Mark Moncher

There are five areas in which a great product manager is well versed:

·          Customer Understanding

·          User Experience

·          Technology

·          Business

·          Leadership

 Let's look at each area in more detail.

Customer Understanding

The PM is the relentless advocate for the customer on a product development project. From the point of view of the rest of the development team, the PM is the expert on this topic. This means he/she must invest time in understanding the customer that is being targeted. He/she needs to study segmentation materials; organize studies of representatives of the customer segment. The goal is to understand what drives the customer, what the behaviors and needs of the customer are. Only by understanding the customer can you create a product that meets the needs of the customer.

 User Experience

A PM does not have to be a user experience expert, but should at least function as the approver for the user experience. The UX is the most important part of the product because this is how the customer interacts with the product. The underlying technology may be brilliant, but if the UX is out of sync with the customer, the customer will not buy the product.

 The goal is to look at the user experience through the eyes of the customer and challenge the UX designers to design for the specific customer the product is targeting.

 Technology

The main goal here is to become credible in conversations with your product development team. Also, because the development team is often motivated to reduce risk, it is good if a PM can challenge the development team to think outside the box. This requires some high-level comprehension of the ability of technology components. Additionally, it is important for him/her to understand the impact of their change requests on the underlying technology on a high level.

 Business

For a PM, another key constituency is the business management side of the company. The product fits into a financial plan laid out by the CEO and CFO of the company and deviation from the plan can seriously impact their forecasts. So the PM needs to make sure to understand the business case and how it fits into the grand scheme of things.

Also on the business side, it is important to understand how marketing and sales work. This is especially important for PMs who spend most of their time sitting with the product development teams. He/she needs to understand when to engage sales and marketing, what drives them and how they are compensated. Those last two are not necessarily the same thing.

 Leadership

Last but not least, as a PM needs to provide leadership. While product management is a pivotal role in product development, with lots of responsibility, PMs hardly ever have formal authority over the people they work with. Thus, the way to get things done is through informal leadership. This can take different shapes, but a proven method is to build trust and provide a compelling vision of the product.

At the same time, it is a good idea to build up social relationships with counterparts in other teams, because that makes it just a lot easier to get things done. It will also make the long hours close to launch a lot more fun.

 Conclusion

In this article I have tried to explain to you the five areas in which a great product manager must be well versed. They were: customer understanding, user experience, technology, business, and leadership. Mastery of these five areas will enable a highly rewarding career in product management.

My name is Mark Moncher and I am Vice President- Sales with American Express.

My objective is to enable leaders to drive growth through improved change leadership and use of a new collaboration and innovation technique.

If you have a company where you bill customers on a regular basis, such as a subscription-based business, you will do well to accept electronic payments. This type of processing is known as e-billing and it can do wonders for your profitability. If you have to rely on customers to be solely responsible for making their monthly payment, there is a greater chance for late or missed payments or cancellations. You are much better off to provide your customers a regular, automated system with either e billing or electronic payments. You can do this when you have a merchant account that offers this solution.  

 If you have any sort of monthly service that you offer customers, then the objective is to get paid as regularly as possible. You also want to make sure that the customer stays with the service which is why you would benefit from electronic payments. If you want to make sure that the customer pays consistently, then the best way to do so is to take the money on an automatic basis through e billing. Not only is this better for your business, it is actually more convenient for customers. An increasing number of people are setting up their electronic payments so that they create an automatic schedule.  This is easier for them to do and tends to work out better for both parties. Those who are looking for a way to streamline their bill paying process can do so by paying automatically through this type of e billing system.  

 Successful businesses look forward to accepting payments in any form from their customers. The more convenient you make it for customers to pay for goods and services, the more sales you will make. If you have any sort of monthly service that you offer as part of your business, then you want to offer your customers the chance to sign-up for automatic billing either through checking account debits, electronic payments or e billing. Many people will like these types of payments as they are time-saving and cost-effective.

