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.

Deal With The Stress of a New Job

So you finally made it to your new workplace. Now take a deep breath and walk in with a smile on your face. Keep your head up and remember to make eye contact. Be polite and friendly to everyone you encounter, whether it's the receptionist or the mail room clerk, your colleagues or your new boss. Introduce yourself to those you meet and remember that it's okay to ask questions. People generally like to help others and it usually makes them feel good about themselves. A new co-worker who refuses all offers of help might cause some people to think you are a a person who feels superior and refuse to help in the future.

While it's okay to hold onto some of things you learned in your previous jobs and use that knowledge in your new job, remember that every workplace has its own way of doing things. Your first few weeks or even months on a job is not the time to change the way things get done. Do not utter these words: "That's not how we did it at my old company." Your colleagues will just be thinking this: "Well, you're not at your old company and if you liked it so much why didn't you stay there."

The length of time it takes you to adjust to a new job varies from person to person, and job to job. While you may fit in immediately at some jobs, it may take a little longer in others. And some people seem to fit in immediately wherever they go. All you can do is try your best, and do your job the best way you know how. The following tips may help:

Ask questions. You're new and it's better to do something right the first time around than have to do it over.

Smile a lot and be friendly. Get to know your co-workers and what their interests are.

Use your lunch hours to get together with your current co-workers, although it may be tempting to meet up with your former ones.

Figure out who has the authority to give you work to do and who is just trying to have you do theirs.

Pay attention to the grapevine, but don't contribute to it. You don't want to gain a reputation as a gossip.

Don't complain about what you immediately encounter in the workplace, or your previous job.

Arrive early and don't rush out the door at the end of the day.

Volunteer for projects that will help you get noticed, but don't neglect any assigned work.

Keep a positive attitude and an open mind. Your life has changed and it will take getting used to.

New jobs present many changes and challenges, and it's natural to feel stress over this. There are several things you can do to both relieve stress and combat its effects. Here are some suggestions in dealing with stress at a new job or in any other situation that requires change and adjustment:

Find Support: If you can, find support from people in your life. Talking about what's stressing you should help a lot.

Quick Stress Relievers: There are many ways to calm down quickly when you suddenly get blindsided by stress and feel overwhelmed. The following are a few quick and easy ways to regain your calm so you can deal with whatever situations are at hand:

Take a Walk: Exercise can be a great stress reliever in itself, as it helps you blow off steam and releases endorphins. Taking a walk when stressed provides the bonus of getting you out of the stressful situation and providing some perspective so you can return in a new frame of mind.

Take a Breath: If you're not in a position to leave, you can feel better right away by breathing deeply in a measured way for a few minutes--sit or stand in a relaxed position; slowly inhale through your nose, counting to five in your head; let the air out from your mouth, counting to eight in your head as it leaves your lungs; repeat several times.

Take a Mental Break: If you can steal away a few minutes of peace and envision, with great detail relating to all of the senses, a relaxing scene—visualization is a wonderful way to restore peace of mind.

Re rame Your Situation: Sometimes we intensify our experience of stressful situations by the way we look at them. If you can look at your situation differently, you may be able to put it into a different perspective--one that causes you less stress! Being “Type A”, Negative Self Talk, Poor Conflict Resolution Skills, Pessimism, Taking On Too Much are some of the most common ways that people create mental and emotional stress in their own lives. Carefully think about whether any of these self sabotage techniques apply to you, so you can make simple changes to reduce significant mental and emotional stress from your life.

Once you've been able to calm down, you should be in a better position to address whatever stressful situations you're experiencing. It's also a good idea to adopt a few regular stress relievers and healthy lifestyle habits so that you can reduce your overall stress level, experience less stress and are less bothered by the stressful situations you do encounter.

Have a Regular Stress Relief Hobby: Try to maintain some time in your life to do some stress-relieving in your life, so that you feel less stress overall--exercise, a hobby, or another regular practice that you enjoy.

Take Care of Yourself: If you're able to eat right, get enough sleep, and take vitamins, you'll be less worn down physically so you'll be less reactive to stress, and you'll be in better overall health.

People have deep attachments to their work groups, organizational structures, personal responsibilities, and ways of accomplishing work. When any of these are disturbed, a transition period occurs. During this transition, people can expect to experience a period of letting go of the old ways as they begin moving toward and integrating the new.

Source: About.com

Motivation: The Gurus Speak!

I’ve been talking about motivation lately, with some really positive results in my own life and hopefully elsewhere too. To round out the discussion, I thought I’d add some “quick hits” — short suggestions about motivation lifted from the conversations I’ve had with various motivation gurus, including Jeff Keller, Omar Periu, and Tony Robbins:

Always act with a purpose — your purpose.

Take responsibility for your own results.

Stretch yourself past your limits on a daily basis.

Don’t wait for perfection, just do it now!

Be careful of what you eat; it takes energy to succeed.

Hang around people who are as motivated as yourself.

Don’t live a life of quiet desperation. Take action! Now!

When you learn from failure, it’s not really failure.

Don’t get complacent because you’re successful today.

Always say “I must” rather than “I’ll try” when seeing goals.

Don’t avoid a decision; that’s always a decision to fail.

Keep quiet if you can’t say something positive.

Respond to “How are you?” with “Terrific!” not “Hangin’ in there.”

