Launching Your Ambassador Program

How Block by Block Manages Every Aspect of Your Program Implementation

Choosing Block by Block as your service provider means the heavy lifting won’t be on you or your district’s shoulders. We manage every aspect of your program from A to Z, including everything from hiring great people to ordering your new equipment and all the nuances in between. Block by Block has the operational capacity and know-how to create a one-of-a-kind program for you based on best practices we’ve learned not only from operating over 150 programs nationwide but also from being in business for nearly 30 years.

While our roots are firmly grounded in providing clean and safe operations to downtown districts, we’ve grown well beyond this into more types of services in more types of places than any of our competitors. Today, you can find us in downtowns, transit centers, parks, universities, shopping centers and other public spaces, providing cleaning and safety, of course, but also hospitality, outreach, environmental maintenance, landscaping and more.

When it comes to launching our programs, whether they are a brand new startup or a transition from another service provider, we make it easy for you, the customer.

Once we’ve carefully worked together to establish a contract that works for both of us, we start to hand-curate your program based on your public space’s unique wants and needs. At this point, we will have already visited your district multiple times to get a good feel for your vision for the program and how we can help you reach district goals.

Your Program Manager

Your program will be assigned one of eight experienced Program Managers (PMs). Your PM will be on-site to ensure a smooth start-up or transition of services. They will familiarize themself with the contract, district parameters and everything you want your program to be. They will begin ordering and sourcing supplies from an internal Block by Block supply list that catalogs everything a program could ever need to operate based on the contract’s operating budget. We understand how big of an investment an Ambassador Program is, and we promise to be good stewards of those dollars. The PM will order just what your program needs, nothing superfluous or short of the best industry standard tools.

Your Operations Manager

While a PM will help your program get started immediately, your program will be run by an Operations Manager (OM) who will be responsible for operational oversight and quality assurance as well as serve as your daily point of contact between you and the program. They are also responsible for recruitment, training and performance counseling when necessary.

At Block by Block, we pride ourselves on promoting from within whenever possible, so all OM positions are first shared internally to see if we can hire someone already familiar with company operations and standards. Sometimes, OMs may relocate from one program to another, while other times Team Leads or other management staff are promoted to the position of OM at your new location. If we are unable to hire from within, we will hire a qualified individual directly from your community.

The PM assigned to you will work directly with your OM to ensure your expectations are met and exceeded, training them one-on-one on best practices along the way. If there is a delay in hiring an OM, your PM can also act as a stand-in until one is hired.

Within their first few months, Block by Block will fly your OM to attend our monthly Manager’s Meeting at our home base in Louisville, KY. This four-day meeting will train them on everything it takes to be a manager, from building SMART Reports to interacting with members of the street population and facilitating community partnerships to practicing responses to real-world scenarios. This meeting will add to the training they’ve already completed alongside the Project Manager and through Block by Block’s online training system on Cornerstone.

Your District, Branded

Your PM can help you finalize any branding decisions you need to make. While many districts or customers may already have established brand standards, some may not even have a logo. We can meet you where you are, whether that’s designing a logo from scratch or using your color scheme to design impactful equipment wraps, stickers, or even banners. Our In-House Graphics and Design Team will work directly with you and your PM to create the look and feel you want for your district.

Additionally, our corporate office has invested in a large-scale Roland printer that can print stickers for your equipment on-site to increase the visibility and impact of your program. Stickers can be applied to Mega Brutes, Tennax Machines, Bikes, Buckets and so much more! And, since we print and mail these directly to your team, there’s no lag time with a third-party vendor for these small branding jobs.

For printing needs that outweigh the capacity of our printer, like full vehicle wraps or large district signage, we work with trusted vendors nationwide, with a preference to use a local company in your community.

Finding You Great Employees

Our Field Recruiting Specialists will have begun finding the right candidates for your Ambassador Team by creating local job postings, filtering applicants and scheduling interviews beginning about a month before your program launch date. Qualities we look for in great candidates are a strong sense of community, a love for helping others and the endurance to work a full shift outside in various conditions. As a company, we believe an employee’s personality goes a long way, so we are willing to provide necessary training if an otherwise qualified candidate lacks experience. We strive to hire for personality and train for skills.

Our Recruitment Team will take the time to screen candidates over the phone before sending them for in-person interviews with the OM or PM. This helps familiarize applicants with the job description and its physical demands, ensuring they understand they are applying for a hands-on, outdoor job with lots of walking. This first step weeds out many individuals who may not have been a good fit for the position and frees up time for the new OM and your PM to focus on other aspects of the launch.

In some locations, our customers have expressed to us a drive to hire Second-Chance employees, individuals who were formally incarcerated and who traditionally encounter roadblocks to employment but who are deemed low-risk to repeat offenses. In these instances, we can work with community partners to hire or adjust our job listings as needed to find candidates in this applicant pool.

