Lately at Incept, I’ve been having conversations with more and more blood donors about trying to donate platelets.
When it comes to donating blood, sometimes – depending on the donor’s type and if they meet certain qualifications – an apheresis style donation is a lot more beneficial to the receiving blood bank.
When donating the component of the blood known as thrombocytes, better known as platelets, the process is literally the same as doing a red cell donation or a plasma donation. As with any aphaeretic style donation the objective and reasoning behind it all is to collect a specific component of the blood to turn it into multiple transfusable products that wouldn’t have been directly obtainable with just a regular whole blood donation.
At the microscopic level, a platelet looks a lot like tiny, fluffy, white cloves floating around in our blood streams. Whenever your skins gets a nasty cut or scratch your body produces a scab due to platelets forming so that new skin may heal beneath. Perhaps the most obvious function of a platelet cell is to clot when bleeding occurs inside or outside of the body.
One of the biggest reasons why the need for platelets is of constant concern for many blood centers and blood banks is due to the fact that platelets only have a shelf life of five days, unlike whole blood which has a shelf life of three to four weeks. Needless to say, there is little that can be done when it comes to attempting to set up any sort of steady supply. That is just another reason why a blood donor’s help is so frequently needed. Another underlying factor for the consistent need for platelets comes from many more surgeries and procedures taking place in hospitals every day. These procedures can include organ transplants, emergency room surgeries, and especially cancer patients going through chemotherapy and other treatments.
Oftentimes people with blood types of A+, B+, and especially AB+ are suggested to try a platelet donation if they meet their blood bank’s physical requirements. The process can take between one-and-a-half hours to two hours, but most blood banks offer magazines or have televisions going with popular movies to help pass the time. Many donors who meet qualifications find it to be quite comfortable.
In the upcoming summer months, if you have one of the above preferred blood types for donating platelets, what is stopping you from making a donation that can drastically improve someone’s living condition or even save their life?
When I am at work a very common question that I usually am asked on the phones at Incept by prospective blood donors is, “Do I get paid for my blood donation?” I can’t help but to think back to my days of plasma donating every time I hear that question.
Granted, time is money. But when it comes to giving a literal part of yourself, such as a blood component, who is really benefiting when you donate plasma? The fact of the matter is this: while some plasma donations are used to treat hemophiliacs, burn victims, and other certain types of medical conditions, many plasma donations go to research facilities where different types of testing can be done and not always directly to those in need. Once you donate your plasma, you really do not have any control where it goes to or how it is used.
How Donor Loyalty Programs Help You As A Donor And Those In Need
It is always refreshing when I am speaking with a blood donor who has a lifetime donation count of twenty, thirty, or fifty donations! I’ve even talked with a handful of donors that have donated blood their whole lives and have one hundred lifetime donations or more, believe it or not! Many times, these folks do not need to be given an incentive to donate blood, they just understand the importance and the healing power and positivity that a single donation can bring to someone’s life.
But since we are on the topic of being paid for certain types of donations, what better thing to bring up than donor loyalty programs? While you may be a blood donor who isn’t in it for the reward – other than saving a few lives – donor loyalty programs can be a nice way for blood banks and blood centers to give back to their donor base and build gentle encouragement toward continuous giving.
A few non-profit organizations that really hit the mark with their donor loyalty programs are LifeSource and Central Blood Bank with Brighten Life (BL Rewards).
It’s quite simple, actually. You show up and donate and get points per donation! Depending on the type of donation you do, you can get more points to spend in their online store. They have gift cards including Olive Garden, Kohls, The Home Depot, and Mobil Gas, as well as many more to choose. The best thing is even if you do not want to spend those points on yourself, you can donate those points to the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society in the form of $15 and $25 donations!
Many blood banks and blood centers have donor loyalty programs, so take the initiate to see what your local center has to offer you. Above everything else you can rest assured that your blood donation is going directly to those who need it!
What type of donor loyalty program do you participate in?
