Shelter-in-place orders and an economic downturn are only a few of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic – and they’ve caused panic and uncertainty like we’ve never seen. The ways we live, behave, and work have been fundamentally altered.
In May and June 2020, Haley Marketing conducted an online survey of staffing industry professionals to find out how our industry has been impacted by the pandemic. Today’s post is a continuation in that survey series, focused on sharing data and information your staffing firm can use.
Related posts in this series:
2020 Staffing Industry Outlook Survey, Part 1: Entering the Economic Rebound
2020 Staffing Industry Outlook Survey, Part 2: Impact and Recovery
Let’s talk change.
Mandatory closures, social distancing requirements and more have forced staffing firms to shift how they sell, recruit and serve clients. How have staffing firms adjusted?
Q: How have your sales strategies changed to overcome pandemic challenges?
Firms have employed a variety of strategies to adapt:
Increasing share of customer:
- Nearly half (49%) of firms have focused on securing more business from current clients.
Shifting focus:
- 45% have targeted essential businesses to stay afloat.
- 14% have either shifted their focus from contract staffing to direct hire or vice versa.
Pursuing new opportunities:
- Nearly 3 in 10 have expanded into new industries/verticals to generate business.
- 28% have aggressively pursued competitors’ clients.
- 23% have launched new service offerings such as remote work and recruitment process outsourcing.
- Roughly 15% have increased their focus on companies that have NOT used staffing in the past.
Hunkering down:
- Surprisingly, nearly 1 in 5 firms has chosen to “wait it out,” making no meaningful changes to their strategy to weather the recession.
Business Un-usual: 9 Sales Strategies for Today’s Economy
Although states are continuing to come back online, business is nothing like it was before the pandemic. Moving forward, your success will rely on a mix of hard work and creativity. In “9 ‘New Normal’ Staffing Sales Ideas,“ we detail 9 sales strategies you can implement to increase the value you deliver, and create more staffing sales opportunities in the months ahead:
- Strengthen client relationships
- Create incentives for purchase
- Target small and essential businesses
- Pivot into new skill disciplines
- Target weaker competitors
- Offer proactive workforce planning
- Increase visibility online
- Help your team to sell remotely
- Move up the value chain
Up Next: Budget Management
The next post in this series will discuss how to handle budget management during times of economic change. Can’t wait until then? Download the full, FREE eBook “2020 Entering the Economic Rebound Staffing Industry Outlook” here!
