Staffing Firm Lead Generation Ideas

A few months ago we did a round-table with the Massachusetts chapter of TechServe Alliance focused on staffing firm lead generation. The idea of the round-table was simply to identify a variety of lead generation vehicles and how to execute on them for maximum results. Today, we’d like to share some of those findings with you.

Staffing Firm Lead Generation Ideas
Much of what we ended up talking about were ideas that most people in the room knew to do, but the number one issue was actually doing them. The difficulty was not in the idea, but in the execution. Some of these ideas were referral campaigns, client case study campaigns, candidate hot job campaigns, social sharing, testimonials, and more. You may be thinking, “That’s not new!” But, once again, it’s all about the execution.

Execute For Success
When we talked about each of these items, there was no dissension in the group about the need to draw candidates, drive new business, and expand within existing business. There was no dissension on the need to create relationships with both candidates and clients, nor did anyone disagree with creating strong corporate cultures.

Let’s dig in to what goes into a few of these. Referral campaigns begin with a simple concept, what do you offer for referrals? You have to nail down your referral program and referral process to kick this off. Will you give a set amount for referrals? Or, will it be done by a range based on gross margin, volume or some other factor? Will referrals be open to only current consultants or to anyone who refers? There are back office implications to that decision, so please discuss with your finance team. Will you be paying the referral immediately or upon some combination of hours or days a referral is out working?

Once you have completed getting the referral program established and documented – it should be publicized on your website and your entire team should be educated on the referral program. So, now let’s talk about the marketing of this campaign. Will you include a referral statement in your Outlook signature for each of your sales and recruiting team, linking back to your website to create a touch-point? Will you consistently be sharing it across your social media channels? Will you have your team share it across their social media channels consistently? Can you pull a database of your target audience from your ATS? If your target audience is only current consultants, then that is the database you would pull, if it is a wider audience, you should be able to pull that information.

Whichever email tool you use, you should be able to create a campaign with multiple sends (emails) to your target audience over a given period of time, for example: one quarter. On your website, in addition to the referral information, you should have a form created that gives the ability for referrals to be submitted directly to you.

With your time-sheet communication, you can add mention of the referrals and a link to the website, with your payroll emails you can create links to the referral. If you noticed what we just talked about, think about every possible communication vehicle you have in order to share this lead gen capability. Utilizing this same format, you can focus on a client case study campaign in order to share your expertise with prospect clients, still including it in your outlook signature, still including it in your social sharing.

Staffing Firm Lead Generation at the Max
Use a simple concept of focus, focus, focus and your campaigns will generate the staffing firm leads that you are looking for. Establish your audience. Establish your plan. Execute, execute, execute. The end. If you would like to discuss other campaign ideas or even how to execute on the ideas you have, we are happy to be a source for you.

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.