When it comes to being unique, what is it that truly defines that quality within or about someone?
Is it a huge multicolored mohawk, adorned in liberty spike style that grabs your attention? Maybe it is an awesome pair of ultra-rare Dinosaur Jr. Nike SB Dunks just screaming for notoriety from their wearer’s feet. Could it possibly be a face full of piercings and ears that are gauged so big you can almost fit a soda can through them that command your eyes to gaze with wonder? And let us not forget the full assortment of tattoos to match. At this point I can only imagine the type of imagery you as a reader are envisioning! It’s almost humorous what our brains can determine to be unique when generating a first impression of someone. In all reality, I have used one of my friends for inspiration in writing the first paragraph of this blog.
What does it mean to you to be unique?
The thing about the term and quality of being unique is that it can come across in a rather superficial way – sadly enough – especially within the context of today’s society. Always remember that the way you made people feel within the interactions you share daily in your life will always be what makes you as a person unique rather than your looks, because, after all, with age your looks fade away.
When it comes to being an innovator within the Conversational Marketing field, as well as a philosophical zebra of a different set of stripes when it comes to company culture, Incept recognizes the fact that no matter what we do, we always strive to strengthen the relationships between ourselves and our customers and clientele. Here are three big reasons why Incept is currently leading the way in the field of blood donor recruitment and why we stand out above our competitors:
- We capitalize on one of the biggest things that makes Incept unique: our company culture.
The thing consistently noted about Incept is the atmosphere in which all of us work. It’s really a productive and friendly environment. Do you understand how encouraging it is to come to work and see so many different types of people getting along naturally? People aren’t just coworkers at Incept, they are friends. And that type of camaraderie not only has a positive effect on employee morale, but it has also created a team vibe where we always look to succeed as both a world-class organization and as a collective team of goal-focused individuals working towards our clients’ goals first and company goals second. This is what it really means to harness the energy of your own company culture.
- We always think about what it means to “Strengthen the Relationship” with out donors and clients in every call we have.
When it comes to our industry there is a big misunderstanding that one always has to be pushy and overly assumptive – almost to the point of being aggressive – with someone just to get a sale or appointment (or whatever the conversion might be). At Incept we do believe in being assumptive, but we believe that the way we end each call with our donors and customers is what is really important. Sometimes that doesn’t mean getting the appointment or getting that close; as long as we do what the donor or customer asks us to do and can manage to pull it off to where that person gets off the phone with a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) and feels good about why we called (or even simply about talking to us), that is what it is really about. There are no instances of force-feeding anyone products or trying to push people into tentative appointments. The quality of our conversations speak for themselves when it’s time to check the results.
- We are a Conversational Marketing Firm, not a telecommunications agency.
There has always been a big misconception of what we actually do here at Incept. Yes, at the very core of our business the telephone is one of our biggest tools when it comes to literal communication of the spoken kind, but that doesn’t mean we are telemarketers. When you think of the word conversation, do you think of two people talking? That is what it is all about. Communicating to create meaningful results through productive conversations is what we stand for. This doesn’t mean talking at someone, but rather with them – putting more of an emphasis on listening. By simply listening to our donors and engaging them in quality conversations is really how we have been so successful and helps to explain why Incept has catapulted to become a leader in the industry.
Many organizations seem to still have this cookie-cutter image of what they want to be, not what their customers need them to be. For Incept, being a unique organization doesn’t have to mean that, though. At the core of all that we do it is our clients and customers we put first – even before ourselves as a company – and that is the main attribute behind why Incept stands out from the pack.
What other examples do you have of companies that are unique within their own industries?
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A few years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Joe Gibbs (three Super Bowl titles, NASCAR Championship team owner, and two-time NHRA Pro Stock team owner) speak for an American Teleservices Association (ATA) conference where he talked about leadership. Coach Gibbs explained that three things were expected of leaders: communicate expectations, provide training, and hold people accountable. He took exception to the Peter Principle, saying that people don’t typically fail because they rise to a level that’s above them; it’s usually because leaders fail to provide adequate training.
