The BridgeBlog

By Kent Lane, COO of BridgeFront

Companies with new products generally lack good customer support at the beginning of their product launch. However, when you find a product and company that does break the mold, you should shout about it—and ’shouting’ is what the new company Yard Rents just did.

Yard Rents is a new business in the Portland area. Essentially, they’re an outdoor and indoor equipment rental company that delivers and picks up what you need, when you want it and where you need it. Simply go online, select what you need and then ‘presto’ there they are with a van full of what you ordered.

This company is a perfect merger of internet freedom plus real live customer service. Upon delivery, they helped connect the equipment, instruct me on the usage, test the starting of the engine … and even made sure that I was wearing the right safety devices.

“Holly paradigm shift Batman!” (If you are old enough to remember the TV series Batman and Robin, you enjoyed that quote … if not old enough, sorry.)

These guys have taken the aloof sense of the internet and personalized it to the point where I feel as connected to them as I do any brick and mortar company I do business with. No more will I haunt rental companies, stand in their lines, and tout heavy equipment around … never again. Just point click and open the front door to a smiling, knowledgeable Yard Rents team member.

See them at www.yardrents.com (Portland, Oregon area only for now).

And … while you’re in the learning mood, take a look at your customer service departments. Would someone ’shout’ about them? One look and you may see a cross section of employees that certainly know how to communicate electronically…but can they successfully communicate to your patients and clients?

Give them the training they need to become ambassadors of your organization.  Our ‘Communicating with Customers’ e-learning series will transform any text’er to a successful verbal communicator. Courses are about 20 minutes each, and include real-life experiences and expert tips to handle any situation. Act today; take a look online and then call us at (866) 447-2211. Mention this blog post and get an additional 5% off.

Listen to the podcast version

By Lorraine Schnelle, CPA

Last week, we talked about my handy CCCQ scale and how to decide upon which educational activities to use in your organization. Now let’s talk about “the end game” – making sure you understand the learning objective of your educational activity and how to stay on target. The last thing we want to do is confuse your learners and complicate the learning process. Learning objectives are statements that define what your students will take away, as part of the skill-building experience.

I like to use Bloom’s Taxonomy as a reference tool for creating targeted learning objectives. In 1956, Benjamin Bloom, with a group of educational psychologists, developed a classification of six levels of intellectual behaviors important for learning. Its lowest level, Knowledge, focuses on the simple recognition or recalling of facts or knowledge . Each level increases in complexity, moving from Understanding to Application, Analysis, Synthesis and finally Evaluation – the highest level.  Bloom’s Taxonomy is easily understood and widely used today. Learn more about each level below.

• Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state

• Understanding: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate

• Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

• Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test

• Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write

• Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate

Start each learning objective with a term from one of the six levels listed above. I recently created a seminar with learning objectives, using Bloom’s Taxonomy, for a group of Patient Access Associates. Here are the learning objectives I created for that activity -

• Define critical key performance indicators (KPIs) and their relationship to Patient Access work processes.

• Discuss advancing computer resources in Patient Access.

• Recognize the key skills required of Patient Access Associates.

So, take the time to create your learning objectives, using Bloom’s Taxonomy, and refer to them throughout the educational activity creation process. These learning objectives will help ensure your activity stays on target and you reach the “end game” – skilled and competent team members.