Super powers aren’t just possessed by comic book characters and actors in movies—you can discover and cultivate them in all of your employees if you give them the opportunity. At Anderson Direct Marketing, we take pride in our high-quality relationships, products, production processes and services, which can only be achieved by having superstars within our organization. Starting in 2013, we began a new program to recognize and reward our Quality Superstars!
A star is born! Well, actually, a Quality Superstar program was born when Jeff Hayes, Director of Quality Assurance, and the leadership team at Anderson decided they wanted to raise the bar even further on our quality standards. Hayes stated, “Our goal for our clients is perfection on their projects—a perfect 10 out of 10. We’re very close, but we believe we can do it. This program was developed as one method to help us reach our ultimate goal.”
Just like when a new super hero is created and they introduce their own catch phrase, in support of our Quality Superstar program, we also developed a supporting tagline that demonstrates Anderson’s commitment to quality: “Total quality: Embrace the habit and discover the excellence.”
Our high-quality standards can’t be achieved in a day or even a year; it’s an evolution. Before the Quality Superstar program began, a significant advancement in the evolution of our commitment to quality occurred back in 2004, when our agency group joined forces with our core production company (called Anderson Direct at the time). The agency team brought with them a client with extremely high quality requirements and the owners at Anderson wanted to make the investment to upgrade equipment and processes. The production team implemented major improvements to meet the new standards and agreed the new standards would be applied to all jobs for all clients.
The second major advancement in our evolution of quality standards was when we created our Quality Mission Statement (QMS) in 2007. QMS training was provided to each employee, is reinforced frequently and is required for all new employees so they can understand, believe and practice quality in their jobs daily.
Our existing programs and processes provide exceptional results for the approach an employee takes to meet the quality standards for their own responsibilities, but the Quality Superstar program was created to encourage employees to look for issues that are outside of their own job. We’re challenging our team members to analyze situations such as, “When a project or product is handed off to you, did the previous person meet all of their requirements?” Our employees are encouraged to trust their instincts and training by raising a question to a team member if they “catch” that somebody else’s work doesn’t seem right. All employees throughout our organization are eligible for rewards, since quality and excellence is expected from all staff at Anderson. Each of the “catches” is acknowledged at the time it’s identified and the top catches are recognized at our quarterly staff meetings when the employee is welcomed into the Quality Superstars club.
Say No to "Scope Creep"
We’re proud of our new Quality Superstar program, even though it doesn’t give us super powers like Superman to leap over tall buildings—but we can deliver direct mail accurately to all buildings. Our Superstars can’t sling webs like Spiderman to help you capture leads—but we can optimize your web site and landing pages for lead capture. And, we’ll pass on being crime fighters and stopping villains—our team is focused on fighting scope creep (see photo) and stopping errors from ever being seen by you or your customers.
With our Quality Superstars on your side, you can sleep safely at night in Gotham City, Metropolis or wherever you’re located. We are super heroes at cultivating and maintaining relationships, plus delivering high-quality products and services! If quality is critical for your direct marketing projects, our team of Superstars can help you achieve your goals.
Contact us to discuss how we can help on your next project.
BONUS MATERIAL ON PINTEREST
If you’d like to see some photos of “Quality in Action” at Anderson, we encourage you to visit our Pinterest board with photos from around our headquarters displaying how we integrate quality in everything that we do.
And if you’d like to see some of our team members dressed as their favorite super heroes, you can’t miss our Halloween board on Pinterest!
