Are you getting tired of the What, When, Where and How Lists of 2013 yet?

How about a list of things that are needed ALL OF THE TIME?

Here ya go:

1. Working on your client relationships – Develop the relationship regardless if your client has current needs or not. Too often, Account Managers and Recruiters call and visit clients ONLY when they have needs. Remember to maintain the relationships with your clients regardless if they have needs TODAY. Always inquire about current needs but let the client know that you are there for them regardless.

2. Interview Preps – One of the most important things you can do for your candidate is giving them a heads up on client questions, company culture and any additional information that will help them with their interview.

3. Interview Feedback – Make contact with your candidates after the interview (the sooner the better). You can determine interest level and close down specifics (pay, start date, etc.). You can also run point with the client on any concerns that arose during the interview. Interview Feedback is even more important than the Prep.

4. Reduce the number of 3^rd Party companies that you use - I can’t stress this enough! Work with local providers and be VERY skeptical of 3^rd Party companies that will randomly email resumes and contact you with H1 candidates. Use a provider that you trust and one that has proven that they can deliver…..ask for references and test them by requesting local candidates.

5. Spend money to make money – This saying is a cliché for a reason. Invest in opportunities to spend time with your clients and candidates. Lunches, Ball Games and Happy Hours are great ways to spend time with your clients. If your clients can’t get away, cater breakfast or lunch for the client’s team. Build relationships by spending quality time.

6. Get Social, Mobile and VISUAL – Get your job postings, company events and culture on Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram. Take pictures of events and every day workplace “happenings”. You can’t be relevant if you don’t have a great Social Presence.

7. Corporate Culture – Get one………..and hope it’s the right one. I don’t have a magic potion or silver bullet for you. You either have the kind of corporate culture that people like or you don’t………don’t know what else I could tell you

8. Candidate value adds – It’s not enough to have great compensation for candidates, you must also have great benefits, training,      flexibility and the ability to recognize that some things like quality of life or technology might be more important to one person over another. In this day and age, you can’t be ALL things to ALL people but it doesn’t hurt to try. Recognize that Millennials, GenX and The Greatest Generation all have different motivating factors and desires.

9. Get a Sense of Urgency – Good people are hard to find and, in DFW, good technical people don’t last long. Get the process moving quickly and shorten the life cycle by getting interviews set up and decision timelines nailed down. Keep in contact with candidates at all times during the process so you are not SURPRISED if they take another offer.

10. One “No” at a company does not make a company policy – Don’t assume when you talk to one hiring manager that has nothing going on that the whole friggin company is not hiring. Contact as many decision makers within the organization that you possibly can. Once you have exhausted all of the contacts, make a determination on what’s going on. If you cannot get any traction, trade the company and/or contacts with someone else because………….sometimes the issue may just be YOU and the client may need to see a fresh face or get a fresh perspective
     

Have a great 2013 and, if you can take away one thing from this story, it’s this………WU-TANG!

I am proud to be a partner and equity owner of one of the fastest growing companies in DFW, not to mention the fastest growing staffing services type business in the area….period.  In addition, our company was recently named one of the best places to work in DFW. While we appreciate the recognition and accolades, this type of growth and recognition gets you on the radar of competitors and can make you a target for negativity. Trust me; nothing pisses your competitors off more than success.

It never ceases to amaze me that companies will actually try to get a clients business by talking trash about a competitor. Personally, I have never won business by demeaning a competitor and, frankly, I think that it’s a Chicken Shit way to sell.

Our company, Timberhorn has run into at least one company/competitor (You Know Who) with a couple of Employee / Account Managers that like to say negative things about our company to multiple clients that we both service. We have been able to manage these negative comments and work them to our advantage AND we continue to have solid relationships with clients shared by us and this “Negative Competitor”.

With that being said, I think it is important for all of us to understand how to deal with these type of attacks and learn how to protect your reputation and your company brand from a Negative Competitor.

Don’t get down in the dirt

If you run into a situation where a competitor has disparaged you, the first thing you must do is determine if the client agrees or validates the comments. If the client does not, keep moving forward and don’t ever acknowledge the comments again. If the client has doubts due to the competitor’s comments, provide them with references to at least 3 clients that will overcome the issue. DON’T EVER……AND I MEAN EVER…..talk trash about the competitor. Like your mother, teachers, mentors told you in the past…..”You are only stooping to their level” and you won’t win.

Share your disappointment

Let your client know that you are disappointed that a competitor would try to get their business by demeaning you or ANY competitor for that matter and educate the client that you are about results and delivery instead of conjecture and rumor. Most important of ALL………

Provide the client with facts and, if possible, references

I mentioned references earlier but also provide your client with facts such as……We work with over 150 companies in DFW, we have a satisfaction percentage of over 95%, we have been voted one of the best companies to work for in DFW, etc. ………use the best of your stories, facts or marketing info to overcome any doubts that your client may have due to a negative competitors comments.

Laugh it off

Seriously, laugh at your competitors comments and tell the client that your competitor has been using this type of tactic for years and that it is a joke within our industry. You client will be more likely to work with you if you AREN’T defensive so don’t give ANY validation to the negativity.

Maintain a positive culture and message

Use Social Media to your advantage. Continually post positive messages and events about your company. It is harder for a competitor to disparage you if you have years of history on Linkedin and Facebook showing activity contrary to the competitors remarks.

Last Resort: LITIGATE!

I would use litigation ONLY as a last resort. If you have a business that is continually damaged or clients that will no longer work with you due to remarks made by a competitor, sometimes litigation may be your only option. If so, make sure that you have clients that are willing to sign affidavits and, worst case, provide testimony on your behalf. Typically, this is not a great scenario. Once again, use litigation only as a last resort and ONLY after you get your ducks in a row.