Coincidentally, Incept undertook a branding initiative about a year ago with the objective of becoming a world-class organization. In setting that compass, Incept committed to a “listen before we lead” approach with both our clients and our employees. So, as part of this initiative, we asked our employees a series of questions aimed and defining our roadmap to become world-class in our service. Can you guess what they told us? Their feedback indicated a thirst for training, knowledge, and growth. No big surprise there, right?
In turning that feedback into something actionable, Incept’s Live The Brand oversight committee developed a service standard: “With education, constant improvement and growth are expected.” With every service standard, there should be a definition, so the committee went on to create the definition: “As we pursue our goal of becoming a world-class organization, we recognize that the continuous training and development of all employees is key.” And in order for us to truly live our brand, the committee created these actions:
- Employee – Every day I will seek opportunities to better myself and my career.
- Organization – We will provide tools and resources that help our employees accomplish their personal and professional goals.
Providing the tools and resources is a significant undertaking. Consequently, we formed a subcommittee entitled: Learning Never Stops. Current Learning Never Stops subcommittee members include Incept’s CEO Sam Falletta, Conversational Marketing Expert Zev Rosenburg, Program Results Supervisor Allison Legg, Shift Supervisor Amber Nelson, and VP of New Client Results Jim Beuoy.
Again, we deployed our “listen before we lead” approach and asked the employees to provide specific subject matter for the courses. The interest was beyond our expectations. Employees quickly realized that by Incept investing in them, they would become better employees, become more engaged with the brand, and provide better service to our clients.
The Learning Never Stops subcommittee outlined a plan for ongoing education, determining which trainings are mandatory, which are optional and at what intervals they should be held. Topics vary, ranging from leadership to communication to personal well-being. Plans include training curriculum, performance management (formal and informal) and an advancement path for success both personally and professionally. The outcome is Incept University. It’s run like many universities in that there are requirements for acceptance, credits for successfully passing course assessments, and majors – which are career paths through various disciplines within the organization.
The concept of a corporate learning and development center, regardless of the title, isn’t something new. Even the concept of a corporate university has been around for awhile. So far, Incept’s appears to be a rousing success as employees frequently ask about timing of courses, how they can take corrective action on attendance and performance to become eligible, and other expressions of interest. Still, there could be challenges along the way. We’re interested in hearing from others about keys to success and potential pitfalls of corporate development.
What’s your experience been in launching and sustaining a “Learning Never Stops” initiative?
I am not one of those people who are content with just vanilla. I actually quite prefer having a variety of options in life – from the clothes I wear to the food I eat and everything else in between.
When it comes to company culture at Incept, I think that is one of our strongest points as an organization. It is a company culture that feels more like a family than anything, and 
that family is made up of multiple personalities – some wild, some mild. But at the end of the day, it all seems to work into this giant, driving force of camaraderie. The thing is everyone brings something to the table, professionally and personally. Certain Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) have different techniques and work styles that rub off on one another and helps our employees to be more self-sufficient when it comes to problem solving. Furthermore, everyone is generally willing to lend advice and share their techniques.
Overall, workplace diversity is very important and sadly seems to be overlooked by many corporations trying to climb the ladder to a world-class level. Here is some insight into what Incept’s diversity amongst our employees is and how it works for us:
- We embrace a “melting pot” ideal.
When you walk into Incept, one of the first things you read is, “Through these doors walk exceptional people” on the main office door. That definitely is not an understatement. What is also not an understatement is the fact that Incept has many different demographics of people, culturally and metaphorically. Whether it’s the student working through college, the mother that just dropped her child off at daycare, or even the part-time mixed martial artist (and trust me, we do have a few at Incept!), without a doubt all these people contribute to the overall atmosphere of the workplace at Incept. It’s awesome to see so many people at lunch or on break hanging out and chatting it up like old friends, when in reality if you saw some of these people outside of work, you’d never think they could get along.
- Diversity is spread among management.
