Great Customer Service Builds Brands And Loyalty

"Every customer contacts us at least once sometime during his or her lifetime, and we just need to make sure that we use that opportunity to create a lasting memory." 

~~ Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com

Good Morning Folks, 

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, introduces a passage about how great customer service builds brands and loyalty from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, by Tony Hsieh (the world's best-known Chief Happiness Officer).

To keep your customers today, you can’t be content just to satisfy them. If you want your business to thrive, you have to create what I call Raving Fans — customers who are so excited about the way you treat them that they want to tell stories about you. These customers become part of your sales force.

Great service is not an accident. It starts when you decide what kind of experience you want your customers to have — when you articulate a clear vision. You keep it alive by empowering your people to go the extra mile for the customer. When it’s innovative and comes from the heart, great service keeps customers coming back again and again.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, understands what great customer service — or, as they call it at Zappos, WOW service — is all about. Once you read the following excerpt, you’ll understand two things. First, you’ll figure out why Zappos quickly became the biggest online shoe store. Second, you’ll know the company is not exaggerating in calling it WOW service.

— Ken Blanchard

Excerpted from Chapter 5 of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com

We receive thousands and thousands of phone calls and e-mails every single day, and we really view each contact as an opportunity to build the Zappos brand into being about the very best customer service and customer experience. Looking at every interaction through a branding lens instead of an expense-minimization lens means we run our call center very differently from most call centers. 

Most call centers measure their employees’ performance based on what’s known in the industry as “average handle time,” which focuses on how many phone calls each rep can take in a day. This translates into reps worrying about how quickly they can get a customer off the phone, which in our eyes is not delivering great customer service. Most call centers also have scripts and force their reps to try to upsell customers to generate additional revenue. 

At Zappos, we don’t measure call times (our longest phone call was almost six hours long!), and we don’t upsell. We just care about whether the rep goes above and beyond for every customer. We don’t have scripts because we trust our employees to use their best judgment when dealing with each and every customer. We want our reps to let their true personalities shine during each phone call so that they can develop a personal emotional connection (internally referred to as PEC) with the customer. 

Another example of us using the telephone as a branding device is what happens when a customer calls looking for a specific style of shoes in a specific size that we’re out of stock on. In those instances, every rep is trained to research at least three competitors’ Web sites, and if the shoe is found in stock to direct the customer to the competitor. Obviously, in those situations, we lose the sale. But we’re not trying to maximize each and every transaction. Instead, we’re trying to build a lifelong relationship with each customer, one phone call at a time. 

A lot of people may think it’s strange that an Internet company is so focused on the telephone, when only about 5 percent of our sales happen through the telephone. In fact, most of our phone calls don’t even result in sales. But what we’ve found is that on average, every customer contacts us at least once sometime during his or her lifetime, and we just need to make sure that we use that opportunity to create a lasting memory. 

The majority of phone calls don’t result in an immediate order. Sometimes a customer may be calling because it’s her first time going through the returns process, and she just wants a little help stepping through the process. Other times, a customer may call because there’s a wedding coming up this weekend and he just wants a little fashion advice. And sometimes, we get customers who call simply because they’re a little lonely and want someone to talk to. 

I’m reminded of a time when I was in Santa Monica, California, a few years ago at a Skechers sales conference. After a long night of bar-hopping, a small group of us headed up to someone’s hotel room to order some food. My friend from Skechers tried to order a pepperoni pizza from the room-service menu, but was disappointed to learn that the hotel we were staying at did not deliver hot food after 11:00 pm. We had missed the deadline by several hours. 

In our inebriated state, a few of us cajoled her into calling Zappos to try to order a pizza. She took us up on our dare, turned on the speakerphone, and explained to the (very) patient Zappos rep that she was staying in a Santa Monica hotel and really craving a pepperoni pizza, that room service was no longer delivering hot food, and that she wanted to know if there was anything Zappos could do to help. 

The Zappos rep initially was a bit confused by the request, but she quickly recovered and put us on hold. She returned two minutes later, listing the five closest places in the Santa Monica area that were still open and delivering pizzas at that time. 

