A Different Kind of Buzz This Year
There’s a different kind of buzz at Staffing World this year. No, it’s not really about the economy, although in his opening address Richard Wahlquist certainly made a few jokes about the stock market. People in the staffing and recruiting industry are optimistic by their nature, that’s why this year’s buzz was focused more on sales and business development. Sure, there still is a lot of buzz about sourcing candidates. And Bullhorn’s and Monster’s PowerSource announcement was very well received. Just refer to what Elaine Rigoli said on the Fordyce Letter. But still, there has been a little bit of shift in the buzz factor toward sales and business development. I counted no less than 10 sessions devoted to sales and firm growth, and when I talked to prospects about the virtue of Bullhorn’s CRM, I no longer got either the blank stare or a switch in topics to candidate sourcing.
Let’s face it, it’s been a hot market the last few years and finding great candidates was the big problem, rather than orders (although one can always make an argument that the best service businesses learn how to grow through profitable clients). I was always somewhat puzzled by some Bullhorn customers, that regardless of the type of desk they ran, they had incredible discipline on the recruiting side, but didn’t have a solid plan to exploit our CRM to drive the best sales opportunities. After all, if you have great clients, understand them and create a profitable piece of business through them, it stands to reason part of the candidate sourcing problem will be solved.
That trend appears to be changing toward wanting to understand how to create sales strategies, processes and effective execution. There’s a hunger for that knowledge and it’s reflected in the number of sessions devoted to it at Staffing World, plus our own Bullhorn Live 2009 to be held in Las Vegas in 2009. An important part of Bullhorn’s own growth story over the last few years is our sales and marketing discipline, and at its core, the use of our own CRM. In yesterday’s blog, I talked about reinvention. If you haven’t spent enough time on the sales side, reinvent your desk and your approach to new business. There are great resources available through conferences like Staffing World and Bullhorn, plus our own training on Bullhorn’s integrated front office, including the CRM. It reminds me of what Art and Barry say about the dark days of 2002 and 2003 – we sold our way through it – but at the core, the company’s sales strategy, processes and execution were there as well. Good luck in 2009 and we look forward to seeing you in Orlando.
This Bullhorn Blog post was written by Joe Cordo.
