2016 staffing industry sales, marketing & recruiting...

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2016 STAFFING INDUSTRY

Sales, Marketing & Recruiting SurveyInsights Report

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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AboutHALEY MARKETINGFounded in 1996, Haley Marketing is the largest website development, social and content marketing firm serving the temporary staffing and executive recruiting industries.

Over the past 20 years, we have steadily grown our team, our offerings and our client base. Today, we proudly serve more than 1,000 staffing and recruiting firms, ranging from solo recruiters to larger staffing and recruiting organizations with regional, national and international offices.

Our mission is to make great marketing more affordable for clients, helping them to stand out, stay top-of-mind and sell more. For more information about our company or our services, visit www.haleymarketing.com.

AboutTHIS STUDYIn July and August 2016, Haley Marketing conducted an online survey of staffing industry professionals to find out what works best when it comes to their firms’ sales, marketing and recruiting efforts. The survey was completed by nearly 500 individuals located throughout the U.S., representing a wide range of staffing specialties and company sizes.

Note: Due to skip patterns, skipped questions and survey drop-out, some

questions were not answered by every respondent. For each question, we

included the total number of responses (which is statistically valid for the

sample size); percentages are based on the number of respondents who

completed each question.

COMPANY SIZE

41.7%$0 to $3MM

0.6%$1B+

4.2%$100MM to $1B

15.4%$25.1MM to $100MM

14.8%$10.1MM to $25MM

23.2%$3.1MM to $10MM

RESPONDENTS WHO ANSWERED QUESTIONS: 357

RESPONDENTS WHO SKIPPED QUESTIONS: 138

RESPONSE % / RESPONSE COUNT

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SPECIALTY (Multiple Responses Allowed)

PERCENTAGE OF COMPANY REVENUE THAT COMES FROM TEMPORARY STAFFING:

RESPONSE % / RESPONSE COUNT

ANSWERED QUESTION: 369

SKIPPED QUESTION: 126

Healthcare - Locum Tenens 3.8% / 14 Life Sciences / Scientific 9.2% / 34

Clerical52.3% / 193

Industrial48.0% / 177

Accounting/Finance

46.1% / 170

IT33.9% / 125

HR33.6% / 124

Engineering30.4% / 112

Healthcare - Allied 15.4% / 57

Healthcare - Nursing 11.9% / 44

Creative / Marketing 15.2% / 56

Legal 10.6% / 39

0-10%

6011-20%

5 42

61-70%

1541-50%11

31-40%

1051-60%

76

81-90%

102

91-100%

UNSURE OF %: 35 TOTAL RESPONSE COUNT: 364 ANSWERED QUESTION: 364 SKIPPED QUESTION: 131

Other 19.8% / 73

21-30%

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In today’s economy and employment market, finding talent is hard. Selling staffing services is tough. And the range of available tools and

techniques is dizzying.

In this whitepaper, we identify the factors that make sales and recruiting easier (and deliver the highest ROI), so you can drive better results

on both sides of the employment equation.

So, when it comes to staffing recruiting, sales and marketing, what works – and what doesn’t?

Let’s take a look at the survey findings.{KEYFINDINGS

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RecruitingSECTION 1:

The ability to find candidates with the skills and experience employers require is, not surprisingly, the biggest recruiting challenge cited. Nearly 30% of respondents rate “skill gap” as “extremely challenging.”

Candidate sourcing (inbound and direct) is listed as the second- and third-largest recruiting challenge. Combined, over 31% of respondents listed sourcing as “extremely challenging.”

Thankfully, getting candidates to show up for interviews and assignments ranks lowest on respondents’ list of recruiting challenges. Over 60% of respondents ranked candidate reliability as an average or lower challenge.

SKILLS GAPS AND INBOUND SOURCING ARE BIGGEST RECRUITING CHALLENGES.

Q: How big is each of the following recruiting challenges?

ANSWER OPTIONSNOT A CHALLENGE

AT ALL EXTREMELY

CHALLENGINGRATING

AVERAGERESPONSE

COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Skill gap (ability to find people with required skills / experience)

10 41 119 175 142 3.82 487

Inbound sourcing (attracting candidates to your website / office)

21 65 163 144 93 3.46 486

Direct recruiting(identifying and reaching out to talent)

30 83 142 172 58 3.30 485

Pay rates you are able to offer 24 97 156 146 61 3.25 484

Hiring, training or retaining recruiters 55 94 112 130 94 3.24 485

Differentiating your jobs from other staffing jobs 45 102 139 135 64 3.15 485

Retaining candidates 42 101 163 121 57 3.10 484

Candidate reliability (showing up for interviews / job assignments)

76 104 119 110 78 3.02 487

ANSWERED QUESTION: 488 SKIPPED QUESTION: 7

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The data confirms what we already know: Staffing and recruiting firms are struggling to recruit information technology, skilled trades, and engineering talent.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite dramatic job growth projections1 (due to an aging population) and wider coverage under the Affordable Care Act, just half of respondents who recruit healthcare talent list recruiting this type of candidate as “extremely challenging.”

