5 Staffing Agency Marketing Ideas that Add Value

5 Staffing Agency Marketing Ideas that Add Value

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For the past several years staffing employment grew faster than the economy and employment overall. Here are five staffing agency marketing ideas that can help your agency stand out from the rest of the pack – and make it indispensable to your clients.

Add Value for Employers with Five Staffing Industry Marketing Ideas

According to IndustrySelect.com (and despite the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. jobs market in 2020) the forecast for the staffing industry is projected to be $126.1 billion in 2020. While this represents a 17 percent decline from the previous year, it is still 4 percent higher than the original estimate of $119B.

With the economic recovery of the last decade came opportunities for recruiters, temporary employment and staffing agencies to rebound, big time. Not only were more jobs available overall, but many employers, unsure of how quickly the recovery would happen and whether it would last, were hesitant to hire regular employees, and so opted for temporary workers instead. It is reasonable to expect continued opportunity for temporary employment agencies as the economy comes out of COVID-19 slowdowns and shutdowns, since employers may be uncertain for some time what their “new normal” number of employees and jobs should be, or to hedge against additional short term temporary closures.

5 Ways to Make Your Staffing Agency Indispensable

1. Look for value beyond the skill set

As a staffing agency recruiter, you (or your software) may scan hundreds of resumes relative to the skills, software, and specialties of candidates. Bring candidates to the table for temporary employment or temp-to-hire placement opportunities that have what it takes not only to do the job, but who will enhance the culture of an organization, and who may possess valuable skills beyond those specified in the job description.

The more often you place candidates that produce well, bring additional value to and fit well within an organization, the more likely it is that employers will turn to you when the next hiring opportunity arises.

2. Network to fill your back pocket

Hiring can be an expensive, time consuming process. Temporary employment and staffing agencies that network well can create a pool of individuals who, while they may not be actively looking for a new position, would be open to considering a change for the right opportunity.

Reach out to already-employed people, not just those who are actively looking! 35 percent of workers say they would change their field of work if they lost their job. That means that more than 1 in 3 people currently employed might be interested in changing jobs if they had an opportunity to do something they are more interested in doing, or which represents a better path for professional growth in the future.

Being able to serve up one or two quality candidates for potential openings immediately could easily make your staffing agency more valuable to employers when the need to fill a position quickly is paramount.

3. Write better recruiting copy

When you have an awesome job opportunity to fill or an outstanding employer to recruit for, why would you write boring, cliché, job description-like copy? Set your staffing agency apart by writing recruiting copy that engages top candidates and creates intrigue so that they want to know more. Plus, when you talk up the brand of an employer in creative copy, you are telling candidates that you think the employer’s brand is just as special as they believe it to be!

4. Soften your approach

If you only reach out to employers with sales calls and emails, you are doing it wrong. You might get lucky by hitting someone up at the moment they need to fill a position once in a while, but you may well turn off the vast number of contacts on your list.

Soften your approach with employers and think about nurturing relationships instead of pursuing accounts. Reach out with information that people can use to build their businesses – interesting articles about their industries, information about their competitors they might not be aware of, and so on. Become so interesting and helpful that your clients will welcome your phone calls and open your emails and will keep you top of mind when opportunity arises.

5. Specialize

Instead of casting a wide net, carve out a name and a niche for your staffing agency by identifying industries which are emerging or evolving, which are underserved, or even better understanding which industries your own firm’s expertise is best-suited to serve. When you become the “go-to” for certain industries or certain types of temporary job openings, you build top of mind brand awareness that is invaluable in providing your staffing agency with opportunity to get the first shot at filling opportunities.

Many past temporary hires turned into regular employees as employers developed more confidence in the economy. While the job market rebounds, competition will also increase among staffing and temporary employment agencies as well.

For staffing and temporary employment services firms, competition can be a good thing! Not only does it reflect more opportunity overall, but competition can light a fire when it comes to continuous improvement within a staffing agency. For temp services and staffing firms that want to create a competitive advantage, it is vital to identify areas where they can become indispensable to their most valuable clients.

You might also like: Benefits of Factoring Staffing

 

7 Ways to Grow a Trucking Business Faster Next Year

7 Ways to Grow a Trucking Business Faster Next Year

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With the year winding down to a close, here are seven ways that you can “tune up” a trucking business for growth in the New Year.

7 Things that Can Help with Growing a Trucking Company

Whether you want to call them year-end to-do’s or New Year Resolutions, here are seven things you can do as the year comes to a close to position your trucking business for growth next year.

7 Ways to Tune-Up a Trucking Business for Growth Next Year

1. Taxes and Expenses

Now is the time to make sure that you have set aside what you need for tax payments for the year (month, quarter, etc.) Review the past year’s receipts, invoices, bills, and bank statements for potential tax write-offs.

It is also a great time to contact your tax accountant (or make an appointment with a local tax specialist for a consultation) to find out whether there is anything you can do now to minimize tax obligations or maximize the amount you hope to get back after filing your taxes next year.

2. Marketing and Advertising

What kind of marketing did you do in the past year to grow your trucking business? What worked well or what failed to produce a return? By identifying where your orders are coming from and taking steps to improve customer retention, repeat business and referrals, you will know where to invest marketing resources and money to grow faster next year.

Some of the questions that can help you determine whether to invest money and resources in marketing in the New Year include:

  • How do new customers usually find out about my trucking business?
  • How are competitors getting new business?
  • What characteristics do my most profitable customers have in common?
  • Based on these buyer profiles, where can I expand or launch marketing and advertising to help reach these buyers?

3. Industry and Government

Not only will you help your trucking business but you may even be able to help guide the future of the transportation industry by becoming more aware of the issues facing the industry and getting involved in organizations or by lobbying your local, state, and federal to express your concerns and opinions. Subscribe to a print or digital publication that can keep you in the know about what is going on in the trucking industry as far as best practices, rules, fees, and regulations.

4. Year End A/R Factoring Tune Up

If you are not already factoring freight bills, this would be an ideal time for you to reach out to a top transportation factoring company like ours to find out whether factoring freight bills would help improve your business.

Factoring freight bills allows truckers to get back on the road and take on new trucking business more quickly, since you get immediate access to money you have earned without waiting for customers to pay. We would be happy to provide you with a free, no obligation quote for factoring services, even if you are currently factoring your A/R (accounts receivable) invoices with another transportation factoring company.

If you are already factoring freight bills with another Factor, the end of the year is a great time for you to get a no-cost, no-obligation comparison from us to make sure that you have the best invoice factoring program in place relative to your organization’s financial needs.

5. Customers and Prospects

The holidays give you an ideal time to reach out to current and past trucking customers to find out whether your trucking business is doing a good job for them or ask how you could serve them better. This may even uncover new opportunities with existing trucking clients. In addition, take this opportunity reach out to your past customers to ask for referrals or let them know about any customer referral or returning customer rewards you offer.

