One of my favorite industries is temp staffing. However, this challenging industry is extremely difficult for smaller organizations with less than $15 million in revenues. That’s because temp staffing agencies serve two markets. On the supply side of the coin, they have to find, sway, and then manage the temporary employees they engage with. On the flip side of the coin, they have the customers or clients who write them checks for using their temps.

This type of work is stressful, demanding, and even thankless at times for the employees managing both sides of the coin. Some staffing agencies are good at finding temps. Some are good at serving their paying clients. Only a few are great at both.

I want to focus on business development in this brief article. I have used these ideas in the past. While these suggestions may seem simple and self-evident, smaller agencies are not strong at consistently implementing them.

Start With the Short List

When I brought Veronica on board at a $13 million temp staffing industry, the first job we completed was creating the shortlist. Even though Veronica would be cold-calling daily, I wanted to focus on about 50 organizations I wanted my client to work with. Call this the farm club.

The farm club doesn’t mean we could call them in one week. We wish to develop a relationship with these firms, even if they are not interested or ready for our services just yet.

If we know the HR directors of these 50 businesses, we connect with them on LinkedIn (or follow them if they do not accept our connection request). Over about three months, we ask if we can treat them to coffee or lunch to establish the relationship. The objective is not to sell but to learn and be helpful.

I’m a big believer in the shortlist as long as temp staffing agencies don’t try to get too aggressive by trying to speed up the process. Let the relationship play out. Learn the fears and frustrations that these HR directors want to eliminate. Demonstrate that you can be the solution to ending those fears and frustrations.

Several years ago, I wrote about my favorite story on shortlists at CFO Bookshelf. The article is about the famous adman David Ogilvy. David’s shortlist included General Foods, Bristol Myers, Campbell Soup, Shell, American Express, Sears, IBM, and Merrill Lynch.

Right, David, anyone can write down a list of big companies. But guess what happened?

It took time, but in due course I got them all.
David Ogilvy – Ogilvy on Advertising

As you work through the shortlist, keep the list full of around 50 names. In smaller cities, your list may only be 25 organizations.

Ask For Scraps

In large organizations where temps are employed (especially in manufacturing, warehousing, and contract food service), there’s generally already a prime contractor filling all the temp staffing needs. Maybe they are good, maybe they are not. The odds of taking over that prime spot anytime soon are slim.

I suggest asking the HR director for the most challenging positions to fill. Ask if your agency can start with those positions only. That’s the foot-in-door process to hopefully overtaking the prime relationship for that potential new client.

If I were to survey 200 small staffing agencies across America, I’m 100% certain this exercise is not being used. Try it. I believe you’ll succeed with this idea even if your success rate is two out of ten employers. Those are good numbers.

Maintain the Relationship

Let’s assume Veronica above has started working on her shortlist and has tried idea number two for three large distribution centers in the area. So far, HR directors have expressed mild interest in Veroncia’s offerings. Here are three more ideas to keep the relationship warm.

Offer to fill one permanent position within twelve months at no cost. Over the following year, remind the HR director that this offer is still in periodic emails. Agency owners typically do not like giving away services for free. Think of this as a marketing expense.
Periodically send the HR director stories or human resource developments in their industries as they develop. HR directors are busy. Many do not have time to keep track of changes in their industry. Just make sure you are feeding them quality information they can act on.
Similar to the first item above, if you have a temp on your bench and you think they’d be a great fit, offer the temp at the lower of the HR director’s cost or your cost to pay the temp. That offer is hard to refuse.

Going Through the Motions

In many sales organizations, business developers can become stale because they keep going through the same motions. The ideas above are to break through that staleness.

Consider the ideas above, but don’t stop there. Keep brainstorming and finding ways to add value to temp staffing clients while building the top line.