IT, SKILLED TRADES AND ENGINEERING TALENT ARE THE TOUGHEST TO RECRUIT.

RECRUITING

Recruiting and retaining exceptional talent – people with the skills, experience and work ethic employers need – is likely to remain an ongoing challenge. To find and keep the best:

• Offer more training resources to close skills gaps.

• Get creative! For critical skill gaps, consider the feasibility of partnering with outside training centers to up-skill field associates, or having more experienced associates provide training to other employees.

• Gather data to forecast talent supply and demand in the markets you serve – so you can anticipate where your clients will likely need the most assistance, and focus your efforts there.

• Periodically review compensation to ensure you are paying at or above market rate.

• Educate your clients about talent supply and market pay rate, so you can encourage them to pay enough to attract the best.

Footnote 1: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections – 2014-2024 data, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecopro.pdf

Q: How big of a challenge is it for you to recruit the following types of candidates?

ANSWER OPTIONS

NOT A CHALLENGE

AT ALL EXTREMELY

CHALLENGING N/ARATING

AVERAGERESPONSE

COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

IT 8 21 45 78 94 229 3.93 475

Skilled Trades 15 24 55 85 95 198 3.81 472

Engineering 13 24 51 92 65 227 3.70 472

Scientific 13 11 36 39 52 320 3.70 471

Healthcare 15 21 49 64 50 273 3.57 472

Professional 16 66 113 113 58 111 3.36 477

Accounting 20 52 86 97 50 169 3.34 474

Heavy Industrial 17 36 53 56 39 267 3.32 468

General Labor/Light Industrial 44 53 59 62 55 201 3.11 474

Administrative/Office 54 95 104 80 22 124 2.78 479

Train your sales and recruiting teams to educate clients about the value of adequate lead-time, especially in specialties experiencing the biggest shortages. Connect the dots for them between proactive recruitment process management and staffing/hiring success.


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RECRUITING

Referrals are the most effective recruiting tool, with over 43% of respondents rating them as “extremely effective.” This is no surprise; recent research by Glassdoor1

and SilkRoad2 supports this data.

Although it’s a relatively new tool, LinkedIn Recruiter is already a valuable resource for staffing and recruiting professionals – beating out major job boards (Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, Simply Hired, Dice) and company websites as sources for talent.

Notable “other” effective recruiting tools are: Continuing education venues, hosted open houses and LinkedIn Inmail.

GOOD PEOPLE KNOW GOOD PEOPLE (AND SO DOES LINKEDIN RECRUITER).

Q: How effective is each of the following recruiting tools?

Footnote 1: Glassdoor analysis of over 440,000 job interview reviews https://www.glassdoor.com/research/studies/interview-sources/ Footnote 2: SilkRoad Top Sources of Hire 2016 report http://www.silkroad.com/webinar/2016-top-sources-of-hire/

ANSWER OPTIONSNOT EFFECTIVE

AT ALL EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE N/A

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Referrals 8 32 75 137 201 8 4.08 461

LinkedIn – Recruiter 13 46 78 106 57 164 3.49 464

Indeed – Sponsored Jobs 24 36 83 96 62 163 3.45 464

Indeed – Organic Only 22 48 118 116 64 95 3.41 463

Your Company Website 24 83 135 143 62 19 3.30 466

CareerBuilder –Job Posts 20 61 96 93 33 160 3.19 463

LinkedIn – Job Slot 18 61 77 74 28 199 3.13 457

LinkedIn – Free Services 37 94 137 90 33 75 2.97 466

Dice 23 26 45 34 14 316 2.93 458

Craigslist 56 68 100 92 26 122 2.89 464

Job Fairs 52 76 101 81 29 125 2.88 464

Monster – Job Posts 43 60 80 65 18 199 2.83 465

Simply Hired – Sponsored Jobs 24 34 64 19 10 308 2.72 459

Simply Hired – Organic Only 29 52 59 29 9 281 2.65 459

Other (Please Specify) 45


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RECRUITING

Need to improve your recruiting results?

IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE. Optimize Job Seeker, About and Contact pages to get more candidates to convert. Add videos featuring hot jobs to your site to increase engagement. Politely, but directly, ask for referrals throughout your site.