6. Business Plan

If you have never taken the time to put your trucking business plan in writing, this could be an ideal time to do so. Having a trucking business plan on paper provides you with a snapshot of what your business looks like today as well as a vision of what you want it to look like tomorrow. You can even download a free business plan template from bplans.com to make writing your plan easier.

If you do have a business plan in writing (especially if it has been a while since you reviewed it), the year end is a great time to review and refresh your plan. Benchmark how you are doing (or did) compared to the goals laid out in your plan and update it with your current position and goals for next year.

7. Employees, Vendors and Peers

If you are a trucking owner-operator, you may not have staff, but you probably still have a vast network of peers, vendors, suppliers, brokers, and other contacts in the industry. The year end is a great time to reach out to these valuable stakeholders and let them know what you plan to do in the New Year to grow your trucking business, so that they can do a better job of helping you reach your goals.

In addition, this might be a good time to review vendor and supplier contracts. Double check that they are fulfilling the obligations they laid out, touch base on anything that isn’t going as well as you would like, or even reach out to other vendors for competitive quotes. It is not always about the lowest price! To grow your trucking business faster, you need to be sure that you are receiving a good value for what you spend to do business.

While we cannot believe that the year is almost over, nevertheless the year end provides a good opportunity for many carriers and owner-operators to assess how the year has gone, execute year-end checklists and look for ways they can improve their business in order to be more profitable and grow in the New Year.

5 Places to Find Creative Startup Ideas

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Creative startup ideas abound, if you know where to look for them. If you are an entrepreneur in search of your next creative startup idea, here are five places you might find the next big thing.

Creative startup ideas can help you beat the startup failure odds.

90 percent of 2019 business startups didn’t make the one year mark. But that didn’t quell the enthusiasm of U.S. entrepreneurs! More than 800,000 startups had opened their doors as of March 2020, up over 30,000 from the year before (Statista.com). With COVID-19 changing the way people work in the United States and around the world, the number of individuals dipping their toes into the startup business waters could be even higher going forward.

how many business startups launched in 2020

 

Among businesses that did not survive the first year, reasons for failure included money running out (inadequate financing), being in the wrong market, a lack of research, bad partnerships, ineffective marketing, and not being an expert in the industry.  So where can you find the type of startup business idea that can overcome the odds?

You might also like: Top 10 Reasons B2B Startups Might Fail

5 Places to Look for Creative Startup Ideas

Up or Down the Chain

If you already own one business or were part of a startup, you probably have a lot of expertise in the industry. It might make sense to consider a startup business that would be a natural customer or your last venture or which would be a supplier, vendor or service provider within the same industry. In either case, you will probably come to the table with an idea of how to “do it better” because of your experience.

Emerging Technologies

Keep your eye out for emerging technologies, especially those that have the ability to disrupt business for companies that aren’t able to respond quickly or refuse to recognize that their marketplace is changing.

Abandoned Ideas

Just because someone else failed at something does not mean that the idea does not have merit; plus, you can learn from their mistakes. Think about some of the new products or services that competitors put into play to determine which deserve a second look, and perhaps a second chance.

Under-served Markets

It’s simply not possible for an organization to completely serve multiple market segments; usually one or two will get the most attention in product or service development as well as marketing. When you see a market that is under-served by a particular industry, you are seeing opportunity for someone willing to startup a niche business tailored to their needs and demographics.

Gaps

Did you ever say, “I wish there was a solution for this problem?” You probably aren’t the only one. When you spot an industry, field or community with a gap between a consumer need or want and a business solution, you may be seeing the perfect opportunity for a startup business to fill the opening.

Entrepreneurial Addiction? Solid Planning Turns Startup Ideas into Reality

Since one out of every four startups fail in year one, the right startup ideas could make or break your chances of success. In many cases, clients come to us in the early years of their business when they come up against a need common to many startups and young businesses, that of a need to access working capital more quickly in order to grow. One of the things that gives us the most satisfaction is knowing that we were able to put financial tools into place to help a client with great startup ideas grow to the next level.

While we do not provide true start-up financing, we can help an organization access working capital almost immediately. Companies that sell B2B (business to business) can factor invoices in order to speed up cash flow, instead of waiting on customer or third party payments.

We hear from individuals startup ideas on a pretty regular basis. Hey – we’re entrepreneurs too! We thought that it might be helpful to talk about the types of startups that may do well in the coming years as well as directions that entrepreneurs might look for startup inspiration as they ponder what their next new venture will be.

Several of the reasons startups fail (inadequate funding, poor research, lack of market demand, etc.) can be addressed at least in part through business planning. No matter how excited you are to launch your startup idea, take the time to write a business plan that includes solid projections, a marketing plan, realistic costs, and market research.

 

infographic - startup ideas business plans

2021 Business New Year Resolutions

Size Matters – 10 Quotes to Inspire 2021 Business New Year Resolutions

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When it comes to the size of your corporate vision for 2021, size matters!  Measure your  Business New Year Resolutions against these ten quotes to see if your vision is big enough.

If You’re Not Going to Change the World, Why Bother? 10 Inspiring Quotes for 2021 Business New Year Resolutions

Your corporate goals for 2021 must be big enough to inspire customers and employees to feel better about themselves as a result of doing business with you. Here are ten quotes to help you write 2021 Business New Year Resolutions that will resonate with internal and external stakeholders.

These ten quotes that relate to vision can help you as you write (or re-write) business New Year Resolutions for 2021.

See how well the vision that you have for your business in 2021 stacks up against the advice provided by these ten inspirational quotes for the workplace, or use them to inspire your team as you write (or re-envision) your corporate vision statement.

Make sure that your dream is inextricably linked to who you are. Ama Yawson

“Make sure that your dream is inextricably linked to who you are.” —Ama Yawson, founder of the Joojos shoe company on Fox Business Small Business Center

When it comes to your vision for 2021, one thing is sure: It must be authentic. If not, after just a few interactions with your business, your customers will mark you down as a phony – and your employees will find out even faster.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

Your goals for the New Year should leverage how your business is (or will be) set apart from your competitors. If you cannot identify anything truly unique about your business, why should people choose to do business with you?

Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway. Eleanor Roosevelt

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

Do not be afraid to make a strong statement when it comes to the values represented in your organization’s goals for 2021. You will never get anywhere if you try to please everyone all of the time!

When you make the effort to inspire, amuse, or simply connect with your audience, the results can be just the boost your brand needs. Jasmine Henry

“When you make the effort to inspire, amuse, or simply connect with your audience, the results can be just the boost your brand needs.” —Jasmine Henry of Inbound Marketing Agents, writing at Social Media Today.

You would be far better off writing 2021 business New Year Resolutions in plain language that connects with members of your target audience than with an eloquent mess that means nothing.

If at first you don’t succeed, try to hide your astonishment. Harry Banks

“If at first you don’t succeed, try to hide your astonishment.” —Harry Banks, Scottish soldier

If your business goals for the New Year can be fulfilled easily, then they are not big enough. And as you set out on the great adventure of pursuing them, don’t be discouraged when you have set-backs. Failure does not mean you are not on the right track.

