We’ve considered utilizing staffing firms in our constant search for talented additions to our team. Staffing Firms call on occasion and we’re always inclined to be cordial and leave the door open. Unfortunately, some firms just go beyond aggressive sales tactics. Here are some things not to do from a client’s perspective.

Building a Relationship Based on Trust Starts When a Lead is Qualified

If a prospect tells you that you’ll reach out to them in a week or two, do your best to have the confidence that they will call. When it goes a few days after the expected date, then feel free to follow up. I personally get annoyed if you call the next day to follow up when I communicated that we’d reach out in a week or so.

Clients Don’t Want to be Sold

If we did opt to work with a recruiter, it would be about establishing a relationship and not about engaging right away or the breadth of your offering. As a client, I want a staffing firm that would be interested in the culture of the organization and what the job description entails - not a firm that wants to get interviewees on the calendar with an incredible sense of urgency. With people, especially as it relates to hiring, fast is slow.

Have Clear Fee Structures

This is pretty self explanatory, but if a client has to ask about your fee structure, then your proposal is unclear. Keep it simple, and keep the client in mind.

The guys at Particletree published a really cool article on what technology is behind four popular web applications. While the applications are different in functionality, what really astounded me was time to market and its corresondance with technology platforms. Of all four applications, Blinksale took a short three months to build out. The .NET platform RegOnline took three years - approximately 30,000 lines of ruby code to 400,000 lines of C#! (Can Visual Studio even handle a library that big? ) Here’s the real kicker: RegOnline makes 10 times more per customer, but employs 10 times more employees and fields 20 times more support requests.

Now obviously there’s many unreflected variables in all of this, but the statistics really say a lot. If I had to choose, I would definitely choose to stay lean, mean, and of course…on a Ruby on Rails platform. How much has the web changed in the last five years? I believe you’ve got to contain and focus your app so that you can change with the needs of your customer.

Who do you think has the best situation here?

While doing some research on PEO’s, I came across SBTV (Small Business TV). There seems to be lots of relevant content for small business owners. I’ll definitely be checking it out weekly.

Low and behold, I found some Michael Gerber videos to feed the brain with. You might know him as the author of the must read book E-Myth. It definitely looks like a great resource. I hope you find it helpful.