Know What Makes Your Firm Unique

or many staffing com-pany owners and managers, the miscon-ception that their business is uniquebecause they treat their clients well andprovide excellent customer service iskeeping them from achieving theirrevenue goals.

Marketing with this mind-set producesdiscouraging responses from potentialclients such as "you all pull from the samepool" or "you're no different from thestaffing firm down the street." If you havereceived similar responses, now is the timeto re-evaluate your business to make yourcompany stand out and begin preparingfor growth.

Start With Self-AssessmentTo begin differentiating your busi-

ness-to facilitate faster sales and growyour margins-you must identify yourgreatest strength from among threecompetitive advantage categories: opera-tional excellence, product innovation,and customer intimacy.

Companies characterized by opera-tional excellence are known for their reli-

By Greg Palmer

ability, consistency, standardization, effi-ciency, and high value. Companies withgreat product innovation excel atcreativity, flexibility, innovation, and thelatest in technology solutions. Compa-nies that generate high levels of customerintimacy provide superior service,

customization, hand holding, and act aspersonal assistants to each of theirclients. Compare your business to corpo-rations outside of the staffing industry tohelp you determine your company'sdominant strength (see Table 1). >-

(J)~jjIInmif~r:.i .~~1i'

11fi'~

~mrJi~ti .~~UlJI~

:~o ~l

\jJ

f'oom4~tm;m~

Table 1: Companies Outside the Staffing Industry That DemonstrateOperational Excellence, Innovation, or Customer Intimacy.

Operational Excellence Customer IntimacyProduct Innovation

Costco Wholesale Corp 3M Apple Inc.

FedEx Intel Co~p

McDonald's Nike Inc. Nordstrom Inc.

Southwest Airlines RitZ-CarltonHotel CCL

Staffing Success

SonvCorp.

Table 2: Use the VRiO Scorecard to Evaluate the Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organizational Leverage ofYour Products or Services.

Costly to Organizational Com petitiveValuable Rare Imitate Leverage Advantage Returns

Level One No No No No None Below average

Level Two Yes No No Yes Panty Average

Level Three Yes Yes No Yes Temporary Average to above average

Level Four Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustainable Above average

Once you've identified your firm'sgreatest strength, ask these four ques-tions to determine what your companyoffers that is valuable, rare, costly toimitate, and suitable for organizationalleverage.• Value: What problem does my service

or product solve?• Rareness: What makes my business's

service or product rare?• Imitability: Are my services easily and

affordably duplicated?• Organization: Are my services lever-

aged across my entire organization?

Together, the answers to these questionsprovide a snapshot of your company'sdistinctiveness on the VRIO scorecard.Most companies that evaluate their busi-ness based on the VRIO model discoverthey offer a valuable service that is lever-aged across their organization, makingthem a level two on the VRlO scorecard(see Table 2). Achieving level three orfour-offering a unique service that isvaluable and rare-is more difficult.

Although staffing companies offervalue-they are providing a highly impor-tant service-many of them provide similar

Figure 1: A Firm's Distinguishing Product Should Meet the Needs of theStaffing Firm, Candidates, and Clients.

Help assigned employeesPersonal growthGood cultureHigh wages

Low cost

Exciting assignmentsPersonal growth

High wages

March. April. 2010

services in a similar manner. If a staffingcompany can find a way to offer an exclu-sive service that's difficult to duplicate, thatcompany can attain a level four and beginto meet or surpass its revenue goals.

Developing Ways to DifferentiateOnce you determine your firm's domi-

nant trait (operational excellence,product innovation, or customer inti-macy) and decide to differentiate yourfirm, how do you develop the product orservice that your clients cannot obtainelsewhere and that works for yourcompany? In an ideal world, the solutionyou devise will cause these outcomes• Your client will save money, get some-

thing more quickly, or get higher-quality employees

• Your candidates will make more moneyor get more fulfilling assignments

• Your margins will go up

Consider these three factors as gearsthat must run smoothly to produce thebest results (see Figure 1).

Generating Ideas

One possible way to get started is tocreate an advisory group tasked withhelping you generate ideas and testthcrn. Inform the advisory group ofyour goal, whether it is to devise aninnovative new product or service,create a more operationally excellent

allv become new

or servrce. lt is critical not to spread your new

ide-a across your firm too soon. instead, incubate- the product with

service, develop a lower-cost solution, ordesign a service that offers customers amore intimate experience.

Next, develop questions the advisorygroup must solve with your new productor service: Will clients like it? Is it tech-nically and financially feasible? Willthere be a return on this investment? Usethese questions-and others appropriateto your business-to eliminate ideas thatwill not work for your company. In thisessential step, your team is charged withdeveloping ideas that are difficult toimitate and therefore sustainable.