Make sure your passion for what you do spreads to your team, because if that happens, your customers are going to be very happy. Janine Popick

“Make sure your passion for what you do spreads to your team, because if that happens, your customers are going to be very happy.” —Janine Popick, CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, writing at Inc. online’s Basement to Boardroom blog.

There is no surer way to provide your business with a competitive advantage than to have inspired, motivated employees. There is no better way to ensure that your customers will be happy than to make sure that your employees are!

I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere - then I ask myself the same question. Harun Yahya

“I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere… then I ask myself the same question.” —Harun Yahya

Ultimately, fulfilling your 2021 Business New Year Resolutions should bring about the realization of your overall corporate vision. Do your Resolutions and corporate mission and vision statements articulate how its achievement will bring about a different world?

You can’t steal second base with one foot on first. Frederick B Wilson

“You can’t steal second base with one foot on first.” —Frederick B. Wilson

Without a plan filled with strategic actions to bring them about, your business New Year Resolutions are just pretty words on paper.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.

“Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.”

Did you ever have a parent or teacher tell you not to worry if someone laughed at you? This is exactly the way you need to approach your goals for the New Year. They should be big and bold – big and bold enough that they might make people laugh or doubt your ability to get there. Do it anyway.

The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do. Steve Jobs

“The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.” —Steve Jobs

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are world changers. And game changers. And mind changers. It is maybe one of the more fun parts of the job! Ultimately your business should change its world for the better including the worlds of its employees, customers, and community — and just how you see your business changing those worlds is your true corporate vision.

You might also like: 11 Ways to Position your Business for Success this Year

7 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Cultivate a Niche and Grow

7 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Cultivate a Niche and Grow

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While it might seem counter-intuitive, staffing agencies that narrow their marketing focus could spur faster growth. Here are seven ways to carve out a staffing agency niche to grow your staffing, recruiting or temporary employment agency.

A Niche for Staffing Agencies – Narrow Your Focus to Expand Your Client Base

With a super-competitive staffing industry and double-digit growth projected in 2021, it’s more important than ever that staffing agencies carve out a niche where they can excel and thrive. With that in mind, here are seven ways that temporary employment services firms or staffing agencies can identify a niche where they can make a name for themselves and grow.

7 Ways to Cultivate a Staffing Agency Niche and Grow

Grow with seasonal staffing opportunities

Look for businesses that have seasonal ebbs and flows. These are the types of businesses that may also benefit from outsourcing to staffing agencies or using temporary workers instead of hiring their own employees.

Seed the market with PR

You can play a part in strengthening your own agency’s reputation by using PR tactics strategically. Publishing press releases helps to position your agency as an expert resource in a given employment niche. Likewise, placing ads and advertorial articles or writing general interest articles for publication in trade magazines can help to reinforce your agency’s reputation in industries where you want to carve out a niche for your staffing services.

Put your ear to the ground

Many of the most successful businesses became so because they were able to identify and act on emerging trends early on. Make sure that you are on the look-out for emerging new industries or industries that are evolving where your staffing agency can gain ground before competitors become aware.

COVID-19 might have put a damper on staffing industry growth in 2020, but there are several industries that are growing now and which are set to grow post COVID-19, such as:

  • Technology of all kinds – online meeting platforms, online e-education, online and remote work apps, etc.
  • Medical and healthcare staffing
  • Cloud computing and storage
  • Web and app development
  • E-commerce
  • Cybersecurity
  • Logistics, transportation and supply chain

Plant new locations for future growth

Communities and neighborhoods zoned for industrial and commercial development, or which may be expanding with tech companies may also represent locations where having a physical office for your staffing agency would give you a leg-up in booking new business.

Attract and engage with digital content

Just like consumers in general, B2B buyers often start their buying journey online and many even expect to be able to complete the buying process online in a digital self-service environment. Cater to digital B2B shoppers and buyers in the industries you most want to serve with a website that is optimized for search and blog articles that attract search and social media traffic and shares among those niche target audience members.

Dig in deep by increasing numbers of followers and subscribers

While some organizations that need temporary workers or staffing services may engage in short or only occasional buying cycles, others may need to be convinced of the benefits of outsourcing over time or may need a consistent stream of temporary employees. Gain and maintain top of mind brand awareness for your staffing or temporary employment services by constantly increasing the number of social followers and subscribers you have within your desired niche industries.

One way to do this is by consistently providing followers with added value in the form of email newsletters and social status updates that pertain to their industries. You may also be able to build your networks quickly using tactics that require online registration, such as contests and whitepapers.

Pre-seed the marketplace

Universities, colleges, vocational and trade schools, unions and even high schools are all representative of organizations where you can build your reputation within a staffing niche by pre-seeding the marketplace; i.e., introducing yourself to the people who represent the candidates and employers of the future, as well as the present.

You might also like: Benefits of Factoring Staffing

Staffing Industry Analysts say that while 2020 staffing is down from 2019 (due mainly to temporary job losses because of COVID-19) the forecast for 2021 is bright. SIA projects 11% growth in temporary staffing revenue and 19% expansion in place & search in 2021. With increased demand for temporary workers comes an influx of new agencies among temporary employment and staffing services.

In a more competitive landscape, temporary employment service firms and staffing agencies must develop strategies that help them grow, and they must be on top of their game. One way to become more profitable is by finding a staffing agency niche that allows them to successfully attract the best candidates for placement so they can build a strong reputation among employers.

 

Supply Chain Business Innovation – 5 Ways to Grow

5 Ways to Innovate a Supply Chain Business

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Every supply chain business must innovate in order to keep customers interested and add new customers to the fold. Here are five ways distributors and manufacturers can innovate and improve in order to grow.

Innovation Helps Manufacturers and Distributors Grow

Companies that fail to innovate can quickly become obsolete, and that applies to supply chain organizations, too. But introducing new products is not the only way to get the attention of customers and grow. Rather than simply waiting for growth to occur as a natural outcome of an improving economy, supply chain manufacturers and distributors should actively look for ways to innovate if they want to grow more quickly.

5 Ways Manufacturers and Distributors Can Innovate to Grow a Supply Chain Business More Quickly

Introduce product innovations and evolutions

Manufacturers that are committed to internal continuous improvement are far more likely to be able to introduce new products more often as well as upgrades and improvements that lead to additional sales. Likewise, distributors that source upgraded or improved options for their customers will have more opportunities to resell to existing customers and bring new accounts on board.

Innovate the account management process

Like consumers, more and more B2B buyers expect to be able to reach out to a knowledgeable sales or account professional online, day or night, even outside of a company’s regular hours of operation. These same buyers also expect that supply chain organizations will facilitate the means for them to order online, track shipments and progress, set up automatic re-ordering, pay invoices and otherwise manage their accounts online, without ever speaking to a company representative if that is their preference.

Introducing account management innovations today’s customers have come to rely on can mean the difference in landing new accounts and generating additional sales as well as creating customer dependencies that make it less likely they will shop around or defect.

