TEC Resource Center

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Attracting Quality Employees!

Your company is growing but you can’t find the quality employees you need to keep up with demand?  Well, you are not alone!  In the current employment market, the employee can, and is, being more selective in their approach to finding a position that is right for them, and compensation is not the driving factor.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when recruiting quality employees, you can build your company around.

  1. Offer Flexible Work Arrangements: In a competitive labor market, flexible work arrangements such as remote work or flexible hours can be attractive to potential employees. This can give them more control over their work-life balance.
  2. Focus on Company Culture: A strong company culture can be a powerful draw for job seekers. Highlight your company’s values, mission, and work environment in your recruitment efforts.
  3. Use Social Media: Social media is a powerful tool for recruitment. Utilize platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to share job postings and company updates. You can also create videos or other visual content to showcase your company culture and values.
  4. Employee Referral Programs: Employee referral programs can be an effective way to attract new talent. Offer incentives to current employees who refer qualified candidates, such as bonuses or extra vacation time.
  5. Offer Competitive Compensation: In a competitive labor market, offering competitive compensation packages is essential. This can include not only salary but also benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans, and paid time off.
  6. Develop a Strong Employer Brand: A strong employer brand can help your company stand out from competitors. Highlight what makes your company unique and emphasize the value you offer to employees.
  7. Invest in Training and Development: Offering opportunities for training and development can be attractive to potential employees, especially those looking to advance their careers. Highlight the ways in which your company invests in their employees.
  8. Attend Job Fairs and Networking Events: Attending job fairs and networking events can help you connect with potential employees in person. Be sure to bring marketing materials such as brochures or business cards.
  9. Partner with Local Schools and Universities: Partnering with local schools and universities can help you build relationships with potential candidates early on. Offer internships, sponsor student organizations, or host career fairs on campus.
  10. Create a Positive Candidate Experience: Creating a positive candidate experience can help you attract top talent. Be responsive, communicate clearly, and provide a smooth and efficient hiring process.

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Marketing Massages and Customer Connections

Everyone knows customer connections are essential to the growth of your company but how many times a day are you presented with an advertisement that really gets your attention? If you are like most of us, getting your attention has become an increasingly difficult task.  Digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day.  When I first read this, I was blown away and then I started to track it in my daily life.  To my astonishment, the number was right on the money.  Ads were everywhere, TV, radio, digital media, print media, on buildings, billboards, bus benches, shopping carts and on and on.

The crazy thing is most of these ads had no draw whatsoever for me.  Even when it was something I had real interest in I almost didn’t notice it was there.  The experts tell us that the average person needs to see an ad or website or landing page seven times before they will respond to it.  That’s a lot of marketing dollars, especially for a small business owner. So, what’s the plan for your business?

Market Dominating Position (MDP) – Unique Selling Proposition

First off – stop marketing a me-too message.  If your message to your customer base, is I do what they do only better you are wasting your money and you will only be able to compete on price.  That means lower revenue and less profit to grow with.  You need to find a unique selling proposition.  Something that will differentiate you from the other companies in your business sector.  What is it you do that separates you from your competitors?

Domino’s pizza (Domino’s Pizza) is a great example of this.  Dominos focused in on a specific segment of the market – college students.   Their need was to get something to eat anytime of the day and get it quickly.  30-minute delivery or it’s free!  This is a terrific example of an MDP.   Does Dominos make the best pizza?  Not by a longshot, but they sure sell a lot of them.

Another more relatable example is the Preschool that – guarantees your child will be reading at a second-grade level when they enter kindergarten.  Every parent wants their child to exceed in school and life beyond, so this message resonates with them when they see it.

When you can get inside the head of your potential customer by talking about the problem they have that they don’t want and offering the solution they want but don’t have, your marketing will get noticed.

When thinking about your messaging you need to do some research to determine what your customers are focused on when deciding to buy your product or service.  The best source for this information is the customers you already have.  Ask these questions to start.

  • What was it about our product or service that made our company stand apart from the competition?
  • What else might you have wanted to see as an added service?
  • What other than price was the motivating force behind your decision to use our service or product?
  • Was there any downside to the product or service?
  • How long were you considering making this purchase before pulling the trigger?

Your customers have the answers, you just need to talk to them until you uncover what it is that makes you unique and will separate you from the pack.  There are a lot of companies out there that sell pizza and most of them taste better than Dominos, but the results they have achieved are undeniable.   Domino’s market share has stayed between 49–54% from August 2019 to February 2020.  All by focusing in on a specific demographic with a specific need – Fast delivery!!

There is no reason you and your company cannot do the same thing with a little focus and some direction.  Create your own Market Dominating Position with our MDP workbook and video series (TEC Online Training).

Stop wasting marketing dollars on a message that does nothing to separate you from the other companies offering similar products or services.

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The Business Synergy Strategy

Synergy

Congratulations, you have created a successful business that is well respected by your customer demographic, but now what?  How do you add value to your business without diluting your current marketing and sales efforts?  This is a question that many companies ask themselves at some point in the evolution of the organization.

