Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Referrals& success stories. By success stories I mean excellent fitting candidates who were hired by companies thanks to you. People who made their companies better, more successful, competitive, innovative.
Any time you are working with satisfied client do your utmost to get their " go-ahead" for using them as your reference.
The better-known the company the stronger the weapon.

rgds

Adam

To expand on Adam's response; Get testimonals and use them constantly.
First step: call a satisfied customer and ask if they would give a testimonal. Tell them they don't have to write it. You will take care of it.
2nd step: Interview them with a few short questions about how you helped them. Record it or take notes. 3rd: Write the testimonal and email, fax or snail mail it to the them. Ask that they review it and approve it.
4th: Use it alot.

I believe your business philosophy is a good one no "spray and pay-emphasize quality over quantity. Therefore it is important you discuss this with your potential clients-

Create the value proposition that you do a thorough pre-screening process and make certain that you are sending highly qualified, pre interviewed candidates to save them time and money in their interviewing process. The key saving them time and money by only furnishing pre - screened, pre- interviewed prospects that meet their job specification.

Find your client's pain points are what they really want to solve with this hire - and make certain you solve that pain with every candidate you bring to the table.

Make certain your own exit interview with both candidate and client alike, find out what was missing and improve with each future engagement - sooner or later you will be completely familar with their needs and desires.

Always thoroughly go through with your candidates to make certain they will not only have the qualifications but they will interview well.

Many candidates can be qualified but are disasters during their interview, work with your candidates to make certain they can handle the interview process.

Visit your clients after a hire to make certain they are happy with their choice.

Remember creating a value perception will not accomplish your goal, you must produce that value every time.


Hope this helps

Good Luck & Happy Marketing~

Make certain you know why they are hiring, what they expect from the candidate, what the duties are, etc....and then proceed to produce only candidates that will exceed their expectations.

I'm a sales guy who prospects - not a marketing guy - but I have had some fun promoting some folks in highly competitive industries such as yours.

I know it is heresy on a marketing forum, where everyone says you have to have a "unique selling proposition" - but maybe you don't...

I have talked with more companies than you can imagine who have told me, "we are different than the other companies in our industry because... " - and then they tell me the exact same thing the last five folk told me.

(For example, I have personally worked for at least two clients in the staffing industry who have had the exact same 'unique' approach that you have.)

I have had a blast calling folks saying, "we are one of those web development companies". Prospects laugh. They like the approach, because I'm simply being honest. They are tired of being called by companies they percieve as "all the same" - patiently listening while folks waste their time trying to describe how "unique" they are.

You may, or may not, be special or unique. But what is more important is: even if you are unique, you may, or may not, be able to convince the prospect of this (especially on a first call).

If you are in fact special - the words of a satisfied customer (e.g. testimonials) will be many times more effective than your own words.

A McDonalds franchise is not unique, but they make money. A Shell gas station is not unique, but they make money. A Starbucks is not unique - but they make money.

My personal approach, when marketing a "me-to" service, is to differentiate by marketing style. In particular, I try to employ simple honesty, I try to be as pleasant as I can, and to win folks trust and business over time.

I like the previous point on getting testimonials from current clients, this is really important as you should never underestimate the power of word of mouth. Much better than advertising.
However I would also look into defining yourself on some other key areas. When I was recruiting I did so through a consultant because time is money and with so many projects on the obvious need for help i just didnt have any! However the key recruitment consultants I went to were the ones I knew tested their candidates in all the relevant packages, you could play up the fact that maybe all your candidates have degrees or equivalent, that you test them in all the packages to advanced level, that they are testing on their personality and interaction skills. I went back to the same consultants that I was registered with when starting my career as I knew how toughly they tested me to register with them. That made me realise all their people must have gone through the same and the people they would then send me when I was recruiting would be a similar quality. This cuts out time and is a key selling point and emphasises your genuine theory of getting rid of the "spray".
Also referral incentives help too, I would never refer a company I didnt think were good but getting £100 of jo malone vouchers really helps!!
try to get on the preferred supplier list of big groups, e.g when I was working for WPP we werent allowed to use anyone but the recruitment consultants for marketing that they had pre-approved. If you can get on to a scheme like this you could be the no. 1 contractor for over 50 companies in a simply swoop, cutting out much of the competition.

Hope this helps!!