Innovate manufacturer and distributor delivery methods

Perhaps more so than any other distributor, supply chain giants Walmart and Amazon have modeled the pursuit of constant innovations when it comes to manufacturer and distributor delivery methods. Like consumers, B2B buyers are coming to expect for shipping costs to be included in pricing up front, and for that delivery to occur quickly.

While you may not be in a position to scramble an army of drones or facilitate same-day or next-day delivery, anything you can do to cut costs and decrease time customers spend waiting for their orders can help you compete.

Innovate your marketing approach

What words would you use to describe your marketing copy and channels? When it comes to marketing, there is no reason your marketing cannot be innovative, engaging, entertaining and intriguing – even – and especially – if your products aren’t. Innovating your marketing approach through:

  • publicity stunts
  • social and cultural influencers
  • social media and press mentions
  • wins in ‘best of’ contests
  • revitalizing your brand’s visual image and taglines
  • telling customers about your brand’s values and corporate social responsibility programs

–  are all examples of ways to infuse new life into your marketing.

Ensuring that your brand is ‘alive and well’ in digital media channels (email marketing, social media, blogging, etc.) will better help you reach the new generations of Millennial and Gen-Z B2B buyers that are replacing retiring Baby Boomers.

As a supply chain business, you can also help create demand from your buyers by stimulating demand directly among their customers. We recently published an article that describes four ways distributors and manufacturers can generate demand by marketing to consumers and end-users, rather than simply marketing to their own buyers.

Innovate the company culture

“It is what it is,” is a phrase that is often uttered along with a shrug of the shoulders, indicating a fait accompli; or, in other words, a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept. In some ways, company culture is “what it is,” in that it cannot be faked. But just because it cannot be faked, does not mean that it cannot be improved.

Innovations and investments made to improve your corporate culture, when genuine, will often produce impacts far greater than improving employee satisfaction. They can improve hiring outcomes, reduce employee turnover, and increase employee engagement, all of which have a direct impact on improving sales and decreasing costs. Marks for customer satisfaction, loyalty and referrals are also much higher for brands that are known for their innovative corporate cultures.

Innovating within your manufacturing or distribution company may allow you to serve new customers; but that’s not all.

Innovations also send a clear message to existing customers that your business is committed to making continual improvements for the future. It creates a spirit of intrigue among your customers about what might be coming next. They will be more likely to see your supply chain business as a valuable partner in the supply chain, and as a result, offer you additional suggestions that can help you innovate more effectively and quickly.

Taking proactive steps to innovate can even put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to change. As a manufacturer or distributor, leading the way by innovating puts you in the position of being a leader, rather than a supply chain business that must scramble to keep up with the companies that are driving change in the industry. As Steve Jobs so wisely said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

You might also like: Supply Chain Finance

7 Low-Cost Staffing Marketing Ideas Can Put Your Agency on Top

7 Low-Cost Staffing Marketing Ideas Can Put Your Agency on Top

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As the job market rebounds, competition will heat up among staffing and temporary employment agencies, too. Here are seven low-cost staffing marketing ideas that can help you put your staffing agency ahead of the competition.

Land More Leads with 7 Low-Cost Promotion Ideas for Staffing Agencies

It should not come as a big surprise that the staffing industry is a fiercely competitive marketplace at present, given the rebound in the job market of the past several years. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that the staffing industry will grow faster, and add more jobs than nearly any other industry over the next decade. With competition high for landing easily place-able candidates as well as employer job listings, here are seven staffing marketing ideas that can help develop competitive advantages for your staffing agency, temporary services firm or professional recruiting services.

7 Low-Cost Staffing Marketing Ideas for Employment Agencies

Maximize Free Marketing Channels

Web content optimized to attract your ideal candidates or employers, social media, and good old-fashioned in-person networking with local business groups, Chambers of Commerce and other civic organizations can go a long way to building relationships with employers that put position openings on your books. Likewise, they can connect you with executives and other individuals whose skills are in high demand, so that when they are ready to make a move, they already know who to call.

Fill the Pipeline – Get As Many Subscribers As Possible

Every phone, web or email inquiry is an opportunity to add a new contact to your database. Every business card collected at a networking event represents a potential new subscriber. You can also use contests or gated web content such as white papers, videos and reports to bolster the size of your contact database over time.

Cultivate Relationships with Influencers

Formal influencers like HR staff and executives aren’t the only way that you can source listings. Thanks to social media, it’s never been so easy to find people who are willing to share social posts they feel might interest their own networks. Make sure your social posts reference cities or geographical areas and encourage people to share them with their own networks.

Reinforce social shares with a thank you, retweet, tag or mention (which will also increase their reach). If influencers produce real business with you, thank them with a gift card or some other small gesture — reward behavior you want more of!

Survey Client Satisfaction

It’s vital that you take the temperature from time to time when it comes to client satisfaction. Even long-term client relationships can go south quickly with a bad placement or failure to deliver fast enough. Clients may have new leaders who want to work with other agencies. Even if you do everything right, there could be client discontent brewing for many different reasons.

Be Present in the Community

If you are waiting for business to come to you, chances are you are being out-hustled by recruiters who are willing to roll up their sleeves and participate in community events, networking groups, churches, schools, charitable endeavors, Chambers of Commerce, and other activities in order to give back and build a strong network in the process.

Beat Your Competitors When it Comes to Following Through and Following Up

Placing your star candidate or putting the right person on the job for an employer isn’t enough; it’s simply meeting expectations. Go the extra mile in your process by doing more (whether that means prepping candidates better, completing the employer’s side of the paperwork, etc.) than competitors are doing. Don’t be afraid to come right out and ask your clients what else you can do to add value to the process. And once the placement is made, follow up as though your job depends on it, because the next job listing just might!

Thank you notes, “how did we do?” type of inquiries, solicitation of feedback by email initially and a few weeks later can all be invaluable relationship builders that let the client know you truly care about whether you provided a solution that brought them the success they wanted.

Stay in Touch Longer (Well, Forever)

Candidate placement and closing of the job ticket isn’t the end of the staffing marketing process; hopefully, it’s just the beginning of a long-term relationship with both the candidate and the employer. Stay in touch by moving contacts to a staffing marketing list that will put helpful tips, cartoons, entertaining stories, items of interest or added value into their inbox every few weeks over time.

The candidate you placed today may be looking for a new opportunity a few years down the road. The employer who hired them may not have other openings now, but 6, 9, 12, or 36 months later, they might be growing so fast that they can’t keep pace. Transitioning from a sales-oriented to a relationship-building staffing marketing plan is essential for clients or candidates “after the sale.”

Whether you are looking to attract job candidates or want to land more employers onto your staffing agency list of clients, these staffing marketing ideas can help. Add these staffing marketing ideas to your agency’s strategy to grow your temporary services firm, staffing agency or recruiting services.