Now, truth be told, I was a little hesitant to include this story because I don’t actually want everyone who reads this book to start calling Zappos and ordering pizza. But I just think it’s a fun story to illustrate the power of not having scripts in your call center and empowering your employees to do what’s right for your brand, no matter how unusual or bizarre the situation. 

As for my friend from Skechers? After that phone call, she’s now a customer for life. — Tony Hsieh

Make this week a REIMAGINE WEEK. To our employees: I'll see you at YOUR awards Wednesday night. 

Have a GREAT day,

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."

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At FSO, Perfection is the Expectation – No Excuses!

"One of the biggest errors we can make in the delivery of Hospitality services is to assume that what we are doing is meeting the expectations of our clients. We never assume because we know what's happened when our competitors have: We eat their lunch!"

Good Morning Folks,

One of our most urgent corporate goals is "Perfection is the Expectation – No Excuses!"

We know that we need to deliver Service Extraordinaire. But how do we know we are meeting that expectation?  

Living in New York City in the 1980’s when Ed Koch was the Mayor, he had a very simple formula to find out if he was meeting expectations.  He would simply ask the people, “How Am I Doing?”  It is the simplest question and easiest format to solicit feedback. 

==> As managers, we are asking our staff, “How Am I Doing?”

==> As service providers, we are asking our clients when we deliver services, “How Are We Doing?” 

One of the biggest errors we can make in the delivery of Hospitality services is to assume that what we are doing is meeting the expectations of our clients. We never assume because we know what's happened when our competitors have: We eat their lunch!

So… today I challenge each and every FSO employee in our morning meetings – ASK THE QUESTION, and more importantly, listen for the answer. If the response is “fine” or “ok”, take the opportunity to follow up with another question – “How can I make your answer be ‘Perfect’”? 

In order to improve as a team, we must improve as individuals and constantly strive for perfection in our daily activities. Only through the consistent quest for feedback can we ensure that we are improving every day and inspiring happy clients and happy employees.  

most important thing is taking the feedback we receive and turning it into positive actions. No matter what position we hold within FSO, we have the responsibility to ask the question “How Are We Doing?”

Take the answers that you receive today and share them with management, so we can ensure PERFECTION – NO EXCUSES. This allows us to make it PERSONAL and by making it PERSONAL, we fulfill my vision, and legacy.

The passion, the hard work, the skip step and fire, and the overall communications resulting from this never-ending pursuit of excellence have been well-received.

Prospects we take on site tours leave VERY impressed and I am super proud!! They are BLOWN AWAY actually.

It's such an honor to work with each member of our FSO team, and having these individuals representing us in the field.

The is what differentiates us from our competition and why our great clients made that change from their current service provider to FSO. It's what we do everyday that makes us special and the obvious choice.  

Needless to say I am so pumped up for all of you and the great company we are building. We have the greatest people on earth who love what they do across FSO. 

Our future is bright and we have only just begun. 

FSO = Hospitality = YOU

Join me as we inspire a nation and fulfill dreams!  Lets rock the world together. 

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold."

~~ Maurice Setter
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It's Your Career.

"No one is going to serve you a career on a silver platter. Your career will be what you make it. No more, no less."

Good Morning Folks,

Often I hear candidates say they want to leave a job, because their current employer is not ‘looking after my career’.

Sure, it’s important to work for a company like FSO where you can thrive, but you must above all understand this:

The person who will always care most about your career is you!

All of which reminds me of this post I saved from a recruiter I know...

==>  You Own Your Career, No-One Else! By: Alexey Fursov

The biggest mistake you can make in your work life is leave your career to your employer, or anyone else. You have to work at your career goal, plan it, and drive it where you want it to go.

Please understand that just having the qualifications is not enough anymore. Gone are the days where ‘getting the right degree will set up your career’. A degree just gets you the chance to get on the field, not win the game.

Ponder this. Success in your career will never be just a matter of qualifications or skills. It will always be a matter of motivation.

No one is going to serve you a career on a silver platter. Your career will be what you make it. No more, no less.

And so, as clichéd as it sounds, the starting point is to find what you like doing.

A career without passion and enthusiasm will have no meaning, no joy, and little hope of long-term success.

Indeed, does your career goal keep you awake at night?

If not, maybe you need to start to worry. You have 30 more years at work, and trust me on this.

