video summary below:

Bank Lending to Businesses is Up, but For How Long?

Yesterday, the Fiscal Times reported that bank profits are currently the highest they’ve been in six years. The healthcare factoring experts at The Factoring Blog included some of the article’s highlights below:

Bank loan balances rose $130.1 billion, or 1.8 percent, in the 2011 fourth quarter compared to third quarter, according to a quarterly report by the FDIC released on Tuesday.

Furthermore, credit to businesses, up $62.8 billion, or 4.9 percent, led the increase in lending totals.

While much of that went to large and medium-sized businesses, the FDIC said that for the first time in the seven quarters that the figures have been tracked, lending to small businesses, defined as loans of $1 million or less, went up. Such lending increased $2.8 billion, or 1 percent.The FDIC quarterly report showed the industry earned $26.3 billion in the fourth quarter, up $4.9 billion, or 23.1 percent, from a year earlier. However, the increase was largely due to banks setting aside less money to guard against loan losses.

The amount set aside for loan losses in the fourth quarter was $19.5 billion, down 40.1 percent from a year earlier.

Officials have warned that this trend cannot continue much longer.

Click here to read the entire article: Bank Profits Highest Since 2006.

Factoring Broker February Deal – Refer a Client, Get an iPad2!

PRN Funding has an exciting offer to share with factoring brokers and cash flow consultants!

For the month of February, if you refer a factoring client* to PRN Funding, we’ll send you an iPad2!

Currently, PRN Funding is seeking factoring relationships with the following:

  • Medical Staffing Agencies
  • Medical Transcription Services
  • Medical Coding Companies
  • Nurse Staffing Companies
  • Allied Health Staffing Businesses
  • Outsourced Medical Billing Services
  • Home Care Agencies (billing Medicaid)

Contact Nikki Flores at 866-776-5407, ext. 104 for more details!

Hurry! The offer to receive an iPad2 ends March 1st.

*iPad2 will be shipped after approved client factors $100,000 in invoices.

Factoring Brokers: Managing Cash Flow in Times of Uncertainty

From the housing market crisis to the infamous bank bail outs to the most recent elections, a lot has happened recently that will have lasting effects on the cash flow industry in a multitude of ways.

The lending crisis is having a tremendous effect on small business owners, as banks and credit card companies raise borrowing costs and slashed credit lines. At the same time that the banks stopped lending, many small business owners saw their account receivables slowing down, which led to a cash flow bottleneck.

Check out our YouTube video for more information:

While we would like to know what lies ahead for the cash flow industry, no one knows for sure what the future holds. However, one thing will go unchanged during these times of uncertainty-the need for business owners to proactively manage their cash flow will never go away.

As factoring brokers, your services will be in high-demand over the next year as the fate of economy remains unsettled. Not only will you need to continue to locate non-traditional lenders (i.e. factoring firms) for your clients, but you will also be called upon to give a factoring broker plan to help business owners navigate through these turbulent times.

Click here to read some suggestions for factoring brokers to keep in mind as small business owners navigate these times of cash flow uncertainty.

Thoughts on NAHC’s Leadership Summit – From Exhibitor’s POV

As you know, PRN Funding was invited to be a first-time exhibitor at the Private Duty Home Care Leadership Summit & Exposition in Las Vegas last week. We were grateful to have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with private duty home care agency owners about the benefits of home healthcare factoring, however, from the exhibitor’s perspective, the show was not a good one.

To start, there were a lot of last minute changes to the schedule. Hours changed, which made it difficult for exhibitors to set up their booths on time and/or catch flights on the last day. Luckily, PRN Funding didn’t have any issues with flights, so we were unaffected by the schedule changes.

In addition to the hour changes, exhibitors noticed that it was difficult for attendees to visit the exhibit hall. The show managers arranged to have a few 15-minute breaks in-between sessions, however, it seemed that most attendees used that time to go to the bathroom, run to their rooms quickly, return phone calls and emails and/or grab a quick cup of coffee before it was time for their next session. (Rightfully so–That’s how any professional attending a conference would use a 15-minute break.)

I’m sure it was frustrating for attendees who wanted to visit specific exhibitors but didn’t have the time to do so, or they had to choose between attending an educational session or skipping it to visit the exhibit hall. Rest assured that it was equally frustrating for exhibitors who stayed in the exhibit hall for long hours without the ability to conduct business.

The last big hiccup at NAHC’s Leadership Summit was that the entrance into the exhibit hall was in a different location than what was printed in the trade show materials. In essence, the exhibit hall was flipped. For all the exhibitors who strategically placed their booths in premium locations in the front of the exhibit hall ended up  being in the back.

On the plus side, John S. of Senior Home Care won the $100 Amazon gift card giveaway! Congratulations!

PRN Funding to Give Away Amazon Gift Card at Private Duty Home Care Leadership Summit

Las Vegas, NV-PRN Funding, LLC is excited to speak with private duty home care agency owners about factoring at the 7th Annual Private Duty Home Care Leadership Summit & Exposition at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Marketing Manager, Nikki Flores will be in booth #303 January 23-25 speaking with private duty home care business owners about how they can turn their receivables into cash immediately through private duty home care invoice factoring.

In addition to learning about invoice funding options, all attendees are invited to stop by booth #303 and enter our drawing to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

Click here to read the official press release: Private Duty Home Care Association Invites Factoring Firm as a First-Time Exhibitor.

Factoring Brokers Should Know Their Funders

Cash flow consultants know that factoring is a great way to ease their clients’ cash flow tensions. However, pairing a prospect with the wrong factoring company could be even more detrimental to your client’s cash flow. Not to mention, sending a prospect to the wrong funder could also damage the relationships you have with your client and the funder. In order to avoid such a catastrophe, it is extremely important for consultants and brokers to know how each of their funding partners’ factoring programs work so they can match their clients with the most appropriate one. The best way to get to know your funders is to ask the following four questions…

One: What is your focus?
In general, factors can be divided into three different operating categories. First, there are large factors that operate nationally and are able to fund clients across numerous different industries. On the other hand, there are some factors that focus their operations in one specific geographic region. These smaller local factors have a home field advantage because their clients like knowing that their factor is literally right around the corner. The last category is comprised of factors that concentrate their funding in one specific niche. (For example, PRN Funding only factors invoices for medical vendors.) These factors’ clients appreciate the fact that their funder understands their specific industry.

Click here to read the rest of the Questions Factoring Brokers Should Ask to Get to Know Their Funders.

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