Relationship Marketing in Action

A 5,500% ROI

Our client, a Pennsylvania based clerical and professional staffing service, was struggling with a combination of a market in recession (this case occurred during 2002) and a highly competitive market where commodity pressures were driving down margins.

Haley Marketing was called to provide a marketing campaign that would:

• Allow our client to differentiate their services.
• Raise the level of selling within their organization.
• Capture the attention and interest of decision-makers.
• Close new business.

1. A three part direct mail campaign to capture the attention of decision-makers, teach people about the strategic value of staffing, and create a favorable first impression.
2. A scripted sales follow-up process to secure appointments and begin dialogs with decision-makers.
3. Ongoing nurturing using a monthly email newsletter, quarterly postcards, and one-to-one sales follow-up materials to keep our client top-of-mind.

The 250 prospects targeted for this marketing effort yielded $537,412 in new sales for our client (and that doesn't even count the ongoing business). Through a combination of persistent marketing and strong follow-up, this marketing campaign produced a return on investment that exceeded 5,500%!

Appointments on 44.75% of cold calls

Our client, Key Resource Group, was having a tough time getting appointments. They kept running into a wall of excuses, such as: "We're not hiring." "We're happy with our current vendor." And the ever popular: "We don't use staffing firms."

So rather than just up the cold call quotas for their reps, they decided to put the principles of relationship marketing to work.

• We worked with KRG's management team to develop a real reason for prospective clients to want to meet with a KRG account manager. The offer was for free access to KRG's Staffing Resource Center (an online library of staffing and HR information provided by Haley Marketing).
• Next, we created a call script for KRG's account managers in which they would introduce the Staffing Resource Center, offer to do a 10 minute demo, and then set up the prospect for free access to the SRC site.
• To enhance the process, Haley Marketing created an "Intro to the Staffing Resource Center" brochure to serve as a leave-behind after the demo.

Over a six-week test, KRG achieved some exceptional results. Here are the numbers:

• 199 prospects contacted by telephone
• 89 appointments scheduled
• Of the first 54 appointments held,
  • 45 people (83%) opted-in to receive an email newsletter
  • 6 new job orders

The POWER of ONE-TO-ONE marketing

Our client, a Midwestern staffing service, was very eager to break into a major local manufacturer. They had learned that the local company was being acquired, and believed the transition presented an ideal opportunity.

The acquiring company was a very large, national organization. Normally, companies like these have a central HR department in charge of all staffing decisions. However, through a little investigative work, we discovered that no central HR person existed. If we wanted an opportunity to sell staffing services, we had to convince the President of a $400 million division of the acquiring company to talk to us.

• We used the Internet to research the acquiring company and learned all we could about their mission and values.
• We used telemarketing to uncover the names of key decision-makers.
• We designed a four-step program consisting of weekly direct mail packages designed to grab attention, educate, introduce our client, and create a basis for dialog.

After receiving the second mailing (which was delivered by FedEx), the President of the acquiring company called our client.

He thanked our client for the gift basket they sent (step 1 of the plan), and expressed that "his kids loved the goodies inside the basket, the photo book was on his book shelf, and he was indeed very interested in the concept of 'strategic staffing' (an educational article in step 2 of the plan)."

We never even made it to the 3rd or 4th steps of the marketing program.

One NEW CLIENT pays for an ENTIRE YEAR of marketing

Our client, Valor ConTemporary Services, was concerned about making an investment in marketing. Historically, they had relied on their sales force, and they were not sure about the value marketing would add.

• Despite their initial reservations about cost, Valor's CEO committed to developing a strong prospect database with over 600 contacts.
• Every response was carefully tracked and evaluated.
• New client conversions were then analyzed to determine how much revenue and gross margin they would produce over the next 12 months.

Typically, relationship marketing takes 6 to 9 months to begin to produce results. However, after the third mailing, Valor received an order from a new customer for 13 regular temporaries—with the prospect of adding as many as 20 more people in the future!

• 13 people x 40 hours per week x $7.80 per hour = $4,056 per week
• $4,056 x 52 weeks = $210,912 in Gross Revenue per year
• $210,912 x 17.5% Gross Margin = $36,909 in annual Gross Margin

In twelve months, this one new customer will be worth more than two times the total marketing investment for the entire year! And, the customer expects to add 17 more people in the coming weeks taking that ROI to 473%. Imagine what the lifetime value of this new customer could be.

And this wasn't the only customer Valor's marketing program produced.

Launching a NEW service

Our client, Carrie Allen Staffing Services, decided to add a medical staffing niche to their list of services. They had re-trained some of their Personnel Consultants to handle the recruiting, and wanted to quickly get the business off the ground.

• We created a series of four high-value weekly mailings designed to grab attention, create awareness, educate, and add value.
• We designed a brief tri-fold brochure to explain the new services and another piece to help the decision-makers evaluate the cost-effectiveness of medical staffing.
• We built a database consisting of just 68 medical staffing prospects. The Results: 11 job orders!

The medical staffing fast track far surpassed expectations. Within the first month, Carrie Allen's Personnel Consultants had received 11 direct hire job orders from their list...

That's an order rate of over 16%! And, with all of the orders that have been filled, the return on investment amounts to 353%.

Staying top-of-mind with clients

The Challenge: Maintain and nurture relationships with clients and candidates.

Our client, the Quantum Group of Companies, has earned its reputation as the full-service human resources partner of choice by providing unique and effective recruitment solutions that meet clients' complex staffing needs. After 40 years in business, Quantum is a true success story, with a portfolio that includes a full range of permanent and temporary recruiting services in all disciplines and at all levels.

Even though Quantum had built a solid reputation, they did little marketing and had no way to remain top-of-mind with clients and candidates. With heavy competition in their region, it was hard for Quantum's sales people to stay in touch with every client and prospect, and all too often clients would call other staffing companies to fill their needs.

The Solution:

• We implemented a candidate and client newsletter for three geographic areas—New York, Toronto/Ottawa and Montreal/Quebec City.
• For clients, the enewsletter positions Quantum as an expert in workforce solutions, and the candidate version offers job seekers advice on career development and work-life balance.
• To reach Quantum's French-speaking audience, we developed custom program that instantly translates every newsletter—and piece of web content—from French to English or English to French.

The Results: Increased one-on-one communication with clients and candidates.

Quantum received their first job order from the newsletter just three days after the first issue went out. And it continues to keep Quantum in front of clients and drive job orders. They have also maintained view rates of 30%, higher than the US national average, and their click throughs have been averaging 30% (anything above 15% is considered fantastic).