Life in some ways is starting to get back to normal. Work is picking up, I’m seeing friends again, even sports are back which means I’m deep into my Fantasy Football season. Between injuries and coronavirus-related delays and cancellations, there’s a whole different dynamic this season. Constantly trying to pick up and trade new players to salvage my fantasy team, I was immediately reminded of my staffing industry sales goals in 2020.
I was optimistic at the beginning (weren’t we all?), looking forward to landing new accounts and scaling up some of our existing clients, then COVID happened and those high hopes all went out the window. When everything shut down, the staffing industry took a big hit. I took a hit too and started losing accounts. And getting those back wasn’t going to be as easy as scrolling the Free Agents page of my Fantasy Football app.
A lot of my clients were forced to let go of some of their internal team without decreasing workload, meaning they had to get a lot more done with a lot less capacity to do it. What do you do when your star fantasy player is suddenly out for the season? Start thinking of an alternative…
Many companies have been forced to play without their star players in 2020. As a staffing firm, you’re putting yourselves in your client’s shoes and providing a solution that addresses their problems directly. So I asked myself, “What can I do to help you save money and pick up business without the support of these crucial players?” That’s right, I had to play a little armchair quarterback to figure out how businesses can maintain momentum throughout this chaotic season and snatch a few victories from the jaws of defeat.
I typically set my fantasy lineup after draft day, and it remains more or less the same throughout the season (injuries and bye weeks notwithstanding). But this year with players getting benched for positive COVID tests and entire games getting delayed, I’ve got to stay even more agile in the pocket than usual and start really playing offense.
So, I considered ways we could help our clients during this time beyond our typical services of sourcing and recruiting. I started offering different services like database cleanups, applicant tracking system updates, and general business development.
It’s no secret that some industries have been more severely affected by COVID than others. Staffing firms have started to look downfield to some of these more resilient industries, like the tech sector, to see if there are any openings. Many have found that there were. We’ve helped convert some first downs by working with staffing firms to build out contact lists for those more resilient sectors using our offshore recruiting support.
As the year ground on, I have been able to pick up some solid wins. I staffed some light industrial positions at a notable electric car manufacturer, and in Q3 I managed to close more accounts than I lost as the result of the initial shutdowns. I’m continuing to pick up new accounts, old clients are starting to come back and things are slowly but surely picking up steam (fingers crossed that my fantasy team does the same!). Here’s hoping that keeping my options open, and a cool head under pressure continues to deliver in the W column!