How often do you see a company where diversity is somewhat healthy amongst the company’s general employee culture, but then hits a wall when it comes to upper management? Not at Incept. One of the driving forces behind this mantra of multifariousness is the fact that when you look at our upper management team, it isn’t just carbon copies of one type of person. The fact that management is so diversified with different mind types and characters creates the opportunity to look at situations in different perspectives, adding an effective boost to being able to solve problems more efficiently and creatively.
- New employees are more relaxed.
When I see a new training group for the first time at Incept, I notice the anxiousness and nervousness on the expressions they wear upon their face. But I can remember being nervous my first day at Incept; I really didn’t know what to expect. I felt like I was the new kid at school. The reason why I have developed such a passion for what I do at Incept, along with many of my fellow coworkers, is the fact that right out of the gate I could see the type of culture at Incept and how diversified it was. That made me feel that I could fit in. I didn’t feel like a black sheep because I was new, rather I felt that when I came out of training I was accepted not only as a coworker, but as a fellow peer. And that is all basically because of the company culture at Incept. When I had rough days or wasn’t feeling up to being conversational, it is my coworkers that pulled me through.
I could ramble and rant all day about how diversified Incept is. When it comes to company culture and being diverse, what are some more benefits of diversity amongst employees in the workplace?
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When it comes to company culture, there are many different angles, variables, questions and circumstances that seem to all accumulate into this one, big blender and then spewed upon an allegorical canvas to then be analyzed by the parent organization as if it were some Jackson Pollock painting, riddled with deeper meaning.
There are no instructions that come with building a world-class organization and there is nothing that will guide you towards the perfect secret recipe for creating the ultimate company culture. The whole relationship between employees and their organizations has been changing from more of an “Us to Them” relationship to being more open all across the board. Why though and what does positive company culture have to do with it? Let’s avoid the fluffy statements and dive right into what will help you in building a positive company culture like we have at Incept.
Overall, without a goal or mission statement, you are wandering aimlessly in the dark. When it comes to identifying what your company’s mission is, keep in mind it does not have to be a grand and lofty idea, but something all employees can strive towards. The tone of your mission statement will set other aspects of your company culture into motion and initially is an idea that will trickle from top-down throughout an organization. It is up to the organization to keep that feeling of “Us” or “We” appropriate in their education of their desired goals or it can come off rather imperative and make creating a positive team environment more challenging.
Without a doubt I’m a better bass guitarist than I am a drummer, although I do dabble on my kit more often now in my apartment. Everyone has something they are better at doing than another task. Your employees are no different! Strength based development and management focus on what a person is already good and simply builds off of it. That doesn’t mean ignore areas needing improvement, but when an organization addresses what someone is good at or another strong quality and encourages that employee to strive towards improving that aspect, people can be much more receptive and willing to push towards even further improvement. Are you more likely to talk about something you are good at or something you don’t excel at? Try looking at it that way.
- Effective company cultures are values-aligned
When it comes to company values, keep in mind, these are more than just words on a wall meant to sound all flowery and pleasant to clients. Company values are what your mission statements, service standards and service promises should align with! Company values aren’t just created to sound impressive, but to be used as guidance between the interactions between your clients, your company internally and externally, and especially between your employees. Educating your employees about the values and why they are what they are and their purpose is key. When Incept held our own launch event to commence our Live The Brand process back in January, we educated our company over the direction we were going in and what our values meant in that decision, and from looking around the event I could almost see light bulbs light up above my fellow employees’ heads. They understood more clearly now about what was happening and there was a feeling of comradeship between the whole organization. That is still one of Incept’s biggest qualities and is another trait that separates us from our competitors.
When it comes to building that feeling of teamwork through company culture it is not an overnight success in most cases, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned early either. When you have a positive company culture you can feel the benefits of less absenteeism since people want to show up to work, high senses of employee morale and responsibility, reduced turnover rate and so on. I could probably write another blog based on the benefits of a company culture, which isn’t a bad idea now that I think about it, but what are some more ways to increase or build positivity in a company’s culture?
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Here is a tale of my own early childhood tenacity.