As you brainstorm, produce as manyideas as possible that are as wild aspossible. You'll refine your ideas laterwhen you evaluate them against theconditions you established in the begin-ning. Don't limit yourself to solutions thatare dosely related to your existing staffingservices-this may be an opportunity toexpand your business by breaking intoconsulting or other services.

A lot of unworkable ideas will beproposed before the great idea is finallydeveloped, so reward innovation andcreativity, not just the eventual solution.Thomas Edison conducted more than9,000 experiments in his development ofelectric light. Hopefully your team won'trequire quite no many trials and errors,but if it does, you can be assured youhave gone thc distance to create a trulyrare product or service.

A Winning NotionThe last company I ran, Remedy,

wanted to introduce a new niche for allthe usual reasons: higher margins, fastergrowth, and greater shareholder value.We knew the name Remedy wouldn'twork because that brand was alreadyassociated with light industrial staffing,so we needed a new name for this divi-sion. We decided to use a variation onthe company's stock symbol, REMX. Wechose the name X-Factor for the newproduct.

Then we just had to figure out whatthe new product would be.

In our brainstorming sessions, we set achallenge of developing an idea that wasunique and that would solve problems.We proposed a goal of creating a bettermatch between clients and candidatesbased on a statistic that stated 88% of thetime employees quit, it is because of theirboss. We wanted to develop a compati-bility program.

We found software for this purposeafter extensive research. Modeling ourcompatibility process on the onlinedating industry, we developed a serviceno one else was offering.

The whole process took about a ye:lrand resulted in a product Remedy couldcharge more for. 1t made us more valu-able by guaranteeing a better match; itwas rare because we were the onlystaffing firm with this software; it wascostly to imitate, as it would requireresearch and development to duplicatethe results; and the concept was easilyleveraged across the entire organization.

Testing the WatersMonths might pass before you devise

the idea that will eventually become yournew product or service. It is critical notto spread your new idea across your firmtoo soon. Instead, incubate the productwith the help of a few good clients.

When we launched the X-Factor, westarted with a small group of clients closeto our corporate headquarters so wecould see the results often. We chosemanagers who genuinely supported theeffort and enthusiastically promoted theconcept. We offered the service free toencourage multiple participants.

I cannot stress enough that those first,loyal clients will provide you with the kindof solid intelligence and genuine feedbackyou need to make your new service oroffering a success. Some changes weremade to the application and its pricing andpositioning based on the feedback wereceived from clients. »

More Tips on Differentiating Your FirmLooking for more insights into what makes your staffing firm stand out? Greg Palmer

provided ideas on how to identify and evaluate your company's distinctive strengthsduring "Innovate to Differentiate-Tips for a Crowded Market," a membership sectionroundtable presented by the ASA professional membership section.

You can access the archive of this membership section roundtable at etneti-canstaffingnet Click on Members, then Membership Sections, then Professional.

IStaffing Success I

... ~::.. - .!~:.. . ~(~'. ; . _. .,-

After more of the kinks were workedout-and be prepared, for there will bemany kinks-our service was ready. Weprinted brochures, designed informationalWebinars, obtained testimonials from ourtest clients, developed case studies, anddid 1,000 other marketing and brandingtasks before we ultimately launched theX-Factor product across the country.

on your investment. Your serviceenhances your value to your client, it'srare and difficult to imitate, and it can beleveraged across your firm. Your marginsare likely to grow because you can chargea premium for this exclusive offering. Soyou're done now, right? Wrong.

Unfortunately, the truly exhaustingthing about innovation is that the need tostay on top of your market and remain aunique player in the game never ends. Youhave to continually reassess what you aredoing. Your competitors are always goingto be looking for a way to match or

------------_._--------

The Hard Work Is Over, Right?Now that you have a new service to

offer to your clients, you have achieved aVRIO level of four and will see a return

surpass you, so long-term success requiresgoing beyond isolated wins and devel-oping the aptitude to seize new growthopportunities repeatedly. You will have tokeep producing successful growth strate-gies and programs .

Continual innovation is the secret tostanding out. Although institutionalizinginnovation is hard work, companies thatharness the ability to maintain and buildon innovation can create substantialwealth and differentiate themselves fromcompetitors.

The good news is that you have devel-oped a sustainable model that can beself-fulfilling. Continue improving onyour success and look for ways to expandin new areas, and your staffing firm willstand out in the minds of current andpotential clients .•

Greg Palmer is president of G. Palmer &1

Associates. To comment on this article, e-

mail success@americanstaffing.net.