While benefits of these actions may not have an immediate effect, you can be sure that should I ever have another “item of interest!” these two gentlemen would not hesitate to purchase from me. They can count on me to accommodate their needs, instead of catering to my wants. Creating this type of good will instills trust, and knowledge that you have customers best interest in mind.

“Me thinketh thou doth protest too much!

Do you accentuate positive? Or, do you run on negativity? Negative Ebay feedback is a tool that everyone should use with restraint, or not at all. As a rule, I never leave negative feedback.

Unless someone has blatantly lied about your product, or attacked you personally without merit, then I would not leave any feedback in “minus” side of isle!

“Flame” wars are not pretty. I have seen a lot of unnecessary back and forth “banter” that could have been avoided, if they (the seller) just resisted urge to make their “two cents” known. Sometimes it gives customers impression that you are more concerned about arguing, then conducting your business.

I have also witnessed seller feedback that has included some pretty foul language. Engaging in this type of verbal sparring is not much of a confidence builder either.

It is more telling of what you are, then about revealing sins of your customers. Don’t go out of your way to register a negative response if you can help it. Heed sage advice that our Mother’s use to tell us: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!”

“What we have here is a failure to communicate!” From The Movie: Cool Hand Luke.

Communication with your customers should not amount to sound one hand clapping! Bottom line, if someone e-mails you with a question--answer it! Here is an example of type of feedback I obtained by doing just that……

“He was very Helpful and cooperative in answering questions.” Follow-up: Will DEFINITELY use his services anytime he has items of interest! Great Seller! The gentlemen who left this positive review, wanted to know about some of particulars of a “Mickey Mouse” clock I had up for auction.

His wife is a collector of all things Disney, and thought it would be a nice surprise for her birthday. The clock, to say least, was in sad shape.

It was incapable of keeping time, and only part of it in working order was second hand. I thought for sure that he would be disappointed with item despite full disclosure of all of it’s imperfections.

To my surprise, not only did I receive positive feedback, but he also told me that his wife absolutely loved it! In this instance, one man’s junk, truly, is another man’s treasure! I never thought this item was worthy of any praise! The time it took to answer his questions—all of five minutes!

I know that some of you will say that I am not being realistic. You just can’t answer e-mails all day; “I have a business to run!,” you might proclaim. If you plan on making a living on Ebay, then you better think about hiring someone to help you answer your daily inquires if it is just too overwhelming. If you specialize in a particular product set up Frequently Asked Questions to an Auto-Responder. Click here: http://www.aweber.com/

If you use Ebay on an infrequent basis, and have less than thirty listings a month, then you really don't have any excuse not to provide great customer service and e-mail communication. You shouldn’t be inundated with questions regarding that many items, unless product you are selling is technical in nature.

If you ignore your customers, they will go away. Good customer service should be woven into fabric of every good business.

I cannot overemphasis importance of this issue. I continue to be perplexed by fact that it is last on list of business priorities for some Ebay sellers!

Will good customer service and communication alone make you rich on Ebay? That would be a resounding "no".

You will have to understand your market, and provide products that Ebay community will bid on consistently.

There will be “bidders & buyers” out there that will make mistakes, and commit some auction sins! Forgive all Ebay sins and you will be rewarded with happy, repeat customers!

•Flexible Spending Accounts.

Wellness Program •Employee Health Services •On-Site Fitness Centers •Lectures, Training & Workshops •Massage Therapy

Vacation, Leave & Time Off •Paid Time Off (personal, sick, holidays) with annual cash-out option •Extended Illness Bank •Family & Medical Leaves •Personal Leaves •Bereavement Leave •Paid Military Leave •Sunshine Fund (no interest loan & donations to employees in need) •Pension Plan with Employer Matching Contributions •Adoption Benefit (up to $4,000) •Credit Union (free checking, low cost loans)

Traditional benefit packages are not always sufficiently alluring to nurses. It is possible that employee benefits could be used more effectively to retain nurses and reduce costly staff turnovers One example is payroll reduction program commonly known as 125 Reimbursement Plan. Using this plan employee can allocate a pre tax dollar amount per year which is anticipated as potential expense to cover health and welfare expense. The employer avoids having to match FICA tax and workman compensation expense by reducing amount of income upon which these figures are calculated. Not only does employee net take home pay increases but employers matching FICA taxes and related pay roll expenses are reduced (consult your tax advisor for more details on this program).

Employee’s Voice •Annual Employee Survey •Roundtables with CEO, VPs •System and Divisional Townhall Meetings •Staff Meetings & Committees •Reward & Recognition Task Force

•Roving Cart (suggestion box) •Nurse Week Activities •VP Rounds on Nursing Units (all shifts) during Weeks On-Call and for Special •Employee of Month and Year Awards •Employee Service Awards •5&10 year plaques •15 year dinner •20+ year banquet •Special Performance Awards - Recognition at Annual Employee Service Awards Dinner •Celebrate, Motivate and Decorate Task Force

Collaborative efforts between health care organizations, societies, hospitals , private sector. Some examples: •In San Diego, six hospital systems have committed $1.3 million to support a program called, "Nurses Now", which will add faculty and additional student slots to San Diego University. •The American Hospital Association News reports that in Laredo, Texas, a hospital CEO worked with Texas A&M University to develop a four-year bachelor's program and is providing $425,000 in scholarships to local students over next five years. •In Morris County, New Jersey, Board of Freeholders offered scholarships to students who agreed to work in a long term care facility. •The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council raised $600,000 to expand student enrollment at local schools.

Magnet Hospitals: This elite class of hospitals generally do not have problem with high nurse turn over and recruitment. These classes of hospital (only 1-2 % of all US Hospitals) attain and keep this designation only if they meet stringent standards and ongoing 4 yearly evaluations. "The label 'Magnet hospitals' originally was given to a group of U.S. hospitals that were able to successfully recruit and retain professional nurses during a national nursing shortage in early 1980s. Studies of Magnet hospitals highlight leadership characteristics and professional practice attributes of nurses within these organizations... Hospitals selected met following criteria: 1) nurses within hospitals considered them good places to practice nursing, 2) hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, and 3) hospitals were located in areas where there was significant regional competition for nursing services." (JONA, January 1999). Magnet designated health care organizations consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses, resulting in increased stability in patient care systems across organization. Foreign nurses/Importing nurses.

Philippines is largest source of foreign nurses. Nurses from many other countries including Europe have come recently and in last many years to work in US. WWW.CGFNS.ORG is a US based agency that has authority currently to screen foreign nurses for eligibility for state licensing boards and work visas. Acquiring services of foreign nurses is not new in US. Recently number of non-US origin nurses has increased significantly. A number of hospitals are using programs to hire foreign nurses. This is not an easy task as process is tedious and takes months and may be years. CGFNS (Commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools) is one source of information for this process. Hospitals generally use recruiters specializing in this area and immigration lawyers to hire foreign nurses. Foreign nurses have to show that their training is adequate, they are proficient in English language and are eligible for visa otherwise

To summarize it seems that major influences on recruitment and retention are salary and raises, benefits, shift rotations and scheduling flexibility , staff communications , tuition reimbursements, type of nursing care delivery system, nursing leadership, reputation of hospital and responsive management.

Copy right Medjobcity inc. Author: Sam Khan, MD info@medjobcity.com For more career -related info, articles and health care job info visit www.medjobcity.com . Webmasters: This article can be used for your website if copied in its entirety with author’s reference and website URL www.medjobcity.com. Please send us e mail stating that you are posting article on your web site.