IMPROVE YOUR JOB SEARCH AND APPLY FUNCTIONS.

• Make sure every job is on your website — and optimized for search engines.

• Simplify your apply process — every field over three reduces response!

BUILD YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND. IN EVERYTHING YOU DO, MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOUR STAFFING OR RECRUITING FIRM VALUES ITS MOST IMPORTANT ASSET – ITS PEOPLE!

• Strive to become a best place to work in your local market, or Inavero Best of Staffing talent award winner.

• Proactively manage your social reviews.

• Collect and display more testimonials on your website.

• Be more active on social media ... and in your local community.

CREATE A KILLER REFERRAL PROGRAM.

• Invest in technology to streamline/formalize your process and ensure that good referrals don’t fall through the cracks.

• Get creative with the incentives you offer, considering nontraditional options (e.g., charitable donations, tickets to hot local events) or tiered bonuses for hard-to-fill roles.

• To maximize results, ask for referrals often, and make participation as easy as possible.

• If you regularly recruit for professional or high-level technical roles, investigate the value of LinkedIn Recruiter. With powerful search tools and advanced recruiting filters, the benefit will likely outweigh the cost of being able to pinpoint qualified resources.

Take a more strategic approach. If you don’t have the resources in-house, partner with a specialized expert (like Haley Marketing) to examine your current activities. Together, we can build a multifaceted

recruiting strategy that’s comprehensive, yet targeted – and delivers the highest ROI.

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RECRUITING

Candidates love using mobile technology in their job hunt. And a recruitment process that doesn’t work well on a smartphone or tablet frustrates job seekers – causing as many as 40 percent of mobile candidates to abandon the application process1.

TO KEEP MORE PROMISING CANDIDATES AT THE TOP END OF YOUR RECRUITING FUNNEL:

• Critically examine every aspect of your job search and application processes to ensure they are simple and welcoming for job seekers.

• Invest in mobile technology to create a seamless job search experience for job seekers – no matter what type of device they use.

• Develop a mobile-optimized version of your application that loads in three seconds, has large buttons (that are easy to use on mobile devices) and doesn’t require scrolling or zooming to read.

• Make sure your application takes no more than 20 minutes to complete.

Footnote 1: CareerBuilder http://thehir-ingsite.careerbuilder.com/2013/03/11/forty-percent-of-mobile-candidates-aban-don-non-mobile-application-processes/

Over 15% of respondents’ websites do not allow candidates to search jobs.

Nearly 1 in 5 (18.5%) of respondents’ websites do not optimize the job-search process for mobile job seekers.

Nearly 1 in 3 (32.7%) of respondents’ websites do not have a mobile- optimized application process.

ESSENTIAL JOB SEARCH CAPABILITIES STILL MISSING FOR SOME

Footnote 1: Glassdoor Top HR Statistics https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/popular-topics/hr-stats.htm

Despite the fact that nearly half of all job seekers say they use mobile devices to search for jobs at least once a day and that nearly 9 in 10 candidates believe a mobile device is an important tool for job searching1:

Does your website allow candidates to search jobs?

Is the job search optimized for mobile job seekers?

Is your application process optimized for mobile job seekers?

ANSWER OPTIONS RESPONSE PERCENT RESPONSE COUNT

YES 83.5% 391

NO 16.5% 77



YES 81.5% 313

NO 18.5% 71



YES 52.7% 238

NO 32.7% 148

NOT APPLICABLE (we don't have an online application process)

14.6% 66


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RECRUITING

Although Bullhorn, Bond Adapt/Adapt Suite/eEmpACT/Staffsuite, and Avionte are the three most popular ATSs respondents use (accounting for nearly 38% of all responses), over one quarter of responses fall into the “Other” category (including Zoho, TempsPlus and eRecruit).

Among respondents who use ATS recruiting tools, satisfaction levels vary dramatically – with an average satisfaction rating of just under six (on a 1 to 10 scale).

Likewise, the most popular recruiting tools vary widely. No surprise, the email integration and resume parsing rank at the top of the list (they are big time savers), but what is surprising is how many tools are either not available to recruiters or not being used.

APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM CHOICES AND SATISFACTION LEVELS VARY WIDELY

Q: What ATS do you use?

If recruiting is a primary focus for your staffing firm, first investigate all the tools your ATS offers. If you see something on our list that’s not in your ATS, look for third-party solutions for tools like a mobile-optimized career site, search optimization of individual jobs, social and other job distribution, texting and online chat, video interviewing and more.