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As a top staffing factoring company we are pleased to offer low staffing factoring rates, high advances and fast funding for staffing payroll loans and to help you grow your employment agency more quickly. Get a free staffing factoring or payroll funding quote:

  • Average monthly sales or amount of invoice to factor
10 Musts for Small Business Restart Programs

10 Musts for Small Business Restart Programs

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These key components should fuel small business restart programs across the United States as the economy tries to rebound from COVID-19 related closures and slowdowns.

  1. Lean ops
  2. Cleaning
  3. Financing
  4. Cash flow
  5. Workstations
  6. Common spaces
  7. Communications
  8. Customer contact
  9. Marketing evolution
  10. Well-being and peace of mind

Small business restart programs must address COVID-19

It’s not just the elephant in the room, it’s the iceberg that sank the economy. In early 2020, COVID-19 disrupted what was inarguably one of the fastest growing economies in nearly all sectors, and for nearly all segments. The U.S. went from all time low unemployment overall and for women and minorities to record high unemployment when many states imposed COVID-19 lockdown and business shut down emergency orders.

Are you ready to restart a small business in the wake of COVID-19?

As elected officials and business owners seek ways to reopen and reignite the economy so that the temporary economic stall doesn’t become lead to long-term negative economic effects, small business restart programs are popping up across the country. If you are a small business owner who is ready to restart or expand operations, here are ten things to consider.

10 Musts for Small Business Restart Programs

1. Lean operations

The pre-pandemic economy was robust and many businesses enjoyed being able to spend more on discretionary items, hire more employees, pursue growth opportunities and expand employee perks, benefits and “extras.” The post-pandemic reality is that many small businesses shut down completely or experienced a significant slowdown. As you restart your small business it would be beneficial to “think lean” when it comes to operations.

Planview.com lists seven principles of lean operations:

  • Eliminate waste
  • Build quality in
  • Create knowledge
  • Defer commitment
  • Deliver fast
  • Respect people
  • Optimize the whole

It is worth noting that lean operations is not just about cutting costs or eliminating waste, but it is also about adding value for customers, employees and other stakeholders. Small business restart programs must focus on efficiency throughout operations.

2. Cleaning and disinfecting the workplace

One of the more challenging aspects of restarting a business after COVID-19 is that the dangers of the virus are often invisible. You cannot spot virus particles on a surface and many people who have the virus are 100 percent asymptomatic or experience only light symptoms, which might mimic allergies or the common cold.

Americans do not want to infect one another or unintentionally bring potentially dangerous germs home to their loved ones or friends. Small business restart programs must address cleaning and disinfecting of the entire workplace, for both customers and internal stakeholders like employees and vendors.

It be advisable to do a thorough cleaning of your business before restarting and to develop a plan for how you will continually re-clean and sanitize commonly touched items (such as door handles, restrooms, break rooms, keypads, etc.) as well as a thoughtful plan for cleaning and disinfecting every area of your business on a regular, and probably more frequent, basis than before.

3. Small business financing

You may be wondering whether to use small business financing tools in general or specific to COVID-19 to restart or resume full operations. The U.S. Small Business Administration lists both regular SBA financing programs and guidelines for Coronavirus funding options including:

  • PPP loans – loan forgiveness for retaining employees by temporarily expanding the traditional SBA 7(a) loan program
  • EIDL loans – economic relief to small businesses and non-profit organizations that are currently experiencing a temporary loss of revenue
  • SBA express loans – small businesses who currently have a business relationship with an SBA Express Lender may be able to access up to $25,000 quickly
  • SBA debt relief – financial reprieve to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Government programs are only one type of small business financing that might support your efforts to restart your business or return back to more normal revenues. Your bank may also be offering small business financing programs and your business banker could be a good resource for financial advice at this time.

Non-traditional small business invoice factoring could also help you speed up receivables collections, especially if some of your customers are paying more slowly due to current economic conditions. If you are a B2B (business to business) company or you sell goods and services via third party platforms (such as software developers, Amazon merchants, Zulily vendors, etc.), you may be able to get paid in 1-2 business days instead of waiting weeks or months on payments by factoring invoices.

4. Speed up cash flow

Cash flow has always been a key concern for most small businesses; speeding up organizational cash flow might be crucial to restarting and resuming normal operations. Inadequate cash flow can make your company vulnerable to several potential problems, such as:

  • Inability to fund payroll
  • Higher costs (inability to take advantage of early or quick-pay vendor discounts or incurring service and interest charges for late payments)
  • Creating concerns among investors and creditors
  • Failing to reduce long-term debt or increase equity
  • No reserves for short or long-term emergencies
  • No cash to fund repairs, maintenance or growth

Cash flow is our business! We help clients leverage invoice factoring as a financial tool to speed up cash flow. If your company invoices clients on terms or you sell through third party stores or platforms, you probably wait weeks or months to get paid. By factoring invoices, you can eliminate the wait and get paid within days (or hours) of when an invoice is generated or from the time you receiving an earnings statement.

You might also like: 10 Ways to Maximize Business Cash Flow

5. Safe workstations

We all watched as grocery stores and big box retailers updated cashier stations with plexiglass, added plastic, easily-cleanable coverings to keypads and instituted other protections for workers and customers. Whether your business serves customers on-site or not, your employees still expect that their workstations will be conducive to social distancing and contactless interactions. You may also want to provide employees with cleaning and disinfecting products like wipes, hand sanitizer and with masks and other essential PPE (personal protective equipment).

6. Common spaces in the workplace

Employee workstations are not the only spaces that employers must address as part of small business restart programs. Before COVID-19, many small business teams worked in open environments, took meal and rest breaks together in common kitchens and cafeterias, regularly crossed paths in hallways and corridors, met together in conference rooms and utilized communal restrooms.

Employers must take all common spaces into account when restarting as part of their efforts to keep employees safe and healthy. Some ways to mitigate risk in common spaces in the workplace might be to:

  • Temporarily suspend use of common spaces for breaks or meals
  • Redesign common spaces for social distancing
  • Require employees to wear masks, gloves or other PPE in common spaces
  • Designate traffic flows in hallways or corridors
  • Contactless cafeterias and food lockers
  • Provision of food options on-site (so employees do not have to leave work for meals and/or where there are only limited food service options available due to closures)
  • Ensure regular and frequent disinfecting of common spaces and frequently touched areas (appliances, appliance handles, faucets, door handles, chairs and tables, restrooms, etc.)

7. Communications

Customer and employee communications have changed due to COVID-19 and those changes will probably linger far after viral infections subside or disappear altogether. Many employers have decided to extend work-from-home opportunities indefinitely to those workers who can effectively perform remotely. Likewise, businesses are evaluating whether customer and client communications that were previously done in person or at events can be moved online.

Virtual meeting tools like Skype, Facetime, Zoom, StartMeeting and similar platforms have all enjoyed exponential growth as a result of the change in communications. Your business may also want to consider whether now is a good time to expand or revitalize communications programs for social media, email and other online tools that can help you connect with customers and employees in the ways needed to grow your business.