According to CleverISM.com, Synergy in business is “defined as the increase in competitiveness and cash flows beyond what the two companies are expected to accomplish if they maintain standalone operations.”  This is sometimes expressed as 1+1=3.  Two profitable companies when combined results in a better and stronger company.  This is easiest to understand in the example of the car wash that sells floor mats, air fresheners, and other accessories to their clients on the way to the cash register.  The car wash would be profitable without the accessories sales, but when combined the bottom line is exponentially increased.

This strategy works just as well when two separate companies are combined through a strategic acquisition.  That is if you are large enough to consider that kind of thing.  If not, you might consider starting a complementary business that focuses on the same customer demographic.  But starting a new business that you are unfamiliar with might distract you from what you are already doing and slow the growth of your existing business during the development process.

An alternative to starting a new business can be found in the franchise world.  Franchising offers you a proven model to a business that can be added to what you are already doing with very little cost.  If you are a successful landscaper and add a mosquito spraying franchise to the mix you could significantly increase your offering to your customer base with very little added expense – 1+1=3!  Many franchise brands will in fact combine synergistic franchise concepts under one roof in the hopes that their franchisees will take advantage of the synergies as they grow.

If you are a successful small business owner, now is the time to think about a strategy that will allow you to leverage the synergies of other companies be it by acquisition, partnership, or franchising that will allow you to grow your bottom line without added significant operating costs.

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Sorry, we’re all out….

guy at desk

 

I was recently traveling to Maine and stopped at a lovely hotel on the way, in Portsmouth, NH. As I unpacked I realized I forgot my hair brush. Yikes!!! The weather was very hot and humid therefore, this was going to be a big problem for me. I remembered that the front desk staff had been very helpful upon arrival, so I stopped there on my way to dinner. I asked if there was a CVS or drugstore around where I could purchase a hair brush. The girl at the counter said, “Oh boy, not really in walking distance….. and we don’t have any here at the desk. I’m so sorry.”

Needless to say, panic started setting in. I guess the other gentleman working at the desk sensed my distress and softly said to the girl, “I wonder if there is a salon close by that might sell brushes.”

He quickly googled and made a call. He put me on the phone with the person at the salon, which he had already confirmed was open until 8PM and sure enough, they had a brush that would get me through my trip. A block and a half walk and I was all set.

The first representative didn’t really do anything wrong. She answered my question and apologized for my inconvenience. I think she really felt bad. But the second representative did so much more. He was a star. First of all, he looked for a solution to my problem, beyond what they could do at the hotel and then he didn’t embarrass the other representative. He helped her with a smooth gentle transition.

This is the kind of consistent service world class organizations provide. Some people are a natural at it, while others need help. But when the culture is one of service, everyone is thinking, “HOW CAN I HELP?” That’s when the true transformation occurs!

Thoughts……

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What kind of hitter are you?

What kind of hitter are you?

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” —Mother Teresa

Sometimes it can be very frustrating when we have these great ideas and it seems like nobody is paying attention. We want to have this giant impact on our organization; we want to hit that homerun, but it’s important to remember how many games are won with base hits.

Joe was a marketing major in college who couldn’t find a job in his field when he graduated college. After 9 months or so, he decided to go back to school to become a biomed tech. He landed a job at in independent service organization and thus began his career in biomed. He really loved the work and the company.

The company underwent a rebranding process. They put together a presentation for the staff. In small groups, they educated the employees on the new brand and how they could be brand ambassadors. Over the short time Joe had worked there, he had noticed, with his trained marketing eye that the PM stickers the company was using were very hard to read and that the logo they had on them did not really convey the name of the company. He had mentioned this to his supervisors and really anyone who would listen but no one seemed to react to it. He was convinced that if they redesigned the logo, it would really have a substantially positive marketing effect.

At the branding meeting, Joe thought it would be a great time to bring this up again, since he had an audience he did not usually have access to. Joe suggested redesigning the logo to include something that would be more identifiable to the users of the equipment. Similarly, the people running the meeting thought he had some good ideas, but didn’t seem willing to adopt them.

Joe became frustrated and eventually left the company because he thought they were the kind of company that just wouldn’t listen to good ideas. What he didn’t realize was that the changes he was proposed were huge. The company just spent a large sum of money with an outside firm to rebrand themselves. The new logo was just adopted and to change it again would be too costly.

Instead of becoming frustrated and disengaging, if Joe could have used his marketing experience to work with what they already had and proposed a small change instead, it may have been the catalyst to a similar result and the improved visibility he envision for the company. Change is difficult. It takes time, and when you refuse to be flexible and convey the message that your way is the only way, the more people will resist or resent it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. When the big ideas don’t sell, break it down and start hitting the base hits. They can have a tremendous impact on the game!

Thoughts…….. Contact me at abbe@TECResourceCenter.com

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