Don’t spout negative talk; it programs you for negative results.

Stop complaining about that over which you have no control.

Stop griping about your personal problems and illnesses.

Expunge negative, de-motivating words in your speech.

Focus on purpose and goals, not obstacles and problems.

Start each day with at least 15 minutes of positive input.

Reduce your exposure to depressing news media.

By Geoffrey James
BNET November 20th, 2007 @ 5:30 am

Recruiting Tidbits from Recruiting Veterans

Great recruiters have proven techniques and processes they consistently use because they work. These include where they source, how they begin every conversation, how they listen, gather information, close, etc. If you have special ways of taking candidates and clients through the recruiting process and they work, congratulations — use them. But it does help sometimes to compare notes, and maybe even more so in today's changing market and economic climate.

Read on, it might be interesting. Remember, I'm not telling you how to recruit — just sharing a few ideas that work.

It's in the Numbers
And whether you're an internal, external, or contract recruiter, knowing the activity metrics it takes to be successful and measuring daily is very important.

Number of daily candidate sourcing calls

Call results

Number of position interviews

Daily interview feedback by position

Number of client interface meetings, by phone or in person

Number of new requisitions to be filled

Time to fill

Daily measurement of quality performance metrics leads to knowledge and success. Whether recruiting for a company or agency, understanding your activity will help you understand your business in sophisticated and strategic ways. Agree on activity to be measured and then put a process in place to understand daily performance. It works.

I Need Your Help
If you have not asked a source, prospect, candidate or client for help recently, get back to it. If you're stuck, or you're not working at the pace you're accustomed to, try asking for help. A door to an incredible and successful adventure may be opened.

It's All About Relationships
Great relationships can be built inside companies or out. It depends on you and your desire to do it. Think about your market, your internal hiring customers. Do they like your results? Do they like you? Have you gone out of your way to help them recently? Don't forget--get results, but be a friend.

What About You?
There are more than just these few recruiting tidbits that ensure one's success. When you ask the best how they characterize their success, common themes emerge:

Passion

Confidence

Listening skills

Hands-on Recruiting

Recruiting technology skills

Business knowledge

All of these are important. I believe we all agree that if you measure your activity, ask questions, show no fear, and work to build relationships, you will create a foundation of recruitment success. It's important we understand, remember, and practice these recruitment skills, especially as we take the convergence of recruitment process and technology to the next level.

Thanks for selected excerpts from Some Recruiting Tidbits from Recruiting Veterans by Hank Stringer

Make Your Company a Talent Factory

Key ideas from the Harvard Business Review article by Douglas A. Ready, Jay A. Conger

An astonishing number of companies are struggling to fill key positions. This talent shortage is putting an enormous strain on their potential to expand into new markets. One real estate development firm recently had to pass on a 500 million major reconstruction job after realizing it hadn't groomed anyone capable of leading the project.

Talent shortages have two causes: Companies' talent development strategies are out of sync with their strategic goals. And senior executives lack a deep-seated commitment to talent management.

To create a free-flowing pipeline of current and future leaders, Ready and Conger recommend marrying "functionality" (rigorous talent processes that support your company's strategic objectives) with "vitality" (a passion for talent cultivation among executives). At Procter & Gamble, for example, the CEO and senior team personally teach all the leadership development courses for the company's top 300 executives.

The Idea in Practice

Building Functionality
Ready and Conger recommend these processes to help you put the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time:

Help people understand your strategic objectives. For example, financial services giant HSBC holds conferences to educate employees about the firm's strategy for increasing cross-unit collaboration and to highlight collaborative initiatives. At one conference, some general managers explained how they transferred a client from the commercial banking unit to the private banking unit. Previously, the first unit to "own" that client wouldn't have shared him with other units, because the original unit wanted to still be associated with that client's revenues. After each conference, participants are asked to commit to doing one or two things differently to strengthen the firm's collaborative capabilities.

Groom people for complex, challenging jobs. Consumer products company P&G's growth strategy hinges on winning in emerging markets. To help high-potential employees advance, the company moves them through a portfolio of senior-level jobs categorized according to strategic challenges, size of the business, and complexity of the market. First-time general managers might initially take a relatively small country-manager position and then be placed in charge of larger countries and, later, of regions.

Fostering Vitality

To foster vitality:
Build commitment to talent development. P&G hires 90% of its entry-level managers straight from universities and grows their careers over time. It also sponsors a college intern program that offers participants chances to assume real responsibility by working on important projects. The company takes on former interns as full-time employees at a percentage well above that of most competitors, modeling commitment to talent development.

Encourage engagement. HSBC requires each unit to have a talent implementation strategy. These plans explicitly link a unit's growth objectives to its people development activities. The corporate head of talent works closely with each unit to develop its proposed strategy and presents the aggregated plans to the group head office, highlighting any talent gaps that could threaten the firm's growth objectives. This process keeps talent management high on the agendas of line and corporate leaders, and prevents them from getting distracted by seemingly more pressing problems.

Ensure accountability. Hold all managers and executives accountable for doing their part to make talent processes work. P&G's CEO A.G. Lafley claims ownership of career planning for all the general managers, vice presidents, and talent pools involved in the company's top 16 markets, customers, and brands.


Copyright 2007 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.