August 10, 2005

Interviewing With Style
Tim Gard, International
1500 Airport Road
Kalispell, Montana  59901

Thank you for your interest in eligibility and investigative training through Interviewing with Style! 

In the ever changing world of Welfare, I understand the necessity of keeping current with National policies and trends.  While working with to develop innovative methods to address old and new error factors, the Interviewing with Style training program I offer provides ready to use tools for any experience level of the human services eligibility professional, and encompasses all of the benefits of my diverse, in depth and hands on experience.

Having held positions as an eligibility interviewer and welfare fraud investigator for the State of Montana Human Services Department, I have developed rock solid methods to encourage lowered error rates and proper benefits distribution in direct interviewing, phone interviewing and paper only applications.  In addition, as a Federal Program Compliance Reviewer with USDA FNS, I oversaw statewide food stamp eligibility compliance by reviewing agency practices, and creating, implementing and monitoring improvements for the Quality Assurance Plan.

As the Food Stamp Program is one of the most complicated public assistance programs administered by the States, to enjoy success your staff must be trained by someone who not only understands policies and procedures, but who also has a comprehensive knowledge of the obstacles and limitations of the day to day work, the tendencies of the applicants who seek assistance, and the complex aspects of the System itself.  Few training professionals are equipped to offer superior, or even comparable, techniques to improve accuracy, which is why I have often been approved as “sole source” in the State agency vendor selection process.

In 1994 I partnered with Jay Arthur, a master practitioner of Nero Linguistic Programming (NLP) and seven times published author on achieving effective communication.   NLP is the study of conscious and subconscious communication, and Jay’s valuable insights in this area supply a unique approach to both the giving and gathering of essential information necessary for distribution accuracy and timely issuance of benefits.   Jay’s contributions add scientific principles and practical information to the training package.

Speaking to full audiences at State and National Conferences, the program has been consistently rated by the participants to be the cleanest, most direct path to improved methods to interviewing for the experienced and novice eligibility worker.  

“I believe that the quality of work produced at the desk of the front line worker drives payment accuracy, and I also believe that managers must provide workers with all the tools they need to do a good job.  One of the tools they must be given is how to interview for results….. and the “tool man” they call for help is Tim Gard.   When I was State administrator of the Food Stamp program in South Dakota, we used Tim several times to train staff on “Interviewing with Style”.  His training was rated as “the best ever” by front line workers.

Julie Osnes, past State Administrator of Food Stamps South Dakota, President of the American Food Stamp Directors Association and Principal The Rushmore Group.

With strong focus on elevated customer service and error reduction techniques, I teach the Eligibility Worker how to approach each interview renewed and refreshed, and conduct it as if it is the first of the day.  The program addresses concepts and common obstacles as well as the technical aspects to interviewing in the State setting.  The training is fun, fast paced, and alleviates the tendency for dreaded reluctance to skill improvement as my style is light-hearted, and utilizes the benefits of humor to drive points home.

Outside of the world of eligibility, I am internationally recognized as one of the most unique and popular conference keynoters from Sioux City to Singapore.  I have spoken at over 1000 training events world-wide and earned the title of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), which is the highest certification designation given by the National Speakers Association.  Additionally, in 2004 and 2005 I was nominated for the NSA Council of Peers Excellence Award (CPAE), placing me in the top 1 percent of my industry.

Providing your staff with an opportunity to improve their skills not only accomplishes lower error rates, but also reduces the need for fraud investigation, improves the applicant and interviewee experience, improves morale and increases employee retention.

You have a choice:  You can wait for costly errors to occur, or you can give your staff all the tools available to help them perform accurate, time efficient and user friendly interviews – each time, every time.

Please contact my office at your earliest convenience to schedule your training.

Sincerely,

Tim Gard, CSP