Other (please specify) 25.2% 102Bullhorn 17.1% 69Bond Adapt / Adapt Suite / eEmpACT / Staffsuite 12.1% 49Avionte 8.7% 35Tempworks 5.4% 22ABD (Ultrastaff) 5.0% 20PC Recruiter 3.2% 13Maxhire 2.7% 11AkkenCloud 2.5% 10COATS 2.5% 10Big Biller 2.2% 9Sendouts 2.0% 8Smart Search 1.5% 6Jobscience 1.2% 5Mindscope Cura 1.2% 5Winsearch 1.2% 5AST 1.0% 4Job Diva 1.0% 4SkilMatch 1.0% 4Talent Rover 1.0% 4COMPAS 0.5% 2Professional Advantage 0.5% 2Tracker RMS 0.5% 2cBiz One 0.2% 1Sedona Compass 0.2% 1TKO Systems 0.2% 1

ANSWER OPTIONS

EXTREMELYDISSATISFIED

EXTREMELY SATISFIED

N/A (do not use ATS recruiting tool)

RATING AVERAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

30 26 32 31 21 46 58 63 35 35 70 5.99

Q: How satisfied are you with the recruiting tools included with your ATS?





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RECRUITING

Q: What ATS recruiting tools do you like the most?

ANSWER OPTIONSNOT USEFUL AT

ALL INDISPENSIBLE/

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT N/ARATING

AVERAGERESPONSE

COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Candidate Sourcing from Job Databases and Social Media Sites

12 22 66 101 90 108 3.81 399

CRM / Contact Management 11 17 68 88 104 110 3.89 398

Email Integration with Outlook / Gmail 16 23 52 81 129 98 3.94 399

Career Site Job Posting (autopost jobs to your website)

14 24 49 76 114 124 3.91 401

Automated Job Sharing (with social media or job aggregators like Indeed)

11 22 49 83 76 157 3.79 398

Posting Jobs to Paid Sites (e.g., CareerBuilder) 17 27 55 81 71 149 3.65 400

Integrated career site (career site is part of the software)

8 24 44 61 54 204 3.68 395

SMS (text) Messaging Job Alerts to Candidates 13 20 50 86 67 165 3.74 401

Email Job Alerts for Candidates 9 23 67 96 71 136 3.74 402

SEO Optimization of Individual Job Posts 16 25 63 70 50 170 3.50 394

Resume Parsing 12 26 50 81 152 73 4.04 394

Candidate portal (update info and view history) 6 29 59 86 96 124 3.86 400

Integrated Time Tracking 19 17 28 55 58 219 3.66 396

Employee Referral Manager 10 24 58 61 37 205 3.48 395

Video Interviewing 22 35 35 28 16 262 2.86 398

VMS Integration 20 17 35 34 16 270 3.07 392

E-Verify Integration 14 12 35 59 50 229 3.70 399

Mobile-Optimized Job Search or Job Application 14 14 61 94 69 142 3.75 394

Mobile App 10 26 51 80 49 176 3.61 392


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RECRUITING

Over two thirds of respondents use a job portal for posting jobs (34.9% use a portal provided by their ATS and 32.3% use a job portal built by their web developer). Surprisingly, nearly 10% of respondents don’t post jobs to their website!

Those who do post jobs are generally satisfied with their job-posting solution, with an aver-age satisfaction rating just over seven (on a 1 to 10 scale).

The most popular suggestions for improving job-posting solutions focus on integration, automation and optimization.

JOB POSTING: WHAT WORKS – AND WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED?

Q: What improvements would you like to see in your job posting solution? (open-ended response; most popular responses listed below)

Q: How do you post jobs to your website?

Q: How satisfied are you with the job posting solution you selected above?

34.8%Use a Portal Provided by

our ATS

32.3%Our Web Developer Built a Job Portal

for Our Website

17.2%Use a 3rd Party Job Portal / Career Portal (e.g., CareerBuilder

Talent Network, Haley Marketing job board)

9.6%N/A - We Do Not Post Jobs to Our Website

6.1%Other - (please specify)

ANSWER OPTIONS

EXTREMELYDISSATISFIED

EXTREMELY SATISFIED N/A

RATING AVERAGE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

15 13 21 13 25 48 53 69 50 70 31 7.02


ANSWERSRESPONSE

COUNT

Better Automation / Simpler, Easier to Use

11

Direct Apply Function for Candidates 3


ANSWERSRESPONSE

COUNT

Better Integration (no specifics given)

10

Better Integration with Job Boards / Single Posting Solution

11

Better Integration with ATS 7

Better Integration with Social Media 3

ANSWERSRESPONSE

COUNT

Better Mobile-Optimization Features 6

Better SEO features 6

INTEGRATION AUTOMATION OPTIMIZATION

13

RECRUITING

Over one-third of respondents report spending less than 3% of their sales revenue on recruitment marketing.