No one else is having sleepless nights about what happens to your career.

So that means no one is steering your career ship.

Bottom line: You are always afforded a career, not just a job at FSO. But it's not a free ride.  Whether you have the motivation to apply and invest in yourself to learn and grow into future opportunities, is your part of the deal.

So, just a quick good morning. Great inspiration and motivation. Thanks for listening. Have fun and love life folks. We have lots to be thankful for. 

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time."
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Uncovering Your Company's True Culture

"Invest in individual mastery and market value . . . culture is to attracting high impact talent as a great product is to attracting good customers."

Good Morning Folks,

As you know I am a firm believer in continuing education by asking my team to read business books. Tom Peters is one of my favorites.

But now, thanks to the Internet, there are much shorter reads with just as powerful takeaways.

Here are a few I found in my library to share with the leaders among us this morning:

Jack Welch: Star Wars: When to Let a Top Performer Walk

How to Get Employees to Embrace Social Media

How To Uncover Your Company's True Culture

The Most Powerful Habit You Can Imagine

The Future of Work

Some thoughts on the culture article: Give me a team I can bring together in person now and then and watch the synergy pay off. 

As an people / talent professional, I have been astounded by how often senior leaders don’t “get” that culture is a living thing, unique to a company or organization. I once heard a fairly new leader describe the corporate culture of our organization to candidates but what he described was the culture of his previous company. He truly thought that if he said it, it would be so. As hard as I tried, I could not convince him that one organization’s culture could not simply be grafted onto a new organization and its employees.

The article linked above proffers that "... many companies have tried to adopt, say, the Zappos culture or the Google culture… but in most cases those attempts fail because culture is something that can be mimicked but almost never successfully copied."  

Within every organization, decision making drives performance. Every employee comes to work every day and makes decisions that impact performance.   The workplace has many temptations that employees must resist, from the petty impulse to claim credit for someone else's work, to the unscrupulous lapse of lying in a negotiation, to the criminal act of misrepresenting financial numbers.   

These decisions, at every level of the organization, define the corporate culture and drive performance.   

In 2008, Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Kaplan and his Palladium Group colleague David P. Norton wrote The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage.   There are ten (10) steps to define the corporate culture and drive performance, including:  

Step 1: Visualize the strategy.   

Step 2: Communicate the strategy. 

Step 3: Identify strategic projects.   

Step 4: Align projects with strategy.   

Step 5: Align individual roles and provide incentives.  

Step 6: Manage projects.   

Step 7: Make decisions aligned with strategy.   

Step 8: Measure the strategy.   

Step 9: Report progress.  

Step 10: Reward performance.  

To make change, leaders must identify behaviors that are in line with the desired culture and find ways to reward or reinforce them

I will like to say these idea is common among young growing companies regardless of years in existence, they are still learning, but when they get to certain points in their growth, they begin to value employees much as the value the customer, quite really, they realize that the employees also make the hearth of the company much as the customer do, it's a matter of time, if the company as a future or big dreams.

Industry training, incentives, rewards, recognition and a TRUE career path sit at the heart of a successful company culture centered on service. At FSO, our Future Leaders Program (FLP) identifies and develops business leaders across the FSO enterprise and ensures a strong bench to fill our national expansion

Have a GREAT day. Love LIFE!

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill
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A Company That Emphasizes Happiness, And Positively Reinforces Great Service Is One You’ll Want To Know

"Permanent happiness comes from you choosing to be permanently happy. When you choose happiness, then you attract all the happy things as well. The happy things are the icing on the cake, but the cake is happiness" ~~Rhonda Byrne

Good Morning Folks,

Whether it is health, money, a loving relationship, material things, accomplishments, a job, or anything at all, the desire for happiness is the bottom line of all of them. But remember that happiness is a state inside of us, and something on the outside can only bring fleeting happiness, because material things are impermanent.

Regardless of your looks, skills or intelligence, or what struggles you have had in your life --  if you don’t have a good attitude, if you don’t believe that happiness is a “choice”, if you don’t believe you can accomplish great things then you will never achieve success.  

Look around you. You work for a HAPPY company, with a Chief HAPPINESS Officer at the helm - who truly wants you to be happy, who gives you all the tools, opportunities and support to grow and be happy at what you do. You know why? 

