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- Qualbe Marketing Group
Qualbe Marketing Group
Qualbe is a digital marketing company with an award-winning culture. We drive customer acquisition for our partners and only get paid for results.
Unlike a traditional agency, we invest our own marketing dollars to acquire online traffic, and our Contact Center sales team converts them into customers. We remove the risk for our partners so they can focus on delivering fantastic products and services. And they know how dedicated we are to growing their business -- because our own business depends on it.
Our sweet spot is teaming with subscription businesses where our proven formulas for customer acquisition thrive and show a clear Return on Investment. Since we only get paid if we deliver results, we also improve retention and Lifetime Value to continue to grow revenue for our partners.
Our secret sauce is more than our online search and website expertise, and it runs deeper than our years of creative sales experience and technical know-how. It’s our people and our investment in building up our team. We aren’t shy about it; they’re amazing. And they love producing amazing results for our partners.
Unlike a traditional agency, we invest our own marketing dollars to acquire online traffic, and our Contact Center sales team converts them into customers. We remove the risk for our partners so they can focus on delivering fantastic products and services. And they know how dedicated we are to growing their business -- because our own business depends on it.
Our sweet spot is teaming with subscription businesses where our proven formulas for customer acquisition thrive and show a clear Return on Investment. Since we only get paid if we deliver results, we also improve retention and Lifetime Value to continue to grow revenue for our partners.
Our secret sauce is more than our online search and website expertise, and it runs deeper than our years of creative sales experience and technical know-how. It’s our people and our investment in building up our team. We aren’t shy about it; they’re amazing. And they love producing amazing results for our partners.
Purpose
From the beginning, we envisioned a business that not only made money, but that did things the right way - and we believed that these goals weren’t mutually exclusive. Doing things the right way from the beginning is the best way to build a lasting business. Just like a building stands on a firm foundation, so our guiding principles form the structure for everything we do at our company. If we did things the wrong way, we would be building on a weak foundation. We can still build on a weak foundation, but the building would be shaky and could fall down at any moment. We wanted a business that was built to last.
Vision
We are Builders: We build up businesses and build up people.
Mission
To hold true to our values and never sacrifice our guiding principles of what we call “The Qualbe Way”. Our Venn diagram consists of 1) High Ethical Standards, 2) Treating People Rightly, and 3) Being Effective Towards the Goal. Our mission is to hit the “sweet spot” in the middle of the Venn diagram with how we conduct our business.
Additional Culture Details
Culture isn’t created or maintained by accident. Here are some of the key programs that Qualbe uses to keep our culture on course and healthy.
Book War - The Qualbe “Book War” is a fun reading competition that is designed to encourage continual learning among employees. Qualbe provides an extensive physical library and an Audible account that provides hundreds of books for employees to grow both personally and professionally. As Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have said, wise people are always readers, and our company has dramatically grown in wisdom since the Book War began. We haven’t met a company yet that reads as much as we do, but if you’re out there, we challenge you to a duel!
Idea Monkey - Our Idea Monkey program facilitates an environment of innovation and involves the entire company in building up our business. Each week, employees submit ideas for improving what we do. These may include a marketing idea for our websites, a new piece of technology we could build, a way to make the office more fun, or a sales tactic they read in a book. Our executive team then votes on the best idea each week. The winner receives bragging rights and the honor of housing our stuffed monkey (sound effects included) on their desk. Top winners are also awarded financially. All other ideas are shared with the company to inspire more brainstorming. We track these ideas in a custom-built tool to make sure they are ready to pull into our ongoing projects when the time is right.
Rock Star Cards - To recognize those who live out our Core Values, an employee can honor a fellow employee by filling out a Rock Star Card. We try to encourage one another by catching others doing the right thing (good gossip). Here is an example of a Rock Star card recently given: "Our ISR team was short staffed one night this week. Brian stepped up and volunteered to work an extra hour to fill the gap. Great job being a team player, Brian. You're a Rock Star!" All "Rock Stars" are announced weekly to the company, and each recipient gets a “Golden Ticket” Rock Star Card to keep at their desk.
Qual of Fame - For awards that are above and beyond, we have a “trophy” wall in Qualbe that honors them. Awards range from business accomplishments like achieving $1 million in sales to fun awards like our Chili Cook-Off trophy. Our "Qual" is a central place to celebrate what's important to our culture and recognize high performance.
Accomplish More with Less - Creating efficient or “lean” systems is an important part of our Core Value, “Accomplish More with Less.” Inspired by the book 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers, we encourage employees to make suggestions or create processes that save time and effort while improving the end result for our customers or end users. Each month, the “Lean Team” votes on the employee who made the most significant contribution to improve efficiency in their team or department. The winner gets the “2 Second Lean” award and earns a spot on the Qual of Fame as a “Kaizen Master” (Kaizen refers to a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices and personal efficiency)!
Stay Interviews - Most companies conduct Exit Interviews when employees leave to see what they thought of the company while they were employed. Qualbe believes this information and feedback is extremely valuable for maintaining and improving our culture, so we gather engagement feedback from our employees throughout the year. We use a survey system that allows employees to give feedback directly or anonymously and then follow up with each employee in a face-to-face interview around their Qualbeversary (work anniversary). During these one-on-one interviews, we check in with employees to see how things are going with their manager, their teams, and their work. This information helps management keep a pulse on employees' experiences and adjust areas accordingly.