8. Customer contact

For many small businesses, face-to-face customer contact is the most personal and sometimes the most effective option for helping prospects move through the buying journey, supporting new customers, generating referrals and creating an overall positive customer experience. In the current environment, however, it is not the safest form of customer contact and may not even be an option anymore. Laws in your area may even preclude customer contact, at least temporarily.

In other small businesses, such as retail and restaurant businesses, it is an absolutely necessary factor for restarting and resuming business operations. Just as with on-site employees, small business restart programs must address safety conditions for serving customers at your place of business. Modifying the shopping and payment stations, cleaning and disinfecting, and PPE for both employees and customers will all be considerations for restarting.

9. The evolution of marketing

As with other aspects of customer contact, marketing has changed dramatically, and those changes will probably continue indefinitely for the foreseeable future. Businesses plan to decrease investing in in-person marketing tactics, as well as advertising and paid marketing in favor of online events and organic search.

How COVID-19 has impacted marketing for small business restart programs

According to MarketingCharts.com, the percent of businesses that plan to decrease these marketing investments:

  • 80% – events / experiential marketing
  • 39% – out of home marketing
  • 33% – TV (advertising)
  • 25% – paid social advertising and marketing
  • 23% – online display advertising

Conversely, the percent of businesses who say they plan to increase marketing investments are choosing:

  • 67% – webinars
  • 56% – organic social media
  • 44% – online video
  • 39% – paid social media
  • 34% – SEO / search
  • 34% – online display advertising

10. Well-being and peace of mind

Before COVID-19 stalled and disrupted the economy, American workers and customers largely went to work, shopped and did businesses free from fear of health concerns. With COVID-19 still dramatically affecting the business environment across the nation, and even as it subsides, the “new normal” will not be like it was before.

Small business restart programs must account not only for addressing the physical safety of employees and customers, but also the perceived well-being and peace of mind promoted by the “new normal” of how they plan to do business going forward.

Perceived well-being and peace of mind is a real concern for business owners. Many people have experienced extreme fear and anxiety as a result of the pandemic. You may want to consider whether to offer counseling services to employees as a part of their return to work program.

Employees and customers do not just want to be safe, they want to feel safe at work or while doing business with you. It will be vital for you to effectively communicate what steps you are taking to promote health and safety at your place of business to all of your internal and external stakeholders.

The bottom line for restarting a small business after COVID-19

We all want to get back to the business of doing business! From making changes to physical aspects of the customer and employee experience with your business, you can foster a safer workplace that contributes to the health and well-being of your business, as well as all of its stakeholders.

5 Ways Realtors Can Adjust During the Coronavirus Crisis

5 Ways Realtors Can Adjust During the Coronavirus Crisis

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78 percent of realtors say the Coronavirus isn’t keeping home buyers away, but there are still some things you can do to keep your pipeline filled until the national emergency has passed.

Has Coronavirus Impacted the Real Estate Market?

In general, the impact of the Coronavirus has not yet made its way into the real estate market. However, that may change nationally or in local regions should larger outbreaks occur or state and regional authorities issue restrictions. According to the National Association of Realtors’ March 9-10 Economic Pulse Flash Survey,

  • 37% – Home buyers’ enthusiasm over low mortgage rates exceeded concerns about stock market fluctuation
  • 78% – Novel Coronavirus has not changed levels of buyer interest
  • 16% – Buyer interest decreased due to Coronavirus (of note, 21% of California responders and 19% of Washington responders – states with higher instances of the virus – said buyer interest had waned)
  • 87% – Coronavirus has not had an affect on the number of homes on the market
  • 5% of Washington members and 4% California members reported sellers taking homes off the market vs. 3% nationwide

View NAR’s Economic Pulse Flash Survey full report

Will the Coronavirus Impact the Real Estate Market?

In March, the President declared a national emergency due to the potential spread of COVID-19 virus in the US. International travel and guidelines for social distancing for everyone in the United States. Understandably, this could impact real estate investors, home buyers and sellers in the immediate future:

  • Home buyers fearful of attending open houses or touring homes due to risk of exposure
  • Home sellers who do not want to open their homes for open houses or home tours to strangers who may be contagious
  • Categorically at-risk prospects who are limiting all out-of-home activities
  • Home buyers, sellers and real estate investors who are staying out of the market temporarily due to economic or financial uncertainties

For that matter, you, as realtors, also must consider your risk of exposure as you meet with prospects, hold open houses, give home tours, interact with title companies, home stagers, cleaners, contractors and so forth.

How can you practice social distancing while also fulfilling your responsibilities, and while addressing the factors that might be prohibitive to members of your team as well as home buyers, home sellers and real estate investors?

5 Ways Realtors Can Adjust During the Coronavirus Emergency

1. Embrace remote work

Social distancing does not mean isolation! Thanks to technology you have what you and your team need to work remotely together, and most of it fits in the palm of your hand.

  • Use productivity apps like Trello and Slack to set goals, encourage accountability, and track and measure results
  • Meet up with prospects via free video calling on Skype or Facetime instead of at the coffee shop, the prospects home or your office
  • Use online meeting platforms like StartMeeting.com to hold buyer and seller seminars or team meetings

Bear in mind as well that some of your staff may face childcare challenges at this time due to school closings or daycare closings. These remote work-friendly tools can help ensure you don’t lose valuable employees and give them the means to continue to contribute as a member of your team.

2. Virtual tours

While in-person home tours and open houses give prospective buyers a real sense of a property, they are not 100% necessary. Thousands of real estate investors and home buyers purchase real estate properties every year without ever setting foot on them.

Real estate photography, videography and drone photography and videography can provide prospective buyers with layout, condition and other characteristics. You can also hold virtual open houses using your smartphone or in partnership with your real estate videographer (for higher quality production). As an added bonus, these “live” open houses are also then recorded, so they can be played back at any time by interested buyers.

3. Spring for inspections and appraisals

Virtual tours only provide prospective home buyers and real estate investors with part of the picture. When partnered with professional inspections and appraisals, you give buyers confidence in purchasing a property they may be unable to visit personally. Doing this work for prospects up front increases buyer confidence and acts as a buying incentive.

4. Leverage low rates

Historically low borrowing rates are another incentive that stimulates the real estate market. The U.S. Treasury is lowering rates even more to help curb negative economic pressure. Make sure your on and off-line marketing highlights the benefits of taking advantage of low interest rates to home buyers and real estate investors, including that this is likely a time-limited opportunity. If you have a preferred lender, they can be a great resource in helping you share scenarios, case studies and real life examples.

5. Make “clean” part of your story

Whether you hire professional cleaners to do a deep clean of a property before going on the market, before and after an open house, or before a home buyer takes ownership of a property, cleaning is another tool that can incentivize home buyers and sellers. Professional cleaning and sanitizing of a home can give both buyers and sellers confidence and help to overcome fear they have about health risks related to home tours or open houses.

