20 Lessons From 20 Yearsin the Staffing Industry

20 years is a LONG time.Back then, no staffing firm had a website.

No one had even dreamed of social media.Even email was relatively new.

In the past two decades, the staffing industry has greatly matured.

Marketing barely looks like it did back then.And we’ve learned a thing or two.

Here are a few of the lessons we’ve found to be most valuable

over the past 20 years…

1. Ignorance is okay…as long as you’re willingto take risks—and learn from them.

2. Nothing breeds success like the willingnessto tackle big challenges.

We often responded “Sure, we can do that!” when we had no idea how.

3. Even smart, hardworking, eager people can’t succeed if they are not the right people for the job.

4. Don’t be afraid to change your businessmodel. Survival can depend on a willingnessto pivot as needed.

5. Creativity is the key to survival. Focusing on better ways to partner with our clients got us through the hard times together.

6. Good competitors make you better. They force you to improve your products, enhance service and improve efficiency.

7. Giving away your best ideas is a winning strategy. Sharing our expertise is the reason we haven’t made a single outbound sales call in 20 years.

8. Be obsessive aboutyour vision and goals.We love brainstorming ideas, discussing ways

to strengthen our services and helping our

team to grow.

9. Paranoia is okay. It keeps you from becoming complacent. It forces you to constantly reexamineyour business, find the flaws in your services, seek new opportunities and improve your culture.

10. Some of the best success comes from mistakes. Find a way to turn lemons into lemonade by owning up to each mistake and applying a little creativity.

11. Hire smart people who love what they do.A passionate employee with brains and talent is priceless!

12. Pick a niche. It’s WAY easier to differentiate your services when you serve a focused client (or candidate) base.

13. Stand up for your employees. Don’t tolerate clients who won’t treat your people fairly or with the courtesy they deserve.

14. You can sell over the phone. It helps keep services affordable, and with Skype, FreeConferenceCall.com and GoToMeeting, it couldn’t be easier to be remote!

15. Let go. Most entrepreneurs struggle with delegation. But if you’ve hired the right people, they might just get it done better! And you can’t grow if you don’t let go.

16. Have a great partner. Much of Haley Marketing’s success is due to the shared vision and complementary talents of owners David and Victoria.

17. Great sales people may not be sales people at all. Train your people to be consultants, and you’ll have to do far less selling!

18. Take risks with your marketing. So many staffing companies are afraid to offend anyone. But safe is BORING!

19. When launching a new product or service, be a minimalist. In the tech world, they call this an MVP (minimum viable product). Start small, learn; then build on your successes.

20. Success is a mindset. You can become anything you want—if you believe in your vision and have the

courage and persistence to never give up.

And a bonus lesson – Be thankful.

Haley Marketing would not have survived for 20 years without the

contributions and support of along list of amazing people

willing to take risks along with us.

We’d love to hear from you.

Contact us to talk about how we can help you stand out, stay

top-of-mind and sell more.