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Of course, you might already know that at Incept we take pride in recruiting blood donors for several different blood banks and blood centers across the country. In fact, we’re pretty good at it. We take pride in what we do, and we support donating blood and the positive healing power it can have on someone’s life when you donate.
In terms of business and life, actions will always speak louder than words. Where words fail to resonate those actions and their implementations will still be felt. Many Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) aren’t just saving lives in other states, but right here in their own county and regional area, as well. Incept holds blood drives every quarter of the calendar year here at the company in Canton, Ohio, which result in hundreds of donations that ultimately save many lives.
The beauty behind recognizing something like this is the fact that Incept wants the people it employs to believe in what they do. We encourage our Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) to donate if they physically can because it also gives them a personal experience that they can relate to with any donor they speak with – definitely an added, albeit indirect psychological bonus if you think about it.
I can’t tell you how many times from my own calls to blood donors that I find it incredibly helpful when I use my own personal experience of donating blood to educate and successfully recruit a donor to donate. Overall, however, the most important thing for me personally is the fact that even if I have had a less than stellar day on the phones, if I have made even just one appointment and that blood donor goes into donate I still made a difference.
Quite simply put, when you practice what you preach and you encourage your employees to do the same, you strengthen the relationship with your employees as well as your customers and clients who will be the ones that really benefit.
How do you encourage your employees to “walk the walk and talk the talk”? What does that phrase mean to you?
Do you like where you work?
What about the reason you work where you do? Do you like why you go into work in the first place? On top of those questions, do you actually enjoy the people you work with? You know, your peers, your bosses and such? Do you like working with them every day?
You might already know a little bit about Incept and how we are continuing to steadily make it known in the blood donor recruitment field why we are able to consistently strengthen the relationship with each blood donor we talk to while representing our multiple clients. A lot of that has to do with the overall environment in which we work.
I love pizza. It is one of my personal favorite “feel good” foods. Did you have a bad day? Eat some pizza. Did your car break down? Eat some pizza. Did your girlfriend break up with you? Eat some pizza. You could be having the worst day of your life, but you’ll never not want to eat a slice of pizza. It just feels good. So picture your favorite pizza to eat. It doesn’t matter if it is one of the big-named 
franchises or your local, beat-up, hole-in-the-wall kind of joint. You know, the one where it looks like mafia members do business deals. Now continue to picture your favorite pie. Remember how it tastes? How the dough is just so fresh -lightly crispy but hearty and just the perfect golden-brown on the bottom. Can you picture the sweetness of the marinara sauce as it introduces itself to your taste buds? And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, your palate gets body slammed by a wave of pepperonis surfing on mozzarella. I love a pizza pie because all the ingredients come together to make up something great.
Before I get too hungry, the whole recipe to our company atmosphere can be broken down into three essential ingredients that come together to create this crispy, but lightly crunchy, cheesy, saucy mess of an awesome metaphorical pizza. I guess in our case you could say the Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) are the toppings!
Simple Ingredients Towards Making a Positive Work Environment
- Invoke meaning for the job in your employees. Never before coming to Incept did I ever realize the importance of donating blood – I mean, to a point, as I did donate in high school. However, I had nowhere near as much knowledge of donating blood prior to working at Incept! I also have a clear idea of the good that I’m doing while recruiting blood donors. I’m not just flipping burgers or mowing grass or anything like that, but I’m literally making a difference in someone’s life with each blood donor who donates. There truly is meaning in what I do as Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) that goes beyond the paycheck. Instilling meaning into an employee’s position can give them drive to naturally want to do well.
- Be open to explain why certain company decisions are made. Our very own president, Sam Falletta, is a man that doesn’t just hide behind closed doors of an office all day. He makes himself available to company employees. He explains the choices he makes for the company and the progress our company makes to everyone during a few of our Employee of the Month meetings, as well as monthly CME meetings. At Incept, we understand why a lot of choices are made because Sam has explained on how our clients come first, followed by our own company goals, and then the company takes care of it’s employees. The beauty of this philosophy is each individual employee puts their best effort towards our clients, which in turn benefits our company ultimately benefiting them as it comes full-circle. The more our clients we represent win, the more Incept and its individual employees win as a team.