WHAT PORTION OF SALES REVENUE IS FUNNELED INTO RECRUITING?

Q: Approximately what percentage of your sales revenue do you spend on recruitment marketing?

Like most areas of your business, you’ll get out of your recruitment marketing efforts what you invest. But that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to spend more; it means you need to spend smart – and that starts with measuring results. If you’re not already, track your spending on, as well as the effectiveness of, the tools you use – so you can direct more time and effort to the things that work.

Many recruiting tools today offer tracking codes and analytics to help you assess your spend and ROI. If you are a heavy user of PPC/PPA recruiting, you may want to invest in a more robust analytics tools like Recruitics to accurately assess each of your recruiting investments.

lessthan1%(49)

1-3%(102)

4-6%(87)

7-10%(41)

morethan10%

(20)

unsure(105)

RATINGS AVERAGE RESPONSE COUNT

2.60 404



And if you are using Haley Marketing’s job board, be sure to check out the analytics capabilities built into your MyHaley account.

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SalesSECTION 2:

Sales reps in over half (55.7%) of firms are expected to make fewer than 100 calls per week.

Sales reps in nearly 5% of firms are expected to make an average of 80 or more calls per day!

Expectations for weekly conversations with prospects vary tremendously. Sixteen percent of sales reps are expected to make just 10 connects per week, but an equal percentage are expected to make a minimum of 50 per week.

HOW STAFFING AND RECRUITING SALES REPS SPEND THEIR TIME

Substantial differences in sales activity quotas could be due to the nature of respondents’ businesses (i.e., niche specialization, size of prospect pool, types of services offered).

Do you have weekly or monthly sales activity quotas?

62.5%(RESPONSE COUNT: 258)


SKIPPED QUESTION: 8237.5%

(RESPONSE COUNT: 155) YES

NO

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SALES

Q: How many phone call attempts is each sales rep expected to make per week?

NUMBER OF SALES CALLS RESPONSE COUNT

0 – 50 58

51 – 100 60

101 – 200 34

201 – 400 28

More than 400 10

Varies / Not Applicable / Don't Track 22

Q: How many connects (actual conversations with a prospect) is each sales rep expected to make per week?

NUMBER OF CONTACTS RESPONSE COUNT

0 – 10 33

11 – 20 44

21 – 30 33

31 – 40 14

41 – 50 30

51 – 100 27

More than 100 6




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SALES

Q: How many appointments is each sales rep expected to complete per week?

NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS RESPONSE COUNT

0 – 2 29

3 – 5 73

6 – 10 61

11 – 20 17

More than 20 7



Despite the explosion of new communication tools, prospects are becoming harder to reach. As a result, cold calling is becoming less efficient. Increasing call volumes may actually be counterproductive – irritating potential customers and frustrating your sales reps.

If a sales rep is going to interrupt a prospect’s day, give them a “valid business reason” to do so. Make sure the communication adds value for the prospect and helps build the relationship. Shows respect. Patiently educates. And illustrates how your offerings can help the prospect accomplish their goals.

In the long run, time spent nurturing business relationships is much more im-pactful than “dialing for dollars.” In fact, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost, according to Forrester Research. Provide your sales team with the training and resources they need to grow high-value relationships – without becoming pesky.

17

SALES

Nearly one third (32.5%) of respondents start the sales process with Department Heads, Line Managers and other staffing end users.

END USERS ARE KEY STARTING POINTS FOR SALES

Q: Where do you most often start the sales process with a new prospect?

Department Head / Line Manager / Other End

User


Purchasing 1.9% (RESPONSE COUNT: 7)

CFO / Controller 2.8% (RESPONSE COUNT: 10)

HR Executive 5.0% (RESPONSE COUNT: 18)

HR Manager


Gatekeeper


Other Senior Manager



To move from the

role of vendor to

partner – and avoid

competing on price

alone – teach your

team to sell more

strategically.

Haley Marketing

can develop a

comprehensive,

integrated direct

marketing

program to

support your

sales team’s efforts,

warm your calls,

and help them

move up the

value chain.

18

SALES

Networking and referrals are the most effective sales methods, with roughly half (49.5%) of respondents rating them as “extremely effective.”

Skill marketing candidates (via calls and email) ranks second, with over one quarter (27.5%) of respondents rating it as “extremely effective.”

