It's January 2, 2008 - Where is Your Sales Talent?

With reports of workers losing faith in the economy and employers forecasting flat or reduced hiring in the New Year, it is that time of year when we ask the question..."What is the economic forecast for the Staffing industry next year"?

Considering the Staffing industry market is near to $90B, I ask..."Isn't it really about how we approach the marketplace"? When an industry is growing it is easy to increase your business, just jump on the economic escalator and focus on delivery. When the market is retreating it is not so easy, but with a multi-billion market at hand, it should be with the right strategy and tactics.

Many staffing firms leveraged the "escalator effect" to boost profits by leaving revenue-generating field positions open for extended periods or not investing in sales talent in all territories to reduce the cost base against market-driven revenue increases. This works in the economy that is now in our rear view mirror; however, in 2008 the pleasant escalator ride will fast become more like an unpleasant battleground for the firms caught with gaping revenue-generating vacancies.

The battle will be over market "share" and the strategy for 2008 will center on influencing hiring managers, human resources and procurement to change providers - in other words, the growth leaders of 2008 will take away business from their competitors.

The tactics are simple, yet difficult for most companies to execute. To win, the participants must have on the field a well-trained, prepared, and talented sales force before their competitors. To do so, companies must step back from cost management at the expense of deploying a business development workforce. With demand declining, cost containment on the personnel expense line will neither offset the revenue downturns, nor spur increases that have vaporized in the changing economy.

Investment in revenue-generating people is risky in an organization where headcount management, productivity per headcount metrics, compliance and delivery solutions has dominated profit-making strategies. But, as I will explore further in the New Year, there are some leverage points to mitigating the risk of playing to win in 2008:

Reduce "time to hire" for open revenue-generating positions- If you measure the total number of days selling branch management and/or sales representative, executive recruiting, blended-desk positions remained unfilled in 2007, you will likely be quite shocked. Count the markets that you have poor, limited or no sales representation and you will likely become frightened at your prospects for the New Year.

Consider additional sales representation in hot segments/markets- Deployment does not have to be uniform, focusing resources in "hot spots" proves to be cost-effective. You can plan for hiring sales talent in waves to spread out costs against results, but don’t wait too long—the economy changes quickly for the leading-edge Staffing industry—you are already “behind the 8-Ball” so to speak.

Make people the metric- Start holding field managers accountable for filling revenue-generating positions with a sense of urgency by measuring days open, averaging-in open slots with current productivity measures to detect lost opportunities, and recognize the tactical leaders who field a team in play early on in 2008.

Reduce on-boarding time- Revamp your hiring process in terms of steps and priority to cut by half the time it takes to recruit, assess background/fit and make an offer. Use internal, corporate and external resources to grab up talent before your competitors acquire the best of a limited pool of top-performers.

Accelerate training time- Compress training for revenue-generating roles to a boot-camp, immersion-style of delivery to reduce by two-thirds the time it takes to make a new hire ready and competent to face customers persuasively.

Create networks for sales talent- Promote a sales culture with newsletters, chat rooms, blogs, meetings, conference calls, webinars, contests, rankings, and recognitions to bring together the sales team for motivation, further development and peer mentoring.

The greatest challenge to overcome in a retreating economy is not whether a company can grow against prior-year economic-driven benchmarks (which it can). The greater challenge is can industry leaders operationally turnaround their laissez-faire attitude regarding fielding sales talent and make the necessary shifts to strengthen their company’s sales culture, sales-support platform and scope of sales “coverage” across their market footprint before it is too late for cost reductions to protect earnings and shareholder value.

The Secrets of Recruiting and Motivating Talent

Do employees want fun, work-life balance, a pleasant office environment, or a boss with an iron will? The exact formula for a truly motivated team remains elusive, but new research out yesterday from consulting firm Watson Wyatt suggests managers add another ingredient: clarity.

The survey of over 14,000 employees across Europe found that the most important factor for employee motivation was a clear sense of the company’s strategic direction. Andrew Cocks, a senior consultant at the firm, explains: “Business leaders who articulate the business strategy give employees a clear ‘line of sight’ to how they can best contribute to the performance of their company, but the benefit goes beyond this. It helps to build trust in the company and its management and creates a positive environment where all employees have well understood shared goals.”

