Today marked the beginning of programming for the 2013 Alternative Staffing Alliance conference here in our hometown of Portland, Oregon. Alternative Staffing Organizations, or ASOs, are social enterprises that combine a temporary staffing business model with supportive services to help job seekers with obstacles to employment enter and advance in the workplace. This includes people with physical or mental disabilities, but also includes individuals with criminal history, unstable housing, or past substance abuse.
This morning began with a series of ride-alongs with the DePaul Industries’ sales team, visiting customers and prospects around the Portland area. At least six different ASOs were represented as the team observed and shared some practical tips on building customer relationships in the commercial staffing arena.
Post-lunch, we split into three breakout sessions, covering an array of different topics that are impacting the staffing landscape as a whole. Here are some takeaways:
>>First Group – Pre-Conference Clinics:
Affordable Care Act Discussion
Janet Van Liere, Alternative Staffing Alliance
Many organizations are leaving it to their HR departments to determine what percentage of employees are working 30+ hours a week, and find that they’re leaning on payroll system providers, insurance companies, attorneys, chambers of commerce, and other professionals to measure what impact the Affordable Care Act will have on their staffing firm. Consideration of inclusion of additional pricing into costs that staffing organizations charge. Will potential increased volume of organizations leveraging staffing outweigh the potential increased markup? Remember to explore other options besides 1. Offering healthcare across the board, or 2. Paying the penalties for not doing so.
Effective Onboarding Practices for Sales Staff
Kelly Rupp, Lead to Results
How do you play the social mission card, if at all? Usually for alternative staffing organizations, the mission is behind scenes. Today, however, the growth of corporate social responsibility can turn a social mission into a value proposition. Remember to ‘play that card’ if it makes sense for an individual customer.
Quick Guide to Creating an Effective Marketing Plan
David Searns, Haley Marketing
Ask the right differentiation questions when developing your brand. For example, are you going after smaller accounts or larger accounts? Small accounts can be attractive — there’s usually no HR dept, you’re always dealing with a decision-maker, there’s no red tape — but the flipside is that there’s usually low volume. Think about those balances and work them into your plan.
>>Second Group – Pre-Conference Clinics:
Shared Door Opener Campaign
David Searns, Haley Marketing
Nurture marketing, content marketing, inbound marketing — they’re all not really new concepts. Develop campaigns, or even license campaigns from Haley, to get door openers and ‘touches’ for customers every single week for an entire quarter. Strong messaging in these campaigns greatly cuts down sales cycle time. Challenge assumptions about the individuals that you hire, and get creative: “Hey, alternative staffing is the new thing on the block — have you heard of it?”
Motivating and Incentivizing Your Team
Kelly Rupp, Lead to Results
“What gets measured gets managed” — Peter Drucker. Always think about what motivates your sales team, as the rules have changed. Group commission plus individual commission can be highly effective. Open-ended commission (as a fixed % of gross margin, for example) can be a great way to incentivize sales team members, whereas variable targets measured against the annual budget target can be a great way to incentivize sales managers.
Financing Alternative Staffing Organizations
Gerardo Espinoza, Local Enterprise Assistance Fund and Scott Hackenberg, RSF Social Finance
Organizations like RSF Social Finance and LEAF can help bridge the gaps that can occur when traditional bank financing doesn’t fit with your social mission-driven staffing organization. Grants from foundations, and particularly program-related investments (PRIs), can be excellent ways to explore financing a staffing operation or program.
>>Third Group – Pre-Conference Clinics:
Website Critiques
David Searns, Haley Marketing
Your website is another sales person, and you need to be ready to get people to take action when they get there. If you’re leading with terms like ‘alternative staffing,’ make sure that your target audience understands what that means — and how it’s going to help them. The goal of your homepage is to get different audiences to decide what to do next. And calls to action? Don’t be subtle, like ‘we hope to hear from you.’ Be direct. Ask for what you want.
Handling Prospects’ Objections and Negotiating with Customers
Kelly Rupp, Lead to Results
One of the most challenging pieces of the staffing business is handling customer objections to create a true partnership with customers. Key parts of negotiation and seeing underneath what the objections are — satisfy needs, not wants. Be a challenger — offer your customer new information and let them know what their needs are. Use a ‘velvet hammer’ approach. Increasing profits, decreasing losses, and mitigating risk are the only three reasons people buy.
Scaling Impact Through Cross-Referrals
Janet Van Liere and David Hammer, Alternative Staffing Alliance
What can the alliance do to organize cross-referrals, when a business wants to leverage staffing needs outside of your home market? Need to spell out what criteria need to be in place when leveraging cross-referrals, especially commonalities of industry knowledge. Would you be able to go after bigger accounts and volume with a national certification process?
Don’t forget to tweet and follow the conference on Twitter using the hashtag #ASApdx. See you tomorrow!