 Mark Moncher believes that strong and viable companies are becoming more automated when it comes to billing for their goods and services. Most people are accustomed to paying at least one, if not all of their bills automatically. Save yourself the time it takes to ensure your accounts receivable are accurate and make doing business with you more convenient for your customers by finding a merchant account that will process this type of payment for you.  

So, save money in the long run and offer easy convenience for your customers by accepting automated monthly payments. Particularly when you offer a monthly service or some type of subscription business where customers pay you on a regular basis, you make it more convenient for them to pay you as well as easier for you to get paid.  

 Mark Moncher is a senior sales and business development executive associated with American Express with a strong track record of success both from an individual as well as team focus. Consistently high leadership of Mr. Moncher scores year after year drive a winning attitude across the organization.

At the heart of every good company is a great leader with excellent management skills and high levels of competency. Due to the importance of leadership in business an increasing number of companies are sending their mangers on executive education courses to ensure they have the attributes that will allow them to succeed. Mark Moncher a Senior Business Development Executive says that executive education is purely an investment; it is an investment in employees in the hope that after achieving a skill set in leadership and management, the company will feel the benefits of having a well trained and highly motivated management structure. This demand has led to a relative 'boom time' for educational facilities offering courses, as companies seek to constantly increase the skills of their employees.

 Part of this development has included a move towards creating bespoke executive education courses for specific corporations. By doing this, educational institutions have been able to secure more business while developing training that is targeted to a company's objectives. Around five years ago this was not the case, more generic courses were popular. Today however companies have realised that by giving managers specific skills they will in fact be better at their jobs. For instance, if a company wants to train sales managers, it makes more sense to put the trainees through an executive education course that focuses on financial analysis.

 In addition to shorter, more specific courses, some education facilities have worked with businesses to create accredited award schemes. This can be anything from basic qualifications, right up to Masters level. This move comes as a result of company's wanting their managers to have certification for the training they have undertaken within the company structure, as well as in the public sphere.

 If you are a business manager, contemplating sending your management away on executive education courses means a number of factors that will require careful consideration. One of these considerations is to understand exactly what results you will need from a training program. This can be difficult but with the help of an executive education professional it is possible to find a course structure that will cover the attributes needed and a suitable timescale.

Additionally, converse with the employees set to take the course is an essential consideration so they understand succinctly what they will be expected to learn. However, part of the selection process of who will undertake the course should also include an assessment of who is likely to gain the most from training. It is also advisable to continue the training after the course has been completed. This can be performed by holding discussion forums and meetings that will ultimately help employees understand what they have learnt and how to apply it to their specific job role.

 Executive education should not be considered a short term fix for management problems. Mark Moncher thinks it a long term solution that requires planning on the part of the leadership. Enrolling many employees on a rolling basis is an attractive option as it will gradually improve the attributes of the entire workforce. In addition by having a large number of employees suitably educated, improvements to working processes will become a reality as more workers have the knowledge to increase efficiency and hence profitability.

 Ultimately executive education should be used as a reward not a punishment. By using it positively it is a way to improve individual performance and functionality. In the wider sense by using it as a reward, company leadership can create loyalty amongst the employees as well as gaining a more knowledgeable workforce. The world of business is cutthroat and fiercely competitive; by educating management officials it is possible to have those leading a business with the essential skills for success. The business owner of today needs to consider whether they can really achieve success without an educated, skilled and well rounded management structure; effective executive education can help to achieve this goal.

Attempting to measure the customer experience with a single metric such as customer satisfaction or customer advocacy is overly simplistic and risky. Instead, companies should dig deeper and establish a portfolio of measures that can determine how each touch point contributes to the overall experience.

The Total Customer Experience is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

Mark Moncher states that the customer experience is a complex process that can consist of multiple touch points; a process that can be broad, long-running, span multiple channels, and can be influenced by any combination of internal and external factors. Effectively measuring the total customer experience requires a more acute understanding of its individual parts.

The customer experience process does not begin and end at a store, sales representatives, web site or call center. It extends from the moment the customer becomes aware of your company and is comprised of multiple independent interactions, transactions, and contacts along the way.