If clarity is key for engaging and motivating employees, your company’s brand may be the biggest factor in recruiting them in the first place. Irish branding strategist, Krishna De, uses recent research from Jobs.as.uk as a jumping off point for a blog post on the topic. The research found that 86 percent of job seekers rate the strength of a potential employer’s brand as an important factor when considering whether to apply.

Krishna De comments: Think about it - can you remember a time when an executive search firm or recruitment consultant contacted you about what sounded like a great opportunity, but your heart sank when you heard what the company was?… You already had a mental and emotional picture of what that company stood for - both in terms of their reputation and their employer brand. It doesn’t matter how you came to your conclusion or if it was correct - you came to a conclusion.

She goes on to suggest that companies who are facing difficulties recruiting, start by doing a little research as to what potential candidates think of their employer brand. Listen carefully, even if you hear some less than positive things. What can we conclude if we put the two studies together? Employer brand is key for attracting talent. Clarity of vision is necessary to keep them engaged. By Jessica Stillman

How to Work With Contingency Recruiters

Assuming you’ve spoken to a few recruiters or agencies you feel are best suited to meet your needs, the most important piece is keeping their interest in filling your open jobs. The top-tier of recruiters isn’t struggling to find job orders or clients with whom they’ll work. Instead, they tend to focus their recruiting efforts on clients they enjoy working with and where they have the highest likelihood of success. How can you make your positions a top priority? Here are some tips on how you can ensure that your openings are a priority to the contingency recruiters you'd most like to work with:

Sell it; don’t just tell it: When you are discussing your hiring needs with a good recruiter, don’t forget that you need to sell them on you, your company, and your hiring process. Be sure to stress your urgency level, the speed and efficiency of your hiring process, and the selling points as to why candidates they present will want to work at your company. Provide recruiters with electronic copies of internal job descriptions, incentive program documents and benefits summaries--these are selling tools for recruiters.

Choose recruiters based on ability and experience rather than solely on cost: Otherwise, you may end up working with a lower echelon recruiter. Recruiters who charge rock-bottom fees may be good for some job orders, but if you are highly selective or have difficult positions to fill, you might have to ‘sweeten the pot’ to make it more appealing. Top performing recruiters don’t work for bargain basement fees and they have little incentive to work on a job order when the payment terms are not advantageous or adhered to.

Responsiveness and feedback are essential: The ‘A’ list recruiters require feedback from you for candidates that are off the mark, and not just for the candidates that are the right fit. Failure to give feedback on submittals is the number one reason that top contingency recruiters stop working on behalf of any given client. These recruiters need to know how far off target they are in order to better hone their aim. Be sure your feedback is detailed and specific. If you’ve given this level of feedback repeatedly and you still aren’t getting candidates that are a fit, it’s time to evaluate whether you are truly working with an ‘A’ list recruiter, or if there is some other problem or issue in your expectations or hiring process.

Follow-up with your best recruiters on a regular basis: You need not wait until they send you a candidate for you to contact them. In fact, a proactive call from you to your top recruiters asking what you can do to help them is one of your strongest tools to keep outside recruiters motivated to work for you, even if they aren’t making placements yet. Your call to them shows that you have a sense of urgency and that you value their time and effort. In this call, you can give examples of candidates you’ve interviewed, or any other information that will help them hone-in on the ideal candidate.

The most important lesson is that there are great recruiters in the market. Your goal is to proactively locate them through any means necessary, sell them on why they should work for you, and continue to engage with them. And, throughout your candidate search, make sure to keep them in the loop on any changes and updates, as well as to subtly ‘sell’ them on working your job orders.

Hiring in all niche markets is getting tougher in this tightening candidate market. Make sure your company has the reputation of being good to work with in the outside recruiter community so you can attract and retain the best third-party, or contingency recruiters, to help you meet all your hiring needs with the best talent in the market.