Unhappy people, negative people, uncooperative people, complaining people just attract more unhappiness, negativity and difficulty into their lives. Those people can never truly be PERSONAL, PASSIONATE and PRODUCTIVE. 

But... on the FSO side of the coin... happy employees are contagious. Happy employees create a great work environment, and happy employees create more opportunity.

Our Sales, Marketing, and Operations teams are firing on all cylinders! We have the competition on their heels, with more and more of their clients taking a serious look at FSO and deciding that we are the only real choice when it comes to outsourcing.   

The FSO Train is screaming down the track, exceeding our client’s expectations and delivering on our promise to love and nurture our most valuable asset, our employees!  

==>  FSO is the Fastest growing outsourcer in the Industry
==>  FSO is the displacing its competitors every day
==>  FSO is the best place to work in the industry
==>  FSO is providing thousands a chance to reach their goals
==>  FSO is the most sought out company in the industry to work

What a great thing to say about your job!  

I talk to a lot of prospects that have our competitors currently. EVERY time I speak with them I get a bit nauseas because they tell me they are marginally happy, that they do not get any ideas from the current provider, that the staff onsite isn’t happy, that the management from the current company has never been to the site or met with them, that the local manager never provides reports, and the list goes on. UGH! I have seen the great work we do on-site and I am a true believer that (re)Imagine is our differentiator. 

Every time we (re)Imagine we win! Do not underestimate the impact that wiping off finger prints on a glass door can have. Do not underestimate the impact of your smile on a customer. Little things like straightening up an unsightly lobby, helping to set up a conference room when it is not our service agreement, it is the kind words and great attitude and providing ideas and recommendations for improvements. 

Your career and your growth is top of mind for me every single moment of the day. We have excitement in our company and I want you all to be excited. 

YOU are always appreciated for what YOU do, being who YOU are and the role YOU play in the company. Without YOU there could be no FSO. 

Set your goals and expectations high but more importantly, achieve them.  

Have a great day and thanks for being a part of our amazing journey.

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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“We need to believe in the impossible and remove the improbable” 
~~Oscar Wilde.  
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ABOUT FSO:

Recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing companies and ranked among the top 25 of New York's fastest growing privately held companies by Crain's magazine, FSO can proudly boast: 

• 98 % client retention with ZERO displacements 
• 98 % employee retention – twice the industry average 
• 300+ years of industry experience residing in its Senior Leadership Team 
• 120+ corporate support staff supporting our national footprint (HR, IT, Analysts, Subject matter experts etc) 

Led by Mitchell Weiner, the co-founder and pioneer of onsite outsourcing, FSO was created to deliver what the industry has lost sight of – and everything you deserve: 

• An outsourcing experience powered by passionate people. 
• An intimate and personal approach to service. 
• A partnership based on care, trust and mutual success. 
• Involved owners listening to your needs and proposing customized solutions. 

To learn more, please contact our national direct line: 212.204.1193.

VIDEO:

Brief "corporate portrait" video shows who we are and what we can do for you HERE

Only Great Leaders Create Great Companies

 “Everyone has the right to have a career not just a job at my company. Your job becomes your career the moment you see the possibilities for growth and satisfaction.” ~~ Mitch Weiner

Good Morning Folks,

Welcome to Monday. The dawn of a new day is the light of a new way. There is always a chance, a new opportunity but it starts today. So forget about the past and do not dream too much of the future. Stop searching and start being. Happiness is not a destination. It's HERE.

Today we can be the best father, the best mother, the best son and daughter. Today is the day to be the best brother and sister. Today we can be the best informtionalist. The best trainer. The best sales person. The best receivables collector. The best analyst. The best marketing director. The best manager.

==> Because Only Great Leaders Create Great Companies. 
Great leaders will challenge and inspire their people in their quest for excellence. People will only experience a feeling of pride when they worked hard for their success. If success comes easily, overnight, without too much effort, pride will not enter the equation.

The quest for excellence never stops and is all around. In every piece of packaging. Every swipe of the finger. Every "How can I help you?" Everything.

And it doesn't matter just some of the time. It matters all of the time. A great leader must be able to light that spark of continuous improvement within each and every employee. One cannot become motivated just because the boss says so. Only intrinsically motivated people are able to amaze themselves and as a result amaze the world.