- It really is about the people you work with and employ. At Incept, the concept of family comes with high priority. I can say with confidence that I have never worked at a place where I have so many friends in one building. Isn’t that great? I truly think so. We have had employees hold company bake sales for other employees during times of hardship – where whatever the bake sale makes Incept matches to give to that person. Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) aren’t just competitive, but cooperative, and everyone is friendly to each other and learns from each other for the most part. And truly our upper management at Incept reveal themselves to be real people. They are professional, but at the same time step up to be genuinely real and offer an open door and a listening ear to anything you bring to them. The constructive and family-like atmosphere at Incept truly is what distinguishes our Conversational Marketing™ firm from just another telerecruitment agency and plays a cornerstone role in our growing success within the industry.
So now that you know some steps what are you waiting on to start building a more positive work environment for your company? What are some other ways to build positivity in the workplace? Are you someone reading this looking to join the Incept team for employment around the Canton, Ohio area? Click here!
Image Credit: http://www.mypizzabrothers.com
At the beginning of the work week, how easy is it to find yourself in that “Office Space” kind of mindset?
Trudging into work with your personal autopilot switch already flipped to “on” is, without a doubt, all too easy of a routine to get into. But think outside the cubical in terms of what you really do on a day-to-day basis. Having a job – or even a career – at its roots is how most of us make a living. However, beyond the paycheck, what do you take away from your occupation?
The reason I say this is because, quite simply, life is too short to have a never-ending case of the Mondays.
At Incept, our Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) have a purpose that certainly goes beyond their paychecks. They save lives through conversations, and that fact is reinforced the very moment training starts. In one year’s worth of employment at Incept, a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) can save more lives than any fireman or policeman will save in their entire careers of service – and I say that with the utmost respect. One whole blood donation has the amazing ability to save the lives of up to three people, or at the very least make the lives of those people better. It really is because of the many meaningful conversations that take place every day at Incept that we are able to accomplish not only our goals for our clients and our own company, but make a real-world difference for an individual in need.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called someone, as a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME), and have had a genuinely great conversation with the donor I’m speaking with. The number is simply countless. But why? Because I believe in what I do. I believe in donating blood and the life-changing effects it can bring to someone’s life. I believe in giving our donors the best customer service experience possible. I believe in Incept’s drive and leading ingenuity within our industry. I believe in my fellow coworkers and value my comradeship with them. I believe that even if I only schedule one person to donate on a given day that I have still made the world a better place before I clock out for the night.
Now, granted, every employer is different. Every occupation brings its own challenges to the table, as well, but that doesn’t mean you cannot look for purpose in anything that you do. I implore you to literally take an approach to treat everyone as your customer in whatever it is you do. Remember, no matter what job you have, no matter if it is a Monday or not, search for the meaning and purpose in your job. Chances are you have a bigger purpose than you really think!
What is something meaningful you take away from your occupation?
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2011 has come and gone, and 2012 has just taken off!
If you are reading this, congratulations on making it through yet another year! Can I ask you a question? Do you have any plans in store for the big twenty-twelve? Is there something you’ve been meaning to do or improve upon, and that celebratory date of New Year’s Day just seem to ironically fit the bill for a starting point? Well you’ve come to the right blog!
As cliché as New Year’s resolutions are, I actually welcome them with open arms and have set a few for myself this year. However, how often in the past have Januarys gone by with you saying you are going to quit smoking, yet continue to cave in, in the form of a sneakily, delightful after-dinner puff? How many countless times have you thought to yourself, “I’m definitely going to start working out and lose these love handles after the new year hits,” yet still cannot break the grasp of binge-playing Skyrim for hours on end? No matter what your goal, resolution or desire to change might be, here are a few common sense tips to help keep you motivated and improving towards your goals:
If you don’t remember reading my blog about goal setting and the Harvard study about writing goals down, then trust me, you want to get in the practice of writing your goals down and keeping them visible! Can you believe that statistics show that only 3% of Americans actually write down their goals? When you do this, you enable yourself to clearly define what it is you want while being able to start thinking about different ways to accomplish it. Not only are you giving yourself a defined starting point, but you are able to creatively assess what will and will not work for you and what it takes to reach your goal.