Each customer experience is made up of any number of touch points and customer encounters, each of which should be measured independently to determine their contribution to the overall experience. An issue encountered at any one of these points can dramatically influence the overall experience.

Although overarching metrics such as customer satisfaction and customer advocacy are quickly becoming standard metrics in today's companies, attempting to measure the customer experience with a single metric can be overly simplistic and risky. Effectively managing the customer experience requires effective measurement and management of a portfolio of metrics that will provide insights into what is - or is not - working.

 Identify Your Touch Points

The customer experience is a collection of touch points encountered by the customer that includes the attraction, interaction, and cultivation of customer relationships. Touch points may include advertisements or promotions, online and in-store shopping experiences, transaction and bill processing, and post-purchase delivery, usage, and support.

 The total number of touch points that the customer encounters goes well beyond the point of sale. Establishing an accurate inventory of all of your company's touch points - both intentional and unintentional - can mean the difference between success and failure.

Defining when and where the customer experience begins and ends is perhaps the most difficult task facing any business. Too often, companies define the lifecycle and customer touch points too narrowly, leaving critical elements of the customer experience to chance.

 A touch point is defined as any customer interaction or encounter that can influence the customer's perception of your product, service, or brand. A touch point can be intentional (an advertisement) or unintentional (an unsolicited customer referral). In this era of broad customer scepticism, the unintentional touch points often matter the most. Which would you trust more: a company's ad pitch or your best friend's personal referral for a product? Both are touching points, but one carries much more value than the other.

 When your business interacts with a customer, it's often easy to overlook what is really going on; you are touching them in many, perhaps subtle, ways. When it comes to customer experience management, the right touch can make all the difference. To do it right, you must first identify all of your potential touch points and then work to measure and optimize each one.

 Measure Individual Touch Point Effectiveness

Each customer touch point is typically designed for a specific operational purpose. An advertising touch point may be designed to build brand awareness or to identify prospects. A point of sale touch point may be designed to execute transactions. A call center touch point is designed to resolve customer issues. Each touch point is unique and contributes to the overall customer experience in different ways.

 Effectively measuring each touch point requires a holistic approach to understand the contribution to both operational and customer relationship objectives. For example, the operational side of an advertising touch point may be measured in terms of a conversion rate. The customer relationship side of the same touch point may be intended to influence the customer's perception or awareness of the company's brand.

 Measuring the effectiveness of each touch point should balance both operational and customer experience objectives. Operational metrics are typically easily identified, while customer relationship metrics can be elusive. Ideally, timely and recurring customer feedback is collected and compared to operational results to provide a more complete picture. In doing so, companies can obtain a better understanding of how each individual touch point is contributing to the overall experience.

 For example, let's say a business establishes a goal to achieve a 5% click-through-rate (CTR) with their pay-per-click campaign. If the actual campaign achieves 100% of that goal, they might consider it a success. However, customer perceptions might not be so rosy if the ad promised a product, promotion, or discount that isn't readily available or is difficult to obtain. As a result of customer confusion and aggravation, the company may achieve only 50% of their revenue goals for the campaign.

 Measure the Overall Customer Experience

Mark Moncher outlines that in order to effectively measure the overall customer experience; companies must accurately measure the contribution of each individual touch point as well as the overall level of customer satisfaction and advocacy. At times, the results of one touch point may have an unanticipated affect on other aspects of the experience.

Consider how the individual touch points associated with a fictitious product launch might impact the experience at an electronics store:

 Product Innovation: A key manufacturer is developing a leading-edge product that will be innovative in the marketplace. The media learns of these developments and publishes reports that an amazing new product is coming soon. Consumer excitement and anticipation is driven to extremely high levels, although actual ship dates remain unknown. (Score: 10/10)

Electronics Store: Employees at the store and call center are not inundated with inquiries about the pending new product but are unable to provide any additional information regarding availability nor can they accept pre-orders. (Score: 3/10)

Marketing: The product launch date is set and marketing begins to actively promote the new product and its innovative features. Consumer anticipation is again driven to new highs as the launch date approaches. (Score: 10/10)

Product Purchase: On launch day, consumers flood the store and web site to get the new product. Those customers that are fortunate enough to purchase one are extremely satisfied. (Score: 10/10)

Out of Stock: Initial euphoria quickly turns sour as the store runs out of stock and thousands of customers are turned away without one of the highly coveted and heavily promoted products. Customers are told to check back again in a few weeks. (Score: 1/10)

 For a handful of customers who were able to purchase the product, they are extremely satisfied with their experience and are willing to tell all of their friends about their latest purchase. Conversely, however, many other customers who were turned away empty-handed are now frustrated and highly dissatisfied with the experience.