Whether you're making a product or offering a service, it all starts with the passion you have for whatever you do and the ability you have to focus your energy to become successful. A great leader creates a clear and compelling vision that makes people passionate.

That is our special sauce, a personal, passionate and productive culture that can't be failed or duplicated.

Over the years what I have found is the true personality of the leader becomes the personality of the business. If a leader truly has respect and trust built into their DNA then ultimately it flows through to the business. It may start by hiring like minded people. Typically when an entrepreneur starts out he or she will need support staff and the leader will hire based on skills and expertise. But there is a quiet voice from within the leader that says they want people to join their team that have similar values, traits and some form of commonality to their character..

==> A New Breed of Worker is About to Attack Everything You Hold Sacred.
In 2008, the renowned TV news program, 60 Minutes ran a story about Gen Y in the workplace and proclaimed that a "new breed of American worker is about to attack everything you hold sacred." The program described millennials as cynical, unaccustomed to hard work and having fragile egos because their childhoods filled with trophies and adulation didn't prepare them for the cold realities of work.

Gen Y sees what is known as the American Dream or middle class dream as less about money and more about living a fulfilling, meaningful life. So a couple of things are clear. First, Gen Y has a significantly different attitude toward work and life in general than the current dominant Baby Boom generation; and second, the current ongoing difficult economic times are placing the economic and social welfare of Gen Y in jeopardy, something that is not of their doing. We can only hope Gen Y will not be recorded in history as another “Lost Generation.”

As I wake up in wonderful New York City, the epicenter of world business- I can't help but think how awesome it is that we have so many cities and teams across FSO USA - how amazing are the opportunities for every single person in our great company - what a time in everyones careers to know that your future is so bright

Many of our competitors have fulfilled their declaration. In the meantime, they are maintaining status quo. Unless corporations create new declarations, their future will continue to experience results which resemble the past, with the addition of more, better or different. Quantum leaps require bold declarations and a clear committed mindset to navigate though change.

==> How Extraordinary Leaders Separate Themselves from Ordinary Leaders
Leaders do not have the luxury of falling back into their comfort zone. In some cases, creating a problem is designed to transform an existing problem. In other cases, it is designed to create a new and empowering future.

For example, when Jack Welch became the CEO of GE, there was nothing wrong with the enterprise. It was not in distress or in need of a turn around. Yet, he was committed to building an extraordinary corporation. So, he created a problem. He declared that every business unit had to be number one or number two in its respective industry. If they were not, the unit would be sold. If your unit were ranked number six in its industry, you would have had a problem.

At the same time, Welch stood for his people. Instead of micro managing them, he ensured they had the appropriate training and development to fulfil his declaration.

Is it possible for a CEO to create a new future for their organization? A big part of the CEO’s job is to do just that. Yet, many companies don’t invent the future. They maintain status quo. As a result, they become casualties of the economy or worse, the competition? Inventing the future requires one to rock the boat. Doing so, results in innovative products and services or significant cost cutting initiatives.

Nevertheless, many organizations choose to protect status quo because they are too vested in the existing infrastructure. On the other hand, when you look at extraordinary leaders, you find a complete disruption of status quo.

That's not about to happen here, Nevertheless, once a future is distinguished as is ours, it helps a person clearly distinguish the future as well as the necessary actions to fulfill it.

That's why on a day when the big news in business is that Nasdaq’s computers were hacked and Shakira Has hit 100 Million Fans on Facebook, we are a growing company, and with growth comes opportunity, inspiration, and of course some speed bumps along the way.

==> The True Personality Of The Leader Becomes The Personality of The Business
Almost most of our major competitors have all the mentioned ingredients in place but still most fail to get extra mile / advantage. 

The company culture takes on the trust, respect, inspirations and other positive traits that one looks for in a leader and manifests itself into a language that also encompasses action which the company fulfills in the marketplace. The brand will embrace those actions in your services and methods of communication.

At the end of the day, we need to stay in-tune and continue to communicate those positive attributes we all strive for. We emulate them, we learn from them, we teach them and finally we simply share them. Living a positive life that helps others to grow. And so it continues....deeds will speak for themselves and build the trust and respect we all yearn for.