When you hold events such as open houses or home tours, wipe down all door handles, countertops, faucets, cupboard pulls and any other surfaces that are commonly touched with germ-killing wipes or disinfectant. Provide hand sanitizer to prospects before entering and upon leaving the property. Buy branded hand sanitizer to send home with prospective buyers or sellers or to give away at client meetings.

If your office remains open to the public and/or employees, make “clean” part of your story there, too. Have your office professionally cleaned and make the same wipe-down process noted above part of your office protocol. Equip your space’s entry and common areas with hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes so that people are empowered to create a safer space for clients and co-workers.

From buyer incentives like pre-paid inspections, appraisals, professional cleaning and low interest rates to actions you take to protect yourself, your team and your clients, you can help to ensure that your real estate pipeline remains active during the Coronavirus (or COVID-19) emergency. Even after the crisis has passed, you may even determine that many of these changes stay part of your real estate practice going forward.

11 ways to position your business for success in the New Year

11 Ways to Position your Business for Success this Year

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If you are one of the many business owners looking for ways to build business in the New Year, you are not alone. Here are eleven steps you can take to position your business for growth right now.

Top 11 Ways to Position Your Business to Succeed in the New Year

The devil is in the details when it comes to growing any type of business. The little things that you do now can have big effects later on. Put these eleven ideas to work in your business in order to set the stage for business success and growth in the New Year.

1. Get on Top of New Year Marketing and Industry Trends

Taking the time to research new technologies, consumer buying behaviors and marketing trends can help you identify improvements to your business that could help you gain an edge over competitors or keep you from being out-maneuvered by them. Emerging trends in your industry, marketing and the buying patterns of your customers (or consumers in general) can be used to shape – or at least tweak – your business and marketing plans for the coming year.

Where to start: Industry trade magazines and websites often feature preview and trend articles at this time of year. You can also glean inspiration from sites like springwise.com, find out about new tech from sites like producthunt.com, or explore all kinds of 2020 business trends on sites like entrepreneur.com.

2. Improve your Communication Skills to Succeed in the New Year

No doubt about it, effective communication skills – whether verbal or written – can make the difference when it comes to breaking through the clutter with consumers, employees, investors and other stakeholders. Smarp.com identified eighteen communication trends leaders need to be aware of in 2020.

3. Why Wait? Spring-Clean Your Business Now

Be all you can be! Now is the perfect time to identify inefficiencies, ineffective policies and just plain bad practices that are keeping your business from becoming the best version of itself. This pingboard.com article suggests seven specific ways for you to improve your business in 2020. You might also like this forbes.com article with five budgeting tips for small businesses in 2020.

4. Identify Financial Resources

Very few growth initiatives can be completed without working capital. Your plan for growth needs to be supported by adequate working capital for day to day operations as well as capital that can be used for marketing, expansion, new technology, new product or service launches, and so on. Your business may already have working capital that can be unlocked using receivables invoice factoring or with a real estate commission advance. These assets “on the books” can be unlocked to free up working capital when needed, instead of waiting weeks, or even months, for customers to pay or real estate transactions to close.

5. Stop Generalizing Already!

If your marketing messages are one-size-fits-all, it might mean they are closer to one-size-fits-none. Get smart about members of your target markets using sites like Nielsen’s claritas.com Prizm zip code look up tool (where you can find out what types of people live in your local area) or trendsactive.com with its overview on generational trends.

6. Refine or Retool Your Value Proposition

Stop rambling! Refining the way that you deliver your value proposition could impact your conversion rate in a big way. Sales strategy expert Jill Konrath offers up two ways you can create sales messages that convert in Examples of What to Say When Prospecting. We also recently published an article with five buying signs real estate prospects give when they are ready to sign on the bottom line.

7. Speaking of Customers, Reboot Your Retention Strategy

Many businesses have detailed plans for attracting customers but only a few, somewhat vague strategies laid out to keep them. Now is the perfect time for you to identify the rate of customer turnover (or “churn”) that is present within your organization, decide what constitutes a reasonable level of turnover and create a warning system that triggers actions when unacceptable levels are reached.

7. Craft an Employee-Experience Strategy

Churn and turnover isn’t just a problem when it comes to customers; employee turnover can keep your business from reaching its full potential as well. Much attention is paid in marketing to designing a customer experience that sets a business apart, but few businesses go so far as to design and implement a purposeful employee experience plan.

Since employee satisfaction is critical to customer care, efficiency, productivity, profitability and nearly every other area of your business, thinking through the experience in your business from the employee’s point of view could be helpful.

From recruiting, hiring and orientation through to the break and lunch areas, benefits, time off and other perks, design an employee experience within your business that makes employees believe you feel they are as important to your organization’s success as you say they are! To help you get started, check out this hrtechnologist.com article six practical ways to improve employee retention.

9. Stop Believing You Can Read Minds

Whether it’s gauging customer or employee satisfaction, looking for ways to cut costs, becoming more productive or making any other number of improvements to a business, many business leaders act as though they can read minds; or worse, they act as though everyone thinks just like they do.

Let go of the notion that you are a mind reader and start asking questions of your customers and employees – and start listening to the answers. Make it safe for people to give you constructive criticism and you may well discover a treasure-trove of ideas that you can use to grow your business faster in the months ahead.

This article with 10 Questions to Ask Your Team Every Week on 15five.com can be a starting point to better team dialogue. In addition, be sure that you are soliciting customer feedback using surveys, post-sale customer ratings and reviews and encourage customers to engage with you on social networks.

10. Get Everyone on the Same Page

If everyone is pulling – but everyone is pulling in a different direction – you are unlikely to achieve your business goals. Don’t assume that investors, board members, employees or customers share your vision! Take some time to ensure that everyone is on the same page as is laid out in this entrepreneur.com article by:

  1. Defining the mission
  2. Setting priorities, goals and targets
  3. Encouraging bottom-up planning
  4. Facilitating transparent information sharing and rigorous debate
  5. Ensuring that your organization is aligned appropriately

11. Send a State of the Business Message

Inspire customers, employees, vendors and other stakeholders to enter the New Year feeling more connected to you and your brand. Talk about the way your business has impacted the lives of customers, staff and the community for the better. Tell how your business will transform and improve in the New Year. Point out benchmarks and achievements, and recognize and thank those who contributed.

10 Business New Year Resolutions for 2020

10 Business New Year Resolutions for 2020

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Whether you want to accomplish one or all ten of these business New Year Resolutions in 2020, the time and resources spent in improving your organization will be well-invested.

10 Business New Year Resolutions You Should Make for Continuous Improvement in 2020

Don’t be complacent! These ten Business New Year Resolutions can help you maintain momentum by producing continual improvements in your organization.

Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning, “good change.” In reference to a business or professional workplace, it carries the idea of making continuous improvements throughout any and all business processes in order to constantly become more profitable, more efficient, or achieve other goals. Specifically, Edward Deming is credited with introduction of a management philosophy built around the idea of continuous improvement as he led the economic rebuilding efforts in post-World War II Japan.