 Relying solely on customer satisfaction or customer advocacy measures may not illuminate how each touch point contributed to the overall experience. Simplistic customer satisfaction and advocacy scores may mask the underlying factors that either contribute to or detract from an exceptional customer experience.

 Evaluating how each individual touch point contributes to the overall experience in this scenario can help to identify specific areas for improvement. While touch points 1, 3 and 4 scored high, touch points 2 and 5 clearly have room for improvement.

 Focusing only on an aggregate metric without understanding or managing the contributing factors can yield unpredictable results. Companies seeking to improve their overall customer experience should establish customer experience measures that correlate individual touch point results to overall customer experience measures.

 Mark Moncher is a senior sales and business development executive with a strong track record of success both from an individual as well as team focus and has Lead national and regional sales teams across US for Merchant Acquisition and Optimization.

Many Americans have been able to monetize their natural skills by opening a small business. Whether they are retailers, service providers, or web-based entities, these entrepreneurs are utilizing their personal expertise to fill a need in the marketplace. Small business owners have the potential to become very well compensated for their time and effort. However, acquiring this compensation means accepting their valued customers' preferred methods of payment. Usually, this means welcoming credit card purchases -- but the terms, technology, and fees of the merchant service industry are often overwhelming to small business owners. That's why all individuals and companies should know the basics about merchant services.

 Merchant Accounts

There are several different types of arrangements, known as merchant accounts, which small business owners can obtain. The most well known is the retail account, in which the proprietor engages in a face-to-face transaction with a credit card purchaser. For businesses that accept payment via telephone, fax, e-mail, standard mail, or any other method where the credit card itself is not viewed, a card-not-present account (also known as a mail order telephone order account) is often the most appropriate choice.

 Mark Moncher a sales professional says that Internet accounts are designed for companies that accept credit card payments directly through their websites. A mobile account is like a retail account, but is used when the business owner accepts credit card payments in places other than his or her home base location (as is the case with repairmen or building cleaning services). Finally, a seasonal account can be set up for businesses that operate for only a portion of the year, such as fireworks stands, lawn services and Christmas tree sellers.

 Merchant Services Middlemen

Small business owners should also understand that there are "middlemen" involved in merchant services transactions. The credit card companies themselves (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.) supply the credit cards and govern how the merchants can accept them. But these cards are issued through certain banks (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, etc.), that screen the cardholders and set their credit limits. Communication between the issuing bank and the merchant is facilitated by an acquirer. Member service providers, independent sales organizations, and their agents often handle the equipment, processing, and other credit card-related services for the merchant.

 Merchant Services Costs

All of these different middlemen receive a fee or percentage from each credit card transaction, and these costs are usually incurred by the small business owner. There are numerous different types of fees, but most are charged per transaction, on a recurring basis, or individually if a certain situation occurs.

The most visible (and often the largest) credit card cost that merchants pay comes from the periodic rate, which is the monetary percentage of each transaction that goes to the merchant account provider. The qualified rate is the lowest rate that can be assessed on a company's transactions under a given agreement, and it usually comes with certain restrictions that must be met. If these criteria are not met, the merchant can be assessed surcharges of varying amounts or "demoted" to mid-qualified or non-qualified rates which are higher than the qualified rate.

 The small business owner is also responsible for an interchange fee, which covers the communication networks that link the banks, credit card companies, processors, and other entities. Other costs include transaction fees (which are due each time a transaction is conducted regardless of the size) and authorization fees (which are charged whenever a business attempts to authenticate a card, even it the card is declined). There may also be monthly or annual fees associated with some merchant services accounts.