My commitment to you is that we will do all that we can and then some to meet and exceed your needs and expectations of FSO.

Be sincere, believe in why you do it & listen to people & bring people on board who have good character. Then you will truly lead to make a difference.

And most of all while growing, building and ensuring profitable galactic growth, we are inspiring our staff, our clients, our readers and that everyone is having some fun along with all the hard work.

Have a great day and thanks for being a part of our amazing journey.

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset" 

~~Jiddu Krishnamurti"

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ABOUT FSO:

Recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing companies and ranked among the top 25 of New York's fastest growing privately held companies by Crain's magazine, FSO can proudly boast: 

• 98 % client retention with ZERO displacements 
• 98 % employee retention – twice the industry average 
• 300+ years of industry experience residing in its Senior Leadership Team 
• 120+ corporate support staff supporting our national footprint (HR, IT, Analysts, Subject matter experts etc) 

Led by Mitchell Weiner, the co-founder and pioneer of onsite outsourcing, FSO was created to deliver what the industry has lost sight of – and everything you deserve: 

• An outsourcing experience powered by passionate people. 
• An intimate and personal approach to service. 
• A partnership based on care, trust and mutual success. 
• Involved owners listening to your needs and proposing customized solutions. 

To learn more, please contact our national direct line: 212.204.1193.

VIDEO:

Brief "corporate portrait" video shows who we are and what we can do for you HERE

FSO Onsite Outsourcing: "Some Things Never Change" .... except HERE

And all of this, in and of itself, is radical CHANGE from business as usual. FSO has a culture that breeds success, overcomes challenges and exceeds expectations. 

Good Morning Folks,

Welcome to Monday and I trust you all had a fantastic weekend. Wherever you are across the USA you probably spent time this weekend split between mothers and basketball (except for MVP Kevin Durant who found a way to brilliantly combine the two J). The playoffs are coming to the wire and just like in our business, you always have to watch out for those underdogs.  

In the world of Onsite Outsourcing, that is exactly what FSO has been, that underdog who has always found the way to win.  So that is my message to start out this week. We can never forget – ever – what got us here as the underdogs to win, and what we need to continue to do to get us to the next level.

People want to work with people they like— people they trust— people who have their back and have fun. They know what it takes to hold onto what they have and cherish the wins by doing exactly what they say they are going to do. It's because clients want hospitality, energy, happiness and stability. 

Our brand has always been synonymous with the best service and best people ever.  
So our clients look forward to coming to work every day and a peaceful sleep when they don't have to take worries home.

Consistent through all my pursuits has been a “Happiness-Centric” perspective. The model delivers on three key differentiators. First, customers receive service they’ve never before come to expect. In a world of behemoth organizations that seeks to instill into employees their dogmatic, formulaic and unyielding protocols for customer engagement, we instead hire for attitude. Attitude can have a tremendous impact. Everybody. Everyday. 


I call it hiring for “the twinkle in their eye, a skip in their step, the fire in their belly.” Any manager can train off the company manual, but you cannot train for the right attitude, one where an employee means it when she says, “How are you doing today?”


Second, we are returning a personal touch to business that has been lost in the customer service experience. Consumers – whether business or personal – have come to accept, even expect, a lackadaisical – even lousy - interaction with their vendors. So when an organization like FSO delivers outstanding, over-the-top customer engagement, it’s like some golden nugget delivered each day to those customers by a partner – not a vendor – who connects culturally, strategically and who truly cares about their success. 

Therefore one of our biggest competitive advantages is our commitment to training and developing our employees. We strive to have the most inspired, motivated, and best trained employees in the industry!

Our clients love FSO because of our ENERGY, PASSION and SMARTS. 

It is a job expectation that we are coming to the table proactively and providing solutions and creative ideas to our clients and their issues. It doesn’t matter what level our employees are at— from associate, to supervisor or manager— they are on the ground and are closer to what happens every day in their operation and can provide insight, observations and ideas that positively affect our awesome clients.

I advise our employees to ignore negative energy, to stay positive, smile, be happy, and to think of new ideas that create, innovate and build a future that makes possible what was never possible before.