- A failure is only a failure if you didn’t learn anything from it.
It is always too easy to look for the bad in something without seeing the good first. A good friend once told me, “Fighter pilots aren’t turned into aces without going through a few dog fights!” He was exactly right. Whenever you come up against adversity or something else that blocks your way in completing or living out one of your goals, look at it and use it as a learning experience. Keeping positive during times of affliction will only breed even more positivity. In fact it was Albert Einstein that once said, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” To find that opportunity, sometimes we just need to take a step back from what we are doing and ask, “Why?”
- Short-term goals create steady progress toward long-term goals.
I can’t tell you how often I find myself in a daydream tangent on ideas about how to improve things at Incept or even in my own life really. I can’t help it, it’s just in my nature of being never satisfied. I’m someone who can formulate brilliant ideas, but I admit when it comes to getting these ideas off the ground I have a tough time executing my intentions. If you are like me, then start setting short-term goals accordingly (that are realistic in helping you accomplish your long-term goals).
So you already know what you want out of this year. What is stopping you from achieving it? Nine times out of ten we already have what we need to be successful right in front of us!
Tell me about what you want to accomplish this year either professionally or personally. What tips do you have for staying motivated and seeing your goals through?
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There seems to be a whole slew of maxims and worldly ethical codes that accompany living in this world.
Most of us, without a doubt, have heard of The Golden Rule, in which we treat others the way that we would like to be treated. But when can a business fully harness that sense of ethics in a way that will produce productive results? There are many companies out there with great core values, and practicing these values usually isn’t an issue, until business seems to get in the way.
Today I’m going to be a little less verbose than usual and just dive right into how Incept uses our company value of Everyone’s a Customer in our everyday lives and roles at Incept.
- From an organizational perspective
Really when looking to utilize the value of Everyone’s a Customer, you must put yourself in the shoes of not only your clients but your employees. Additionally, you must push to think beyond the typical business-to-client relationship. I play the electric bass guitar in a band and always love grooving it up. My guitarist has said before, when we are writing new songs, that we all have our own sonic vision of how the song sounds and where different parts of it go in our own heads. Really apply that same type of thinking when you have identified your client’s needs and goals, and develop your own sonic vision of how you will assess their needs and plan to achieve their goals. This type of thinking not only brings together multiple people’s brightest ideas, depending on whatever it is you are trying to address, but it also places a certain sense of empathetic thought on what it is going to take to really please your client and treat them as your customer.
- From an employee perspective
When looking at the value of Everyone’s a Customer to an Incept Conversational Marketing Expert (iCME), not only does it refer back to the type of thinking above, but it also is a tool that we use to determine what we need to do to be successful. Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) – really everyone in the company of Incept, for that matter – view Everyone’s a Customer in the terms that, if someone needs your help or advice, they are your customer. If you don’t show up to work, keep that type of thing in mind because your fellow employees are your customers, as well as your bosses. When you are asked to go into a program to call that might be a little more difficult at the moment, keep in mind your shift supervisors are your customers just as much as the folks who we literally talk on the phones with. This type of thinking is highly efficient in that it gives employees self-empowerment to realize they are an important part of the team, it helps address schedule adherence issues and, on top of it, always makes sure Incept is aiming to continue to provide world-class level service to our clients. What isn’t to like or embrace?
It’s easy to see how simple company values really do go beyond being just words, becoming mentally sharpened tools that organizations can use to their advantage when providing excellent service or any type to any client. What are some other ways you can use Everyone’s A Customer in either the workplace or everyday life?
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Our very own Mike Jackson.