As a small child I had interest in many things. From what type of dinosaur was running rampant through Jurassic Park, how toothpaste got inside the tube, or even why Curious George was just so curious, there literally was nothing I did not question. For reasons of the sticky and burning kind, the following story sticks vividly in my mind.
It was a cold morning in the Dodson household, and outside looked like a scene out of The Empire Strikes Back when Luke Skywalker was on Hoth. The wind, ice and snow were brisk and too unforgiving for a toddler. My morning plans of building a snowman and sledding were put on hold. To make matters worse, I had a dentist appointment in a mere matter of hours. In the midst of everything, I suppose my mom was too tied up in her motherly duties with my siblings and forgot to make me one of my favorite breakfast time snacks: peanut butter and jelly toast.
Now I’ve always been a persistent one, so to speak, so I was going to jump on the chance to be a big boy and make my own food. There was just one obstacle; I was only about 3-and-a-half feet tall, and the counter top seemed like a climb to the summit of some large mountain peak. Nevertheless, feeling inspired from recently building one of the tallest Lego towers in my short history, I decided to do the same thing, but with my Little Tikes ride on tractor, my collection of story books, and my lunch box all stacked upon one another.
I began my ascent to the the top of the counter (upon a pile of my belongings) and after a short battle to find footing amongst everything, I had finally made it up to the counter top. The bread, the peanut butter and jelly, and the toaster were all at my finger tips so I began. It was my first time making myself breakfast, so I did it the way I thought was right, by smearing gobs of peanut butter and jelly on the bread first before putting into the toaster.
Just when I thought things were going good I could feel my lunch box and storybook tower start to wobble below my little feet. This proverbial house of cards was definitely coming down, and I was ready to hang on for dear life. All of a sudden my ride-on tractor started to slide forward and it was all history from there. The tractor slid forward while books slid across the flooring and my lunch box made a dramatically loud, “PLUNK!” upon impact. In my efforts to save myself from falling, I grabbed on to the burning toaster, but the angle at which I had fallen my chin caught the toaster on the way down and held me there for a few burning intense seconds. While the scent of peanut butter toast coming directly into my nostrils wasn’t bad, the fact that I had a huge painful black and blue burn mark on the bottom of my chin wasn’t pleasant at all.
Later that day when at the dentist office my mother kept being asked why her little boy looks like he got upper cut and burned with a lighter under his face? My mom would simply sigh and tell me where and when to be there. the hat I was very persistent and passionate about my breakfast, especially peanut butter and jelly toast. Years later after that painful, yet humorous life experience, I guess I wore my tenacity right on my face.
At Incept we support being “Tenacious” as one of our core values, but that doesn’t always just mean having persistence! It is the persistence to be passionate that makes the Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) at Incept tenacious. Stay tuned for more on how being tenacious ties in with being passionate!
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I wanted to take a couple minutes to talk about my start and growth here at Incept.
I started on the phones mainly making calls to current and potential blood donors for various blood centers across the nation. I was inspired by the work I did, and I took it very seriously. I am competitive by nature, so I was always looking for ways I could do better and produce at the rate that many of the veterans were at that time. Everyone from fellow Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) up to the CEO was very helpful in encouraging my development.
Within two months of my first day of employment, I was asked to become a Coach and assist on the floor with developing and improving other CMEs. This brought on more of a challenge, as I now had to continue making calls myself in addition to coaching people on how to make their phone calls better. This was an interesting transition – mainly because I was low on the totem pole – being that I was to work with CMEs who had been doing this job for much longer than me. Again, I was shown how great of a place Incept is to work for as these veterans accepted and welcomed my help graciously.
Shorty after this, I was given smaller blood center campaigns to run operationally. After learning the complexities of operations and reaching and exceeding goals for our blood centers, I was eventually moved to the position I am in today: Program Results Manager. Through the hard work of everyone on my team, and my constant dedication, I am managing our largest client at Incept. I set up operational strategies for reaching our units goal along with our Client Results Team and our Technology Results Team. These strategies include but are not limited to scripting, time-of-day calling, specific CMEs used for specific campaigns, testing new ideas, managing Supervisors and Coaches that work directly with CMEs, and developing new strategies with the actual client through meetings and various other forms of contact. Every day brings a new challenge, but the success of my responsibilities is worth all the hard work.