 Merchant Services Transaction Information

Though most of the information mentioned so far is not relevant to the employees who actually conduct the transactions, there are some areas that a small business owner must review with his or her cashiers, clerks and salespeople. These individuals should know the difference between a consumer credit card and a debit card. Though these cards look the same, a debit card requires a Personal Identification Number (or PIN) to be entered by the cardholder, and the funds are immediately taken out of the person's bank account. Furthermore, a purchasing card can only be used at certain businesses (these are also known as gift cards). Also, payment acceptors must know how to perform credit card transactions other than common purchases. They must be able to issue refunds, which involves transferring funds from the merchant's account to the cardholder's account.

 Merchant Services Payment

Finally, the small business owner must be aware of the process by which customers' funds travel to the company's bank account. Periodically (usually at the end of each day), a group of transactions (known as a batch) is transferred from the business to the processor via telephone, Internet or dedicated terminal. After this occurs, the small business owner usually receives the money within two or three business days. If the processor has a close relationship with the business's bank, the lag time may be as short as 24 hours. Sometimes, various fees are subtracted from the batch totals before the money is deposited into a bank account.

 Mark Moncher is a senior sales and business development executive with a strong track record of success both from an individual as well as team focus. Strong passion of Mark Moncher that drives the dedication and focus is second to none. Consistently high leadership scores year after year drive him as a winning attitude across the organization.

 Mr. Moncher has been served as a Vice President- Strategic Sales, Global Merchant Services at American Express and has Lead national and regional sales teams across US for Merchant Acquisition and Optimization.

If you are a business owner, small or big, isn't as significant as how successful you can be. We all have dreams and wants, and expect a return from investments, but the outcome is never steady. Is there a secret formula or do we simply overlook the simple truths of love. Business development is an ongoing process and any slack on your part will cause your growth prospects to stagnate. You need not think of new ideas each day because that would reflect that you are not certain of your decisions. Make your plans rock solid so your business can grow just as you have dreamed.

There's business development strategy that you can rely on but no amount of steady planning will work if you're not certain. Have faith in your projects and nurture them watch your decisions work in your favor. You can't leave too much on chance; do the necessary homework and hard work of course to reap the benefits. Business development is not an agenda that works overnight. You need to take in all necessary planning and consideration to set a business goal. Set your targets and make all ends of the business work towards your goal. You need patience and determination. If you try to do a fast job, maybe there'll be a temporary boost but things will fall apart. Build a firm baseline so you can deal with all business uncertainties. If you have the right business development strategy then have adequate back up to support your plans in case of any untoward event.

 Mark Moncher explains that Business development is not going to be a success if you don't give it that additional push. You need the inner strength to have belief and faith in any project. You need to be able to trust your instincts and find the answers from within. There are too many times you need to make a decision, how do you make it. Yes you try to justify it with business rationalizing but what does your inner voice say, or have you never heard it. Does your inner voice sit mum at crucial moments like this? If your mind's not really supporting your business development strategy, you need to delve deeper. Find the inner answer. This is all too easy if you resort to hypnosis for business development.

 Hypnosis will help you reach a state of absolute peace and calm and identify with your inner being. Use your inner strengths to work for you. The sublime sub conscious has an awakening and its here that you find inner awareness. You will find the right questions and answers to them. Help initiate a thought process that's powerful and new. Listen to your hypnosis CD and uncover the mysteries of life. Enable your conscious mind to attain greater consciousness. The need for hypnosis is immense as it can help you know the answers. You would be able to gauge a system wit a hawk's eye and this time you won't overlook anything.

 Mark Moncher is a senior sales and business development executive at American Express with a strong track record of success both from an individual as well as team focus. Mark possesses the Experience in C level sales and negotiation leading to successful partnerships for both the customer as well as the client.

Strong passion of Mark Moncher drives the dedication and focus is second to none and consistently high leadership scores year after year drive a winning attitude across the organization.