Sales & Marketing Tips for the Staffing Industry

Selling commoditized services is hard in 2020...

This is what a day in the life of your top salespeople looks like:

They pick up the phone, dial the number in front of them, and hope somebody picks up or that the gatekeeper doesn't screen them out. If they're properly caffeinated, they'll maneuver and pivot as best as they can. If not, they'll be half-hoping they can just leave a voicemail...

Sound familiar? It's the age-old cry of the cold-caller, and in staffing, where your service offering is well known and often margin-driven, it's just as much of a numbers game as it is a game of resilience.

But there is a better way... a way where you as a business leader can help generate leads for your recruitment agency - leads that are engaged, interested in your services, and often, ready to hire... from you.

As you enter another year of challenges and bright-eyed optimism, are you looking to expand the ways you attract companies looking for recruitment partners?

Your people have been cold-calling. They've been "networking" and pitching through LinkedIn. They've been attending every event under the sun, including trade shows, meetups, and conferences... but the grind isn't getting any less grindier... They continue to hand in excuses when job orders are scarce, and boast their excellence when they're not. Neither of which help you control your growth.

As a leader, you can help influence a lot more today than in prior years. You can attract companies that want to hear from you, and you can measure outcomes and influence progress from the corporate office.

What's the secret to growing your staffing agency?

(UPDATED: 8/23/2019) - Is providing great "value" enough? Think about it through the eyes of your prospective customers - people who haven't worked with your agency yet. They don't know your sales reps from the next agency's, and/or who have NO IDEA how valuable your staffing services actually are.

Will they think that your value proposition is fresh and exciting? ... your textbook, cookie-cutter response of being a (fill-in-the-blank)? And, most importantly, is it true? IS your agency really all that different from the rest?

Looking for new, innovative ways to improve the sales outcomes for your staffing agency?

Check out this video we created showing you how to leverage VIDEO when selling staffing services to new business prospects.

It happened again, didn't it?

A star performer just left your agency at the height of their development (and subsequent angst, apparently), and they either started a boutique agency or partnered with one, and they took their high performing relationships with them.

There are 20,000 staffing firms in the US today (source: American Staffing Association), and the number is growing, so you know this problem isn't going away on its own.

Now you're faced with the choice of whether to impose your non-compete (again) to slow them down. Conversely, you could put your energy into doing something totally radical and provocative... You could direct that energy toward fixing the problems that lead to these situations in the first place... and in turn do something that seems to have slipped lately - your ability to provide tangible value to your clients.

It's not often that you'll hear the leader of a marketing agency tell you that you can grow your business without wasting money on marketing, but I'm here to say it, and I'll say it again... from business owner to business owner...

DON'T WASTE ANOTHER DIME ON MARKETING! 

Trying to choose between business growth strategies for your staffing agency?

We know the struggle well. You're competing with younger, more nimble agencies (or yours is one). You're in an industry that has never shied away from aggressive sales tactics, and now the market is over-saturated with competitors WAY more aggressive and entrenched than you.

To top it off, you've never had to invest much into marketing, so even though you're starting to understand that it's time to go there, it's very difficult to understand where your efforts and money are going to be the most meaningful.

Your staffing agency isn't growing fast enough.

You're moving in a positive direction, but you want to grow at much faster rate, and the solutions offered by your franchiser are somewhat lacking.

What do you do?

It's time to g(r)o(w). Your staffing agency is stuck.

You're doing well enough, you suppose...  is resonating with your customers. Attrition is low, and satisfaction is high.

But you're not growing... at least, you're not growing as fast as you'd like, and you're looking for ways to fill the gap between your goals and reality.

Inbound marketing might be the answer, and it is something you can implement right now... It works in parallel with your existing sales and marketing plans, so it won't turn your world upside down. Additionally, it follows a proven formula. It's also typically cheaper and easier to accomplish through a turn-key agency. 

So, it won't tax your existing resources, require anybody to learn a new process, or disrupt your existing ecosystem.

The inbound marketing strategy PLUS

Are you trying to increase sales for your staffing agency? Is digital marketing something that interests you? If so, there are several directions you can go. I suggest using inbound marketing as your centerpiece. It is a widely proven methodology, and your industry is really missing the boat on it.

To help, we put together a playbook that ties all the best marketing strategies for staffing agencies into a single resource. And this article is here to break them down for you.

Your sales teams work tirelessly to land each and every job order. Every once in awhile, they'll hook a whale - working with a fortune 500 company through the coveted Master Services Agreement (MSA). A single MSA could be worth HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of job orders, and ultimately, millions in revenue each year they are properly serviced.

I personally know several agencies who built their entire company around a single MSA that landed in their laps and happened to be in desperation mode, so it was a feast from day 1.

But landing them isn't typically where the hard work ends... not by a long shot. Job orders come separately, and the challenges your recruiters and sales teams face are numerous. It turns out though, that marketing can actually play a significant role in MSA success, and I'm going to share with you exactly how your department can help.