Getting an initial appointment is the biggest sales challenge facing today’s staffing and recruiting firms, followed closely by getting the first job order and getting on an approved vendor list.

IN SALES, WHAT WORKS BEST – AND WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES?

Q: How would you rate the effectiveness of the following sales methods?

ANSWER OPTIONSNOT AT ALL EFFECTIVE

EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE N/A

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Networking / Referrals 4 21 41 117 189 10 4.25 382

Skill Marketing / Most Placeable Candidate Calls 10 51 106 105 70 41 3.51 383

Drop By 49 56 93 72 40 70 2.99 380

Social Media 39 80 108 82 32 41 2.96 382

Skill Marketing / Most Placeable Candidate Bulk Email

41 87 70 64 35 85 2.88 382

Cold Calling (by phone) 40 99 122 74 27 22 2.86 384

Personal Sales Letter 44 81 89 60 16 90 2.73 380

Direct Mail Campaign 66 93 79 38 9 96 2.41 381

Cold (unsolicited) Email 77 129 92 49 8 28 2.39 383

Bulk Email 75 121 57 41 16 70 2.36 380

Monster – Job Posts 43 60 80 65 18 199 2.83 465

Simply Hired – Sponsored Jobs 24 34 64 19 10 308 2.72 459

Simply Hired – Organic Only 29 52 59 29 9 281 2.65 459

Other (Please Specify) 19


19

SALES

Q: How big is each of the following sales challenges for your organization?


EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE N/A

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Getting an Initial Appointment 16 44 113 132 67 3.51 372 382

Getting the First Job Order 17 54 116 121 66 3.44 374 383

Getting on an Approved Vendor List 27 51 112 102 79 3.42 371 380

Making the First Connect with Staffing Decision Makers

23 49 117 126 62 3.41 377 382

Differentiating Your Services from Current Vendors

47 89 97 83 58 3.04 374 382

Identifying Staffing Decision Makers Within These Companies

50 86 121 90 29 2.90 376 384

Identifying Companies to Target 110 92 86 60 24 2.45 372 380


As the sales process becomes increasingly complex (and less personal),

it becomes more challenging to reach the people who can most benefit

from your services. To get out of the commodity game and move into the role of a

true business partner, stop filling orders – and start selling solutions. Help your salespeople

open doors to key decision makers, and then keep those doors open by educating, adding

value, building credibility and nurturing relationships.

Show prospects (and clients) how your services can be used to address their business

challenges, such as reducing labor costs, improving productivity, mitigating employment

risk and freeing key leaders to focus on strategic initiatives.

20

SALES

Roughly 17% of staffing and recruiting firms spend less than 10% on recruiter compensation.

Over half (52.8%) of respondents spend 30% or less of their sales revenue on sales compensation, but a small number (2.9%) allocate between 61% and 90%!

Many respondents are unsure of exact recruiting and sales compensation levels (30.1% and 29.8%, respectively), which may impact the accuracy of this data.

SALES AND RECRUITER COMPENSATION

0-10%

67

11-20%

52 53

21-30%

39

31-40%

37

41-50%

1451-60%

1561-70%

481-90%

UNSURE OF %: 121 RATING AVERAGE: 3.17 RESPONSE COUNT: 402ANSWERED QUESTION: 402 SKIPPED QUESTION: 93

Q: Approximately what percentage of your sales revenue do you spend on recruiter compensation?

091-100%

0-10%

77

11-20%

74 47

21-30%

19

31-40%

25

41-50%

1051-60%

761-70%

481-90%

UNSURE OF %: 112 RATING AVERAGE: 2.69 RESPONSE COUNT: 375ANSWERED QUESTION: 375 SKIPPED QUESTION: 120

Q: Approximately what percentage of your sales revenue do you spend on sales compensation?

091-100%

21

SALES

Take the good advice you give to your clients, and periodically review pay data for your account managers and recruiters. Make sure you are compensating your team well. Resources like the American Staffing Association, Bullhorn and Payscale.com are good sources for reliable information.

Beyond pay and bonuses, consider non-cash incentives to increase employee engagement, retention and performance – things like professional development opportunities and telecommuting/flex-work arrangements. And if you’re not sure what perks matter most to your sales and recruiting teams, ask them! Involving your employees in decision making increases the impact your offerings make.

22

MarketingSECTION 3:

Company websites are the most effective marketing tool, followed closely by SEO and LinkedIn.

Despite being ranked #4 and #8 in terms of effectiveness, over one-third (37.3%) of respondents do not use PR, and over half (51.6%) do not use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising as marketing tools.