Transition of Service from Another Vendor to Block by Block

Not all our new customers will launch completely new programs, and whenever we take over for another company, we are always very courteous and respectful of their work. Often, we are expanding current service operations beyond cleaning to include other service elements like safety, hospitality or outreach. We recognize that some previous employees will have been with your district for many years and have formed meaningful relationships with district stakeholders. Whenever possible, we work to retain previous employees during a transition.

After being awarded your contract, we will explain to your employees what it means to work for Block by Block during in-person district visits. Thanks to our size, national reach and strong financial backing, our company usually offers higher pay and better benefits than the incumbent vendor. For those employees who want to transition with us, we are happy to give them the opportunity to do so. Of course, we make sure any transitioning employees measure up to our work performance standards and background check requirements because, after all, there is a reason you chose to switch to us.

As the leader in our industry, we do things differently. Therefore, we often have to order new equipment to replace old, outdated or underperforming equipment from previous operators. If possible, we will keep equipment that works and meets our standards. One company-wide initiative we have in place is to “Green Your Fleet” by bringing in Tenax Machines to perform litter and debris collection. Tenax International is an Italian company that manufactures 100% electric street sweepers and we have an exclusive partnership with them to provide their sweepers to our customers across the country. Their machines are quieter, to prevent unnecessary added noise; more efficient, to standardize operations; and fully electronic, meaning they’re better for the environment! We have been replacing off-market ATLVs with these Tenax machines and have already seen great results nationwide!

Training Your Ambassador Team

At Block by Block, we understand the importance of training to the overall success of a program. We have set the standard in our industry for the training of our frontline employees and we continue to expand on topics to keep the curriculum modern. Every firm talks about delivering training, but we really have built out topics and deliver training to our field employees that prepare them for every aspect of their position.

All Ambassador Programs nationwide undergo general training on our online training system, Cornerstone. In addition to this, we will work with you to develop specific training that you want your Ambassador Team to focus on in your district. If you have a particular concern, like a problem with visitors feeding birds which leads to excessive droppings and debris on sidewalks, we will coach your team on informing district-goers of the reason for not feeding the birds, as well as to focus their attention on removing feed immediately if they see it.

If your program is made up of different service elements, like Cleaning and Safety, all members of your team will receive basic cross-training in cleaning, safety and hospitality. This not only creates a collaborative and unified team where all employees have a baseline knowledge of all fields, but also flexibility in your deployment and a robust Ambassador Team.

We fully believe in continuing training well past onboarding to keep our teams operating at the highest level. We have ongoing refresher courses based on feedback from the field delivered bi-monthly. Not only does ongoing training keep knowledge fresh for our Ambassadors, but it also helps maintain consistency for all our programs across the country.

Your Program Launch

When your start date finally arrives, your Ambassador Team will be fully prepared to head out into the field. They will conduct business drop-ins to inform local businesses in the area about the program and services they provide, often handing out informative fliers we call “At Your Service” cards. These include information about the new program and the number to call if people need to request an Ambassador response or a Safety Escort, or if they need to report other issues or disturbances to the team.

Your OM will also work to establish strong community relationships depending on your unique service elements, from community outreach partners to police departments or even second-chance employment programs.

Once your PM has established that your program has what it takes to stand independently with your trained, professional Ambassador Team, they will leave, but not before guaranteeing ongoing support to your OM. Your OM is never left to figure it out themself. They are invited to stay in contact with your PM with any questions or concerns that might arise and can even reach out to their Regional Vice President (RVP) if they encounter any difficulties along the way.

Our Accountability Never Stops

Once your program is off the ground and your PM has left, we continue to be with you every step of the way.

• Your Ambassador Team is held accountable to complete logged, monthly online training.
• Members of our Corporate Team will be on-site multiple times each year – both announced and unannounced – to evaluate the program. If things are ever not working out between you and our Ambassador Team, we can increase visit frequency and managerial attention until outcomes we both desire are met.
• Twice a year, your RVP will conduct an on-site, comprehensive review of your program that measures team visibility, equipment utilization, team morale, SMART metrics, adherence to all operating processes and more.
• Every year, we also ask our customers to complete an Annual Survey to learn how we are operating from your perspective. This gives us valuable insight into what we’re doing right and what we need to work on to deliver the best service imaginable.

Our Promise

If you choose Block by Block as your service provider, you can rest assured we will walk alongside you every step of the way to deliver the Ambassador Program of your dreams. If you think a Block by Block operated program could be a good fit for your public space, we’d love the opportunity to discuss what we can do for you. Reach out to Derreck Hughes at dhughes@blockbyblock.com to schedule a conversation today!