Introducing the Card Caddy!

Personal Accountability

Personal accountability is one of the core values at Optimum Companies. That is why our team leaders are all required to read "QBQ" and "Flipping the Switch", books written by author John G. Miller.

QBQ stands for "Question Behind the Question" and is built on the observation that our first reactions are often negative, bringing to mind Incorrect Questions (IQs). But if in each moment of decision we can instead discipline our thoughts to look behind those initial questions and ask better ones (QBQs), the questions themselves will lead us to better results.

Here are some examples of IQ or "incorrect questions" - how often have you heard these before?

“When is that department going to do its job?”
“Why don’t they communicate better?”
“Who dropped the ball?”
“Why do we have to go through all this change?”
“When is someone going to train me?”

These questions put the blame on someone else and are not constructive. QBQ questions are centered around taking personal accountability. Here are a few examples of QBQ questions:

“What can I do to contribute?”
“How can I help solve the problem?”
"How can I communicate better?"

Miller’s book is a quick read that is full of practical methods for putting personal accountability into daily actions. You can tell this difference when you are working with someone from both branches of Optimum Companies, Optimum System Products and Optimum Print Solutions.

Optimum provides great customer service!

"I just wanted to thank you again for all your efforts and for providing me with such great service with my business cards. I'm sure it was much more than you wanted to spend time on but I greatly appreciate your professionalism with everything. I've already handed out about 30 or so and everyone was very impressed and immediate asked where I got them printed.

Thank you for all your help!"

- Monty
openimagestudio.com


Want to know more great things our clients are saying about Optimum?

Check out the company information section on the Optimum-Print website.

GEM (Going the Extra Mile)

Something new & exciting we’ve started at Optimum for 2009 is a little Self Promotion! In order to accomplish this, we’ve begun collecting & distributing (internally) “stories from the front lines” ~ stories we’ve affectionately dubbed GEMs. This is to remind us how we all are Going the Extra Mile. Of course, we want to share them with others who might be in need of inspiration, so we thought it wouldn’t hurt to re-post our first GEM right here:

Our First GEM...A Little Training
Last month a bank in Florida e-mailed Rita a simple question ~ "Do we have teller receipts on hand & if so, how many?" The answer was simple, "Yes, you have 34 Packs of 500". But, instead of stopping there, Rita took the time to empower the customer with the ability to use one of our system's tools - A tool that sets us apart. Here is a part of Rita's response:
You still have 34 packs of 500 (or 17,000) in the warehouse. You can find this information on the website by clicking on TELLER SUPPLIES under catalogs on the left after you log in. Click on the ? in the blue circle to the left of the item number. A new window will open. Click on the LOOKUP button (make sure the drop down menu below shows Warehouse Inventory). The number of pks., pads, bxs., etc. will display. Of course, you can order the item from warehouse stock when you close the window by entering the number of pks. like you would any office supply item. Just let me know when you're ready to replenish the warehouse stock. It usually takes about 3 - 4 weeks.Please feel free to call or email me if any of this is unclear or if you have any questions....

Nothing earth shattering...but it is how we always try to Go that Extra Mile for every one of our customers!

If you liked it, Here’s another short one…

Stories from the front lines...when a customer asks...can you really get us anything?
A bank president's secretary asked if we knew where to get a specific brand of pen with a specific color of ink. After a bit of research, we found it at Pilot Mfg...but could not get it in the USA. The rep in Tokyo (yup, we called Tokyo!) explained that Pilot markets different colored inks based on world geography. The pen we needed was only sold in Europe. We were able to get the pen from London, and our customers were amazed we had gone to such lengths - - - for a $2 pen.

Optimum Companies Corporate Caring

Companies foster community pride by supporting those in the community who advance our quality of life. Optimum Companies are proud to support several organizations. One of these is Kids 'n Kamp.

Kids 'n Kamp was founded in 1982 and is dedicated to children who have cancer and their families. In the early years, Kids 'n Kamp provided only a small group of cancer kids with a weekend camp, but has now grown to a full-service non-profit organization providing over 300 Ohio Childhood Cancer families (patients, siblings and parents) the opportunity to participate in much needed programs and services. All programs are free for kids ranging in age from infants to young adults who are either receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments now or have finished treatments and are in remission. Kids 'n Kamp also maintains a close and active relationship with families who have lost children to cancer and continues to offer them all programs and services.

This summer, several Optimum employees and their family members helped with unloading supplies and assisting in craft projects for a weekend camp. This organization is special to our CEO, John Martin, who is a cancer survivor. Having been afflicted as a teenager with a brain tumor he knows first-hand how important these services are to a family stricken with cancer.

Kids 'n Kamp has fund raising events such as a Mystery Night and Auction in the fall and the Quilt Auction at the 'Shoe'. If you would like more information on Kids 'n Kamp, please call 614-262-2220 or visit www.kidsnkamp.org.

Over the next several months, we will be spotlighting other organizations which are a part of Optimum Companies' Corporate Caring.