As with recruiting, referrals are the best method for generating sales leads, with 40.5% of respondents rating them as “extremely effective.”

IN MARKETING, WHAT WORKS BEST?

23

MARKETING

Q: How would you rate the effectiveness of the following marketing tools for your business?


EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE

N/A (DO NOT USE)

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Company Website 23 44 74 111 109 7 3.66 368

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 15 51 82 93 55 74 3.41 370

LinkedIn 19 57 97 89 65 35 3.38 362

PR 21 33 71 66 36 135 3.28 362

Email Marketing 13 74 113 91 41 42 3.22 374

Sales Presentation (Powerpoint or Similar) 27 55 94 67 42 88 3.15 373

Trade Conferences 25 49 69 60 32 134 3.11 369

Google Adwords (PPC) 23 37 56 40 23 191 3.02 370

Blogging 32 51 83 49 34 115 3.01 364

Brochures and Other Sales Collateral 36 70 107 80 29 50 2.99 372

Facebook 37 75 94 72 30 59 2.94 367

Facebook Sponsored Updates 31 40 62 38 25 172 2.93 368

LinkedIn Sponsored Updates 28 41 50 35 19 195 2.86 368

Google Remarketing 25 35 45 25 13 223 2.76 366

Print Advertising 34 75 70 36 12 142 2.63 369

Outdoor Advertising 36 33 35 22 12 224 2.57 362

Twitter 56 79 77 35 16 100 2.53 363

Other Social Media 37 43 56 15 7 196 2.44 354

Instagram 53 46 40 14 6 203 2.21 362


24

MARKETING

Q: How effective is each of the following tools for you in generating sales leads?


EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE

N/A (DO NOT USE)

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Referrals / Asking Existing Clients 9 28 68 89 147 22 3.99 363

Top Candidate / Most Placeable Candidate Calls 12 51 91 111 46 50 3.41 361

Top Candidate / Most Placeable Candidate Email (1:1)

13 54 105 97 38 52 3.30 359

Email (1:1) 14 66 125 114 31 12 3.23 362

Trade Conferences 20 51 68 62 33 125 3.16 359

Cold Calls (by phone) 27 82 109 82 43 24 3.09 367

Social Media 29 65 88 62 33 80 3.02 357

LinkedIn InMail (1:1) 24 72 93 75 23 75 3.00 362

Cold Calls (drop bys) 42 67 85 67 26 78 2.89 365

Facebook Promoted Posts 34 37 55 30 20 182 2.80 358

Top Candidate / Most Placeable Candidate Email (bulk)

28 80 91 41 19 100 2.78 359

Linkedin Sponsored Updates 25 29 40 28 11 225 2.78 358

Drop-Off Materials 38 62 86 48 15 112 2.76 361

Outsource Appointment Setting 24 36 39 23 9 225 2.67 356

Google Pay-Per-Click Advertising 28 30 31 21 11 240 2.64 361

Direct Mail 42 62 57 23 9 164 2.46 357


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MARKETING

5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Marketing

A killer website – one that differentiates your firm, keeps your sales funnel full, attracts top talent, markets your candidates, builds your brand and boosts SEO (yes, a website can do all that) – is an indispensible tool for your business. If your site isn’t already doing all of things, it’s time for an update. Check our Staffing Website Design Center

Despite ranking low in this survey, online advertising (i.e., PPC) is a cost-effective tool for getting your company to the top of search results — and keeping you top-of-mind with your clients, prospects and candidates. Since staffing decisions are rarely made on the first call, PPC is also a great way to strengthen your positioning with prospects.

Direct mail is not dead! With fewer competitors using it, a well-executed campaign is actually more likely than ever to get noticed – and have a big impact. Using direct mail, our clients are closing major accounts (that would not respond to their traditional sales efforts) and increasing the call-to-appointment ratios for the sales reps by 100% or more.

Direct mail does not equal postcards! The most effective campaigns integrate multiple formats of mail, packages, drop-offs, sales calls, email and social media into a structured process that allows salespeople to effectively pursue top prospects. For detailed insights and practical how-tos, check out our free, on-demand webinar, Direct Marketing – Turning Cold Calls into Warm Leads.

Regardless of your organization’s size, specialization or geography, a multifaceted approach to marketing works best. If you need help building or executing a solid strategy, download our FREE Guide to Staffing Sales Lead Generation eBook, or contact Haley Marketing’s experts.

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MARKETING

On the candidate side, roughly four out of five respondents use social media to recruit candidates (researching candidates and posting jobs) and to build their company brand.