In just about any business environment the only thing you can really count on is that everything will change. So, it’s best to be prepared for it and if you outsource with FSO you will be. Everything we do, every way we behave, respond, greet, secure and (re) imagine the future, is radical CHANGE from business as usual. FSO has a culture that breeds success, overcomes challenges and exceeds expectations. 

Crafting this morning’s message to kick off the week, I can’t wait to see all the happy, inspired people in our corporate office who do a great job supporting us in the field every day.  

Your energy, enthusiasm and professionalism are always greatly appreciated and looking forward to a great week! 

Have a great day and thanks for being a part of our amazing journey.

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footsteps on the moon"

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7 Skills of Change Masters: Making Everyone a Hero

"In just about any business environment the only thing you can really count on is that everything will change. So, it’s best to be prepared for it"

Good Morning Folks

The following managerial theory I’m about to dish out which came directly from Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a recognized expert in the field of change management.

In her book e-Volve, Dr. Kanter laid out the following characteristics of true change masters. She argues that if we all study and emulate the processes followed by change artists, we will become better managers of change ourselves.

And who needs that? We all do! In just about any business environment the only thing you can really count on is that everything will change. So, it’s best to be prepared for it and if you follow this list – you will be.

==>  Tuning in to the Environment

• Encourage Organizational curiosity. Let everyone look for change opportunities. Look outside your own area as well.
• Measure not only against past performance but potential performance as well. (i.e.- what’s the opportunity cost?)

==>  Kaleidoscope Thinking: Stimulating Breakthrough Ideas

• Challenge and question current assumptions.
• Encourage “out-of-the-box” thinking.

==>  Setting the Theme: Communicating Inspiring Visions

• Charisma factor is critical
• “If you can dream it, you can do it” is not necessarily true. “If you can dream it AND make others dream it, you can do it”

==> Enlisting Backers and Supporters: Getting Buy-in, Building Coalitions

• What is the minimum support system required?
• Where are you going to get everything you need to be successful?
• Make sure everything is in place before undertaking the change initiative.
• Plant some seeds before the change announcements. See who shows initial support, then bring them in.

==> Developing the Dream: Nurturing the Working Team

• A new team, doing new things, needs a leader who can fend off the rest of the organization to keep them doing what they need to do.

==>  Mastering the Difficult Middles: Persisting and Persevering

• After the project has gained some momentum and is underway, the completion of the project is the most difficult phase.
• Time and resource shortages often pop up and can be very difficult.
• Everything can look terrible in the middle.
• Unexpected obstacles pop up.
• Momentum slows because morale sags.
• Critics seem to (re)surface at this phase.
• Leaders must be resolved to see it through.

==>  Celebrating Accomplishments: Making Everyone a Hero

• Once the project is complete, make sure to take time to celebrate the accomplishment with team members who made it happen.
• Organizational change is a perpetual process, so after celebration begin tuning into the environment again to see what next steps are needed and begin right away.

A new team, doing new things, needs a combination of amazing strategy, planning, training and having great players who are committed – everyone on the team knows their position and role and they work in harmony to execute greatness.  That is what FSO is all about – a perfect harmony of perfection and greatness. We have won and continue to win because we make everything PERSONAL – this is what attracts great talent to FSO, and why brands have chosen FSO and stick with us.

Personal is about that phone call at 11pm at night or 6am in the morning when a prospect, client or someone on our team needs us and we are there to answer that question, support in any way possible and to make the person on the other line or in person feel our passion and urgency in solving their problem or just showing our commitment.  

And all of this, in and of itself, is radical CHANGE from business as usual. FSO has a culture that breeds success, overcomes challenges and exceeds expectations. 

Every site employee, YOU, are masters of CHANGE and are the FSO difference! Your commitment to service, to exceed the client expectations, to do just that little bit more, to be more professional, to have that better idea, to notice that detail, to take action when no one is watching is what makes this company the best outsourcing provider in the business.

Currently I am holding on my desk 94 letters of commendation for various employees and teams from clients for the CHANGE they helped orchestrate in their organizations.

I look forward to hearing stories from all of you on how we have made an impact in the lives of our employees and customers by being a change master  and not just a cheerleader of the status quo.

Have a GREAT day, love life and I look forward to seeing you soon.

 

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here