If there is one Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) at Incept that puts his performance where his mouth is – and quite literally, as he is part of a rap group – Michael Jackson (MJ) is the guy that comes to mind. When you meet Mike you can already tell by his mannerisms that he is as animated as a Looney Tunes’ charater and full of positivity. A great asset amongst our employees, Mike is the type of employee that really brings our company culture full circle. He is someone you can talk to about anything, and you instantly feel this type of friendliness in each conversation.
I remember recently I was having a pretty rough start to my morning. My heat wasn’t turned on yet in my apartment, so I woke up to find myself in an extremely cold daze. To make matters worse, I had overslept my alarm, and my brain had kicked itself into that “fight or flight” mode in an effort to make it to work on time. To top it off, my Z28 was thirsty for some 93 octane, but I just couldn’t afford to waste time stopping for gas. After slamming gears down I-77, crossing my fingers and coasting on fumes, I pulled into Incept’s parking lot and flew up the flight of stairs to the time clock to punch in. I found a slight glimmer of victory as I had managed to make it on time and could feel a relieved smirk grow across my face.
I found a seat right near the big screen so that I could watch the Cleveland Browns get destroyed that Sunday, and, sure enough, across the rows I caught a glimpse of my man, Mike Jackson. The thing is, he didn’t seem like himself. He seemed quieter than usual, but without a doubt was still on top of his call performance. I had to ask, “Mike, whats going on, man?” He then proceeded to tell me about how the night before he learned that one of his close cousins who he had grown up with had tragically died in an automobile accident. And I thought my day was going bad!
That put things into perspective for me really quickly. At Incept we have a bereavement policy that states you are allowed to take up to thirty days off work to grieve the death of a loved one, yet Mike was still sitting in the office making calls. I even tried to tell him he could go home, but he gently smiled and told me, “that would be the easy way out.”
Mike told me he’d rather try to come in and work than grieve for his cousin (who went by the name Sully) initially, because it was a more constructive way to deal with the situation rather than sit around. He knew he could have called off, as he had a very legitimate excuse to do so, but just the way he explained things to me really struck me hard. I was dealing with just another run-of-the-mill bad day while Mike was going through a life-changing ordeal in losing Sully. On top of it all, his call quality was excellent (as usual), and he was seemingly well above goal.
It isn’t until you put yourself in someone’s shoes that you get a real idea of how dismal and minuscule your problems are when compared to something like that. Mike received Incept’s R.A.V.E. award (Recognizing and Acknowledging Values in Employees) for being tenacious in the way he dealt with such a negative event and used it to fuel his drive. That is something I wanted to recognize and still can’t get over.
It really makes me question if Mike, a really happy-go-lucky kind of guy, can have life throw him a curve ball like that and still hit a home run, then what makes your bad day so bad that you can’t give it your all at work?
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!
Photo Credit: http://www.southdacola.com
We all know Incept’s clever acronym of values – Integrity, Never satisfied, Compassion, Everyone’s a customer, Present, and Tenacious). But how often do you really stop to evaluate if you truly live them?
Each of these values is very important to the way Incept operates and to many of our personal lives, as well. One of my favorite values to recognize my coworkers for is “everyone’s a customer.”
It is a high and often difficult calling to live as if everyone is a customer. It often means putting others’ problems ahead of your own and making sure you care about those around you. When you live as if everyone around you is your customer, you will often find that the joy you spread to those you care about also seeps into the way you live.
Treating everyone as a customer is very important for your phone calls too. Customer service can really make or break your calls. When you talk to a donor or a customer on the phone, you are the voice of the client for whom you’re calling. You want to make sure that each of your calls shows the donor or customer that you are speaking with that you are knowledgeable, kind and able to help them. Treating everyone as YOUR customer will take their concerns and needs into account, strengthening the relationship between you and them on the phone call.
Here a couple of easy ways to make everyone your customer in your calls:
- Ask how they are doing, and respond to it. You want to make sure you are catering to them, even their mood.
- Find a place to donate that is most convenient for them, rather than you.
- Make sure they have all of the information they need, including the address of the donor center.
- At the end of the call, ask if there is anything else you can do to help them.
What other ways can you make sure to treat everyone as a customer?