Finally, I would like to share something from our Happy Hour last week. We had a client that works with many vendors and wanted to know some of the companies that we compete with. We let the client know that, at our current size, we compete with everyone in the industry and that there are many companies that we respect in our industry. Most importantly, we let the client know that we welcome the competition because it is our belief that if we are really good at what we do, the client will see the results in our performance. Nuff said……..Wu-Tang!!

Recently our company, Timberhorn, was named by the Dallas Business Journal as one of the best places to work in DFW. We were honored and very proud of this designation for many reasons. Two of the primary reasons we were so proud of this accomplishment…….. one, there were only 56 companies given this designation in 2012 and two, our employees were the primary reason why we were chosen.

I’m not an expert on hiring or personal development, but I have been involved in the building of winning teams and understand what ingredients are needed to become the best in the IT Staffing industry.  Here are a few ingredients that have helped our company become one of the Best Companies in DFW.

Culture/Environment

This is that special something that can make your company like no other. It is the ingredient that helps you recruit top talent and is the “It Factor” that gets people talking about your organization. Our culture is always evolving. We are known as a fun company but we are also innovating new processes and ideas all the time. We have the music, fun room, training facility, company trips, Happy Hours and team outings but we also have technology, great compensation/benefit programs, referral incentives, engagement programs and individuals that are solely responsible for the happiness of all of our team members. The bad news…..if you don’t already have “It”, you can’t manufacture it.

Leadership Involvement / Engagement

As a leader you can’t be truly engaged and involved with the organization if you sit in an office. Too often, this is the norm. Typically,  owners/management/ leadership…..whatever you want to call them…..sit in offices (big or corner) and make decisions that affect the organization. There is usually some type of bullshit reasoning behind having the office – Needed for private conversation, Need the office for conference calls, etc. Blah, blah, frickin blah. To be in tune with your Sales Teams, Recruiting Teams, Clients, Consultants and Back Office, you need to be in the middle of everything. Get yourself a cube or desk and plop down in the middle of everyone. Keep in mind that you can’t be there in just the physical sense. You must “Work it”. Make sales calls, go on client visits, recruit candidates…..LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Trust me, it is not difficult to keep track of your P&L/Balance Sheet/ROI AND do the things that really impact your Revenue and GP. We have big corner offices at our company, and we use them to huddle up, cater in food, make conference calls or just shoot the breeze and those offices are open to everyone.  One more thing, if you are in the middle of the pack and engaged, ALL of your teams will have more respect for you!

Recognition / Awards

You gotta have em…..period. Whether it’s a plaque for the best office singer or a trophy for the top producer, people love to be recognized for their accomplishments. Here are some of the Awards that we provide to the Timberhorn team:

• Quarterly Team outings for top producing Recruiters and Account Managers.
• Monthly and weekly contests with ever changing goals and criteria to spice things up.
• Annual Company Trips to incredible locations (Maui, Hawaii last year)
• Cash and Trophies to Annual Top Producers
• Cash and Awards to Consultants
• Promotion to Engagement Manager for Top Consultants with shared client compensation

These are just some of the awards that we provide but I’m sure there are many other options available to enterprising companies. Pick as many or as few as you like, but PICK SOMETHING!!

Clear Team and Individual Goals

Make it public and put your neck out there for everyone to see. That’s right!

Choose company revenue and/or head count goals and make sure everyone in the company internalizes it. Make it a part of your quarterly company meetings and talk about it ALL THE TIME. Don’t forget to match your company goals with individual quotas. Work with your team members to determine their annual quota numbers and make sure their activity benchmarks will lead them to their quota numbers. Sit down individually and work out the annual quota with each team member. Ask them about personal wants and desires. You need to meet with each team member at the end or first of the month to make sure that each person is on pace to achieve their numbers. This is one of the most important jobs as a Leader or Coach…..communicating and setting expectations. We do all of the above at Timberhorn. We meet with team members on the first Thursday of every month to review quota and performance. We also meet quarterly to discuss company objectives.

Consistency

Sounds boring but you must have consistent processes in place. Every professional athlete has a routine. Golfers have a pre-shot routine and their swings are repetitive. Most Football and Baseball players have a pre-game routine and will not vary from it. The same should hold true for your teams. Make sure that you have regularly scheduled meetings and don’t vary. Have a meeting in the mornings to get focused….something short and to the point. Have consistent reports letting everyone know where they stand in regards to activity and performance. Be consistent with your message which should be easy if you have set clear team and individual goals (You like how I tied that shit back to the previous subject?….BOO-YAH!).

Don’t be afraid to f### up!

Failure IS an option and, sometimes, a necessity. Your team cannot learn without it. When we hire new team members, we tell them to mess up early and often. We let them know that they can’t break anything and that we are here to pick them up. More importantly, as a leader, I need my team to know that I am not incapable of error and that I am here as a support mechanism. If you are responsible for a group of people, do yourself a favor and get rid of “Old School” jargon like Manager, Boss, Supervisor… or other bullshit like that. Those are titles and attitudes that instill fear and only keep people from trying to eff up. Let your team know that you are there for them when they make a mistake and let them be fearless.

These ingredients will hopefully help your team be the best. Keep in mind that these aren’t all of the ingredients. I’ve been called Crazy by a bunch of people (primarily by competitors whose asses I kick on a regular basis), BUT I’M NOT CRAZY ENOUGH TO GIVE AWAY ALL OF MY INGREDIENTS………WU-TANG!!!