It seems like every day I work I see a new face, so I wanted to take the time to explain how it pays to be a lifesaver.
You learn in training about blood types and how many lives you can save by scheduling just a single blood donation. We feel that what you do each and every day to saves lives deserves to be rewarded.
We have a program called the Lifesaver Program, in which you earn points for every donation you schedule. Your points determine which level you are and what reward you will receive. You get rewarded at levels, 3, 5, 7, 9 , 12, 15 and 20.
Prizes include pens, coffee mugs, t-shirts, dress shirts, binders, carry-on bags and even a mini vacation! Once you reach a new level, you also get a sticker indicating which level you are, so everyone can see just how dedicated you are to saving lives.
Be proud of what you do, and always challenge yourself to get to that next level.
Image Credit: Byron Katie
Recently I acquired a new “go fast” toy.
Once again – if you don’t already know – I have an unquenchable and undeniable interest in anything that goes fast and looks cool on two or four wheels. It’s a sickness that I will not see a doctor for, and something I fully embrace as part of who I am. I won’t ever forget driving past the local car dealership and locking eyes on my current daily-driver-turned-project, a bright red 1995 Chevrolet Camaro Z28.
What can I say, though? I’m an absolute sucker for a clean-looking F-body, and the fact that it was already stuffed with a T-56 Borg Warner six-speed transmission behind the beastly LT1 350 small block was enough to seal the deal. I wanted that car, and I had to take ownership of it – no question about it. After about an hour of negotiations, I returned two days later and drove off of the lot with my Z28 that I had already affectionately named, “Xerxes.”
The only bad thing about owning Xerxes is the fact that I have a lead foot, and my drive to Incept every day has gotten a little more costly when it comes to gas,
but I forget about that when I’m slamming through gears down I-77. The point of my rambling is simple: I wanted to take on ownership of the Camaro, because it was something I wanted. In the recent weeks at Incept I have been having a lot of discussions with my committee, the “Live Them” values group and other people in management regarding what it really means to take ownership of not only our company values, but also responsibilities amongst employees.
So what does it mean for an employee of an organization to take ownership of their tasks or responsibilities? Easily the biggest thing I see Incept do as an organization is include employees in the change that is going on. But how do you encourage them to put this into practice in their everyday lives?
- Instill and invoke passion for the job. I know that when I came to Incept, I viewed it as just another contact center job. It wasn’t until I came out of training and actually saw how passionate and determined my superiors and other coworkers were that I began to develop a sense of my worth in my own job. Seeing others passionate about saving lives by recruiting blood donors or even simply being passionate about being at work ready to take on the day was enough to rub off on me. When you are passionate about something you do, you are more likely to do your best, and be proud of what you do.
- Giving them the tools to succeed does not mean “holding their hand.” Part of an employee taking ownership of his or her duties is giving them the tools to be self-sufficient. Too many companies and organizations still seem like they are stuck in a “parent to child” type of managing, in which management of a company will give the tools to do the job, but will never fully implement the idea of ownership. One way Incept is tackling this is by implementing our own intranet as a way to not only increase communication throughout the company, but to also arm our Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) with up-to-the-minute knowledge when they need it. Though it is something we are still working on, the intranet system is just one example of the tools we provide for our employees to succeed.
- If you don’t take care of the customer, someone else will. In any sort of market or business there always seems to be a never-ending supply of competitors waiting to pounce when you might falter or show signs of overload. Sometimes that is just what is needed to kick it into gear. At Incept, there is no doubt we have competitors, but the reason we stand apart from them is because we always aim to emit world-class level service capable of producing real-world results for our clients. The point being that a company is a team. As cliché as that might sound, it is definitely is true. Sam Falletta, the President of Incept, explained during our latest meeting that while he might not be as good as some of our CMEs (Conversational Marketing Experts) at making appointments to donate blood, he does have invaluable experience when it comes to organizing and running our company in different areas. And the same can be said about other departments. We all work together to make up this company. We all share in the victories and the defeats, but if we do not take care of the customer, at the end of the day, someone else will.