Social media is used less widely on the client side; nearly two-thirds (66.0%) of staffing and recruiting firms use it for research, but just over one-third (38.2%) use it for generating inbound leads.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS USED MORE FREQUENTLY TO RECRUIT THAN TO SELL.

Q: How do you use social media in your marketing?

ANSWER OPTIONS RESPONSE PERCENT

RESPONSE COUNT

Recruiting (candidate research) 81.2% 289

Recruiting (job postings) 79.2% 282

Company Branding 79.2% 282

Prospect / Client Research 66.0% 235

Inbound Lead Generation 38.2% 136

Direct Selling 30.3% 108

Other (please specify) 4.2% 15


27

MARKETING

Standing out and staying top-of-mind are important for today’s staffing and recruiting firms. Standing out and staying top-of-mind are important for today’s staffing and recruiting firms. Sixty-five percent rate “keeping your company top-of-mind” as “extremely important,” and “creating awareness/name recognition” came in at a close second, with 60.1% rating it as “extremely important.”

STAYING TOP-OF-MIND IS THE TOP MARKETING PRIORITY

Q: When it comes to your marketing, how important is each of the following?

ANSWER OPTIONSNOT AT ALL IMPORTANT

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

RATING AVERAGE

RESPONSE COUNT

1 2 3 4 5

Keeping Your Company Top-Of-Mind 1 7 19 98 234 4.55 359

Creating Awareness / Name Recognition 1 10 31 102 217 4.45 361

Recruiting (Attracting Candidates To Your Firm) 3 12 31 94 221 4.43 361

Generating Inbound Sales Leads 10 21 50 97 179 4.16 357

Educating Prospects About the Value of Staffing Services

11 28 49 92 180 4.12 360

Giving Your Sales Reps a Reason to Make Follow-Up Calls

7 23 61 115 151 4.06 357

Warming Sales Calls 9 25 76 102 146 3.98 358


A huge disconnect exists between sales and marketing priorities. Despite the fact that “getting an initial appointment” and “getting the first job order” are the biggest sales challenges facing today’s staffing and recruiting firms, “giving sales reps a reason to make follow-up calls” and “warming sales calls” are the least important marketing priorities.

Marketing and sales need to work together.

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If this survey taught us anything, it reinforced our understanding that sales, recruiting and marketing in the staffing industry are big challenges. Talent has become harder to find.

Decision makers are harder to reach. And the competitive “noise” is louder than ever.{lessons

TAKE-HOME

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STRATEGICALLY IDENTIFY THEIR PLACE IN THE MARKET – they know the clients and candidates they want to serve, and they know that saying “no” to business can be as valuable as saying “yes.”

CLEARLY DEFINE HOW THEY WANT TO BE SEEN – creating a positioning message, value proposition and messaging that differentiates and demonstrates value to the target audience. They avoid trying to be “all things to all people.”

INTEGRATE MARKETING INTO THEIR SALES ACTIVITIES TO OPEN DOORS with prospects, create interest in the value the firm can deliver, set the stage for sales calls and nurture relationships to keep their firm top-of-mind between calls (and create reasons to make follow-up calls). Marketing is used by these firms to enhance the effectiveness of their sales teams.

RECRUIT MORE STRATEGICALLY by being proactive with sourcing, building talent communities, developing more referral sources and better leveraging the ATS databases to increase reactivation of former candidates and referrals. The most successful firms are also testing new tools, measuring the response from each of their recruiting sources, and intelligently investing in the tools and services that are delivering the highest ROI.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LATEST RECRUITMENT AND MARKETING TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES to create an inbound lead-generation system that provides a more constant flow of sales leads and job applicants. They are using SEO, PPC, social media, email and other content marketing strategies to build brand awareness, strengthen market positioning and drive targeted traffic to their corporate websites.

OPTIMIZE THEIR WEBSITES TO CONVERT VISITORS INTO JOB APPLICANTS AND JOB ORDERS. Industry leaders recognize that their website is their #1 marketing asset, and they invest wisely to create a strong online brand. This includes design and content that clearly (and strongly) convey their core messaging; optimizing pages for search engines; optimizing job listings for SEO; creating mobile-optimized sites; streamlining the application process to minimize fall off; and ensuring a consistent presence from their websites to their social sites.

USE GOOGLE, as well as social remarketing and marketing automation tools, to do a better job of keeping in front of web visitors and keeping track of repeat visitors.

In staffing today, successful firms do things differently. While there is no “one right answer” for growing a staffing company, the most successful firms:

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We hope you have found great value in our 2016 sales, recruiting and marketing survey. If you have questions about the data and any of its implications, please feel free to reach out

to us at 1.888.696.2900 or [email protected].

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