We Have Fun! - Qualbe makes sure to take our core value of "Have Fun" seriously with planned monthly events, our recreation room that includes a ping pong table, a pool table, a Foosball table, Pickleball courts, corn hole and indoor basketball, and our annual fun-filled Christmas Party. Christmas parties have included entertainment like lip sync battles and Battle of the Bands in the past, and last year we created a year-in-review video in the style of The Office. Who knows what fun idea our creative team will come up with this year!
Mini Games - We make achieving goals fun by creating business games for each team and department. Each team determines its own game, objectives, theme, “scoreboard” for tracking and, of course, rewards for achieving goals (like seeing a movie, getting ice cream sundaes, or even having a carnival). These games have helped bring our teams together and reach goals we wouldn’t normally reach.
Lunch and Learns - We also hold Lunch and Learn seminars in which lunch is provided while one of our leaders or an outside guest delivers a short training on a relevant business or character development topics. We’ve covered how to read financial statements, what humility looks like in the workplace, and even how to give constructive feedback to co-workers or your manager. These seminars contribute to our Core Value: “Be Teachable.”
Book War - The Qualbe “Book War” is a fun reading competition that is designed to encourage continual learning among employees. Qualbe provides an extensive physical library and an Audible account that provides hundreds of books for employees to grow both personally and professionally. As Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have said, wise people are always readers, and our company has dramatically grown in wisdom since the Book War began. We haven’t met a company yet that reads as much as we do, but if you’re out there, we challenge you to a duel!
Idea Monkey - Our Idea Monkey program facilitates an environment of innovation and involves the entire company in building up our business. Each week, employees submit ideas for improving what we do. These may include a marketing idea for our websites, a new piece of technology we could build, a way to make the office more fun, or a sales tactic they read in a book. Our executive team then votes on the best idea each week. The winner receives bragging rights and the honor of housing our stuffed monkey (sound effects included) on their desk. Top winners are also awarded financially. All other ideas are shared with the company to inspire more brainstorming. We track these ideas in a custom-built tool to make sure they are ready to pull into our ongoing projects when the time is right.
Rock Star Cards - To recognize those who live out our Core Values, an employee can honor a fellow employee by filling out a Rock Star Card. We try to encourage one another by catching others doing the right thing (good gossip). Here is an example of a Rock Star card recently given: "Our ISR team was short staffed one night this week. Brian stepped up and volunteered to work an extra hour to fill the gap. Great job being a team player, Brian. You're a Rock Star!" All "Rock Stars" are announced weekly to the company, and each recipient gets a “Golden Ticket” Rock Star Card to keep at their desk.
Qual of Fame - For awards that are above and beyond, we have a “trophy” wall in Qualbe that honors them. Awards range from business accomplishments like achieving $1 million in sales to fun awards like our Chili Cook-Off trophy. Our "Qual" is a central place to celebrate what's important to our culture and recognize high performance.
Accomplish More with Less - Creating efficient or “lean” systems is an important part of our Core Value, “Accomplish More with Less.” Inspired by the book 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers, we encourage employees to make suggestions or create processes that save time and effort while improving the end result for our customers or end users. Each month, the “Lean Team” votes on the employee who made the most significant contribution to improve efficiency in their team or department. The winner gets the “2 Second Lean” award and earns a spot on the Qual of Fame as a “Kaizen Master” (Kaizen refers to a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices and personal efficiency)!
Stay Interviews - Most companies conduct Exit Interviews when employees leave to see what they thought of the company while they were employed. Qualbe believes this information and feedback is extremely valuable for maintaining and improving our culture, so we gather engagement feedback from our employees throughout the year. We use a survey system that allows employees to give feedback directly or anonymously and then follow up with each employee in a face-to-face interview around their Qualbeversary (work anniversary). During these one-on-one interviews, we check in with employees to see how things are going with their manager, their teams, and their work. This information helps management keep a pulse on employees' experiences and adjust areas accordingly.
We Have Fun! - Qualbe makes sure to take our core value of "Have Fun" seriously with planned monthly events, our recreation room that includes a ping pong table, a pool table, a Foosball table, Pickleball courts, corn hole and indoor basketball, and our annual fun-filled Christmas Party. Christmas parties have included entertainment like lip sync battles and Battle of the Bands in the past, and last year we created a year-in-review video in the style of The Office. Who knows what fun idea our creative team will come up with this year!
Mini Games - We make achieving goals fun by creating business games for each team and department. Each team determines its own game, objectives, theme, “scoreboard” for tracking and, of course, rewards for achieving goals (like seeing a movie, getting ice cream sundaes, or even having a carnival). These games have helped bring our teams together and reach goals we wouldn’t normally reach.
Lunch and Learns - We also hold Lunch and Learn seminars in which lunch is provided while one of our leaders or an outside guest delivers a short training on a relevant business or character development topics. We’ve covered how to read financial statements, what humility looks like in the workplace, and even how to give constructive feedback to co-workers or your manager. These seminars contribute to our Core Value: “Be Teachable.”
Values
- Respect people as inherently valuable
- We treat each other and our customers with respect, honesty and kindness.
Recent Awards
2019
2018
2017
2016
Company Snapshots