So there is some proverbial food for thought. As always feel free to post your answers to the question below in the comments section!
What else do you think makes an employee want to take ownership of their occupations rather than just drifting through their day?
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My adrenaline was still rushing from the Steelers’ Super Bowl XL victory when I showed up to our blood drive on that Monday afternoon.
Ever since high school, I had volunteered to help serve snacks, but I’d never actually donated blood before. However, as a relatively new college student and a thrilled football fan, I decided that it was time for me to make my first donation. Little did I know that by donating that January day, I would get to meet Big Ben, the Steelers’ championship quarterback…
The donation process got off to a great start. My phlebotomist was a Seahawks fan, so we exchanged a few friendly. Everything was going smoothly, but just as I finished filling the donation bag, my feet started to get cold and my vision became just a little fuzzy. I could slowly feel myself passing out.
Sure enough, about seven seconds later, I was out cold in the donation bed.
According to a friend, I was only out for a few seconds, but during that time, I had a full-length dream that Big Ben and I were at a coffee shop talking about the season, the big game, and other random topics that best friends normally talk about. It felt like our conversation lasted for hours, and, needless to say, when I woke up, I was a little heartbroken that it wasn’t real.
Maybe I didn’t technically meet Ben, but it sure felt like it at the time. The good news is that although my first blood donation experience wasn’t perfect, it didn’t deter me from coming back and trying again. Nowadays I make sure to eat a good, iron-rich meal and drink plenty of fluids prior to my appointments. During the donation process, I recline my chair and keep a drink nearby.
Today, several years later, I still have a great first-donation story to share. I’m happy to report that I’ve made several more successful donations since that day, and I’ve yet to rendezvous with Big Ben again!
Share It NET!
We’re finally Sharing It! A few weeks ago, the “Share it. Know it. Own it. Repeat.” subcommittee rolled out Incept’s very first internal electronic message board, appropriately named “Share It NET.” If you haven’t already begun incorporating Share It NET into your daily routine, now is the time to start! The intranet displays all sorts of new and relevant information, from program-related changes and “tips of the day” to internal news and updates about Incept-specific events.
Now, if you miss a day or two of work, you no longer have to worry about relying on paper memos to catch up on what you missed. You no longer have to worry about accidentally throwing a memo away. Share It NET stores all important company information, and it is accessible with just a click of your mouse! A link to the Share It NET can be found at the top of your livestats page, and there are separate pages for Incept Saves, Incept Results and Incept Internal updates.
If there is anything specific that you would like to see posted on the intranet, please let us know! If you have any special tips, tricks or FYIs related to a particular program, Share It with a supervisor or coach so that they can submit it to be posted. And, of course, if you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, Share It with anyone on the “Share It. Know It. Own It. Repeat.” subcommittee.
We listened when you told us that communication needed improved, and we’re still listening for ways to get even better!
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Recruiting blood donors can be a very challenging job, but the rewards save hundreds of lives every day.
I often think of what I could be doing with my education, experience and skills as a manager, if I was not working at Incept. I imagine that I could be working for a company that produces some sort of consumable product or provides a specific service. The main driver behind these types of companies would most likely be based on making money. I imagine that I would feel successful through creating more revenue for that company. Essentially, making more widgets than yesterday would impact the company’s worth.
However, my work at Incept has been completely different. Success is defined by reaching blood unit goals with community blood centers across the nation. Without the work we do at Incept, community blood centers that we work with would fall short in their efforts to supply blood to their area hospitals. Yes, it is true that many blood donors go in to donate on their own, but we encourage many more to schedule appointments and commit to saving the lives of patients in their local area.
When I leave work every day, I know I made a difference.
Everyone at Incept needs to think about that when leaving work for the day and when you come in for your next shift. Having an ultimate purpose is one of the most rewarding qualities you can gain in life.
Photo Credit: TopNews
