Advanced Deduction Management

CEUs Awarded: 0.3

This course is an advanced exploration of how to systemically analyze deduction management techniques and how to employ best practices to improve performance and reduce the occurrence of future deductions. It is recommended for those who have experience in deduction management and/or have successfully completed CRF 160: Deduction Management Fundamentals.

Instructors Diana Crowe and Jessica Butler have extensive experience in helping companies and employees develop and employ best practices in the management of deductions, and have organized this course over 5 video learning and slide sessions for a total runtime of about 3 hours.

This course covers the following:

1. Benchmarking Deduction Management Effectiveness

• • Validate Reason Codes
  • Use Technology Effectively
  • Manage Retailer Vendor Compliance Requirements
  • Institute Routine Cross-functional Deduction Meetings
  • Improving Trade Partner Relationships

Evaluate your current processes against Attain Consulting Group’s Deduction Management Maturity Model to identify whether your company is Ad Hoc, Reactive, Proactive or Optimized based on the following indicators:

• Managing customer compliance requirements
• Cross functional collaboration
• Deduction management processes
• Use of technology
• Trading partner relationship (non sales-related)
• Trade promotion management
• Key performance indicators

2. Learn the 4 Critical Steps to Building Cross-Functional Teams

• Orchestrate – determine the type and overall function of the group, secure senior management approval and support, identify and recruit team members
• Facilitate – ensure meetings are organized, structured and well planned, set ground rules for the meetings, ensure that team participants see themselves as key change agents, use outside assistance to help team building and performance, motivate team participants, set up optimum meeting schedules
• Motivate – create and maintain Action Plan/Task List, follow-up with team members between meetings
• Celebrate – measure and report results, reward success and maintain focus
• How to best handle situations when performance goals fall short
• Learn from some success stories

3. Learn Negotiations Tips & Strategies

• Negotiate (communicate) with empowerment
• Various kinds of situations where negotiations are needed to resolve a difference of viewpoints/goals/opinions
• Important facts about negotiations that will enable you to enter into them with a tactical advantage
• The important checklist of skills, facts and strategies you need to conduct a successful negotiation
• Express your feelings objectively
• Attack the problem, not the person
• Build relationships as you negotiate
• Create a positive environment, not a negative one
• Problem-solve in a positive way
• Learn key words to avoid and those to use to maximize your success

4. Learn Enabling Technologies

• What is cloud technology?
• Deduction areas “ripe” for automation?
• Review of 3 technologies – cash application, deduction management, workflow & tracking and document retrieval, validation & resolution
• Demonstrations of some technologies and how they look through web-based portals
• Evaluate your opportunities for technological process improvements and efficiencies in cash application, workflow and document retrieval

5. Learn About Outsourcing Deduction Management

• Outsourcing versus offshoring
• What functions are best candidates for offshoring
• Learn under what circumstances outsourcing can be the best solution and what specific areas of deduction management can be approved
• What process improvements can be attained through outsourcing
• The benefits to the in-house staff that outsourcing offers
• How outsourcing can improve customer relations
• When NOT to outsource
• The various ways outsourcing is priced and how to determine what method is best for your organization
• How to evaluate outsource solution providers

This is an On-Demand Course, allowing students to work independently and at their own pace to accommodate the time demands of busy professionals. Upon concluding the presentation/course material, the participant is required to take a final exam. Those who receive a grade of 70% or higher will receive an electronic “Certificate of Professional Development” from the Credit Research Foundation.