Since that time, many organizations in the US and across the world have not only adopted the idea of continuous improvement into their management and operating practices; some have even created formal programs to incentivize and reward staff for contribution and implementation of ideas. As it pertains to professional development or a business, it might help to view the making of Business New Year Resolutions as part of a continual improvement effort.

Continuous Improvement – 10 Business New Year Resolutions Will Make Your Organization Better this Year

1. Write a New Year Vision Statement

Your organization may already have a corporate vision statement that reflects how it will grow and impact the world over the long term – but what about this year? By identifying “where” your business is now and writing a vision statement that reflects where you want it to be at year’s end, it will make it easier to identify the strategies that will take you there.

2. Write a New Year Mission Statement

While a vision statement specifies an end-goal, a mission statement lays out how you will get there. Usually it speaks to values that underlie the way customers are served, major target audiences that will be reached, and the products or services that will be delivered. Check out nine great mission statements in this hubspot.com blog article.

3. Break Down Internal Barriers

Internal departments or individuals with competing agendas can slow or stall organizational growth. Transparency and shared goals can help to keep everyone on the same page.

4. Eliminate Drag

The classic business leadership book titled Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers: Developing Change-Driving People and Organizations may be two decades old, but it is no less relevant today and we endorse it as a great read for any business owner or leader. Whether you need to cut ties with a vendor or employee who isn’t performing up to par, eliminate obsolescent processes, products or services, or even reset the organizational chart – make this year the year that you stop doing anything else simply because “it’s the way we’ve always done things.”

5. Reach a New Demographic

Without thoughtful, continuous evolution that allows you to reach a broader demographic, it’s possible that over time your prospective customer base may shrink. You may be able to reach a new demographic this year by adding a new product or service to your line-up or creating new variations on the items you already offer.

6. Boost Profits

They say that there are two constants: death and taxes. To that list we would add a third, and that is cost increases. No matter the type of organization, chances are that one or more of the major costs that impact your business will be going up this year. Whether achieved through improving efficiencies, cutting costs or raising prices, it’s important that you find ways to boost profits in the New Year so that you will have more capital to reinvest in order to grow your business.

7. Communicate More, and More Effectively

Once upon a time companies could write letters, place ads, send direct mail, dial the phone or visit people in person. Today you can still do all those things, and a whole lot more. Make this year the year that you master the art of marketing communication when it comes to your most important stakeholders; such as prospects, customers, vendors, investors and staff.

8. Secure Growth Financing

You might be able to get by on current revenues, but do you have any capital left over to invest in growing your business? Whether you seek out a line of credit, secure a bank business loan, bring in additional investment money or turn to working capital financing options designed to expedite cash flow, like receivables invoice factoring or a real estate commission advance, it’s important to identify how your business will free up working capital it needs to grow in the New Year.

9. Adopt a Partnership Mentality

Whether it’s the vendors and suppliers you choose to work with or the way that you work as a vendor or supplier to other organizations, adopting a win-win partnership mentality is crucial. Evaluate your list – and you selection process – in order to ensure that you are working with vendors and suppliers who are just as (if not more) committed to helping you grow your business than merely selling to you. Don’t be afraid to come out and ask your vendors and suppliers to tell you, specifically, why you should choose to do business with them vs. other options.

10. Set Goals and Measures

It’s easy to get so caught up in the day to day of running a business or completing assigned tasks that you lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. As you pursue your vision for the New Year, set specific goals that will pursued, decide how and when you will measure your progress, and if need be, assign responsibility for both.

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Did you make business New Year Resolutions? The cash flow financing tools at Corsa Finance could be the ideal tool you need to achieve them! Get a free, no-risk proposal for invoice factoring or commission advance financing today:

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5 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Cash In On Seasonal Holiday Hiring

5 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Cash In On Seasonal Holiday Hiring

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The coming holiday season promises another increase in consumer spending, and staffing and recruiting agencies can benefit as well as retailers. Here are five ways recruiters, staffing and temp employment agencies can get a piece of the holiday hiring pie.

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Hiring

Retailers, distributors and shipping companies are about to beef up staff, big time, in anticipation of another banner year for holiday ecommerce sales and many of them are going to turn to staffing and temporary employment agencies to get the job done. Amazon, Target and UPS will be hiring hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers this year.

And job seekers are interested, too. RetailDive reported “according to a recent Indeed holiday hiring survey, holiday job searches per million job seekers rose 11% in August from the year-ago period.” While some companies will create their own hiring systems, others will turn to temporary employment, staffing and recruiting agencies for help filling seasonal jobs.

5 Ways to Help Your Staffing Agency Grow by Satisfying Holiday Hiring Demand

1. Build a large pool of potential seasonal workers ahead of time.

Any of your current and past contacts could be looking to make a change or willing to take on a second job during the holidays, even if they are not technically looking for a new job. Reach out to your contacts now and ask for referrals as well.

Set up an online form just for people interested in seasonal work with a short application and create an expedited version of your normal recruiting and hiring process so that when opportunity knocks, you have a long list of potential seasonal workers who are ready to hit the shop floor – or warehouse floor – running.

2. Use invoice factoring to finance expanded recruiting and hiring activities.

Having a list of candidates who have already been vetted could give your agency a competitive advantage during the holidays that extends into repeat business next year. Job ads, background checks, time spent interviewing candidates and checking references – it all takes time. You might even need to hire your own seasonal help just to handle the increased workload it will take to build a large pool of seasonal workers.

Invoice factoring speeds up cash flow and gives you access to working capital that is tied up in client invoices; this is working capital that you can then deploy to ramp up recruiting efforts and develop a pool of seasonal workers who are ready to go to work immediately. Even if you are already factoring, we would be happy to provide you with a quote for staffing invoice factoring to ensure that you have the best cash flow solution in place for your agency.

3. Keep quality standards high.

Yes, you want to have a pool of candidates large enough to quickly meet employer’s demands for temporary workers during the holidays, but that doesn’t mean low-quality seasonal workers should get through the door. Your value as a temporary employer, staffing agency or recruiter lies in saving your clients time and money after the worker hits the floor. Any time a client has to deal with a less-than-stellar placement, the cost of using your services goes up, and your value to the client goes down. Don’t skimp on quality of candidates even during the holiday seasonal hiring rush.

4. Point out the value of getting a foot in the door.

If your initial call for seasonal workers doesn’t produce the number of potential placements you envisioned or you are looking to get a few really stellar candidates to consider seasonal work, remind contacts that the road to getting their dream job at their dream company might start by getting their foot in the door as a seasonal holiday worker.

5. Send out a packet of potential seasonal worker resumes.

You’ve got a pool of seasonal holiday hires ready to place; now what? In addition to reaching out by phone and email to clients, put together a marketing packet that highlights the number and quality of candidates that you have who are ready to rock and roll, by speaking to candidates backgrounds and experience, and using testimonials from their references – think of it as a holiday staffing catalog and design it accordingly as collateral that you can use throughout the holidays online and off.