Leave the Hang-Ups To Us

Catching Up On Reading

by Catherine Brown, President

As the year has progressed, I have added more and more newsletters and blogs I want to read to my list of “to dos.”  I find that there are quite a few good sales and marketing consultants whose regular communication I like to follow.   I recently reread Mary Sullivan’s article Maintaining Sales Momentum in a Recession- or Whatever This Is.  Her five principles are timeless and timely:

a.       Narrow your target markets

b.       Rethink pricing

c.       Fine tune your messaging

d.       Engage your customers

e.       Focus on existing customers

If we could do these all the time!  I have had recent success with number 1 that I thought I’d share.  Since September 2008, we have been reaching out to companies to whom we have spoken over the last year and a half or so, writing individual letters, notes, and calling them individually.  I have been reminded (and admittedly a little amazed at) what a focused approach really does. We are taking our own advice and it works!  Initial Call has recently begun work with a couple of companies that we have talked to for a long time.  Timing is everything. It wasn’t the right time before but now it is.   I hope you have a happy new year; we are excited for January!

The Art of Recruiting the Right People

by Colleen McCarty, VP Talent & Organization Development

Initial Call counts itself fortunate for the simple fact that we are actively looking for good people to join us. Since the news is full of stories where the converse is true, one could assume that our Recruiting Team is enjoying a lighter workload. But in a world where “be careful what you wish for” is all too true, our Recruiting Team is working harder than ever. True, sourcing resumes has gotten a lot easier than in years past, and we are receiving record numbers of resumes in response to the few ads we are carefully posting. But with lots of resumes comes lots of reading to carefully review that the people we talk to have the right skills for our clients' needs. Especially hard is screening out the number of people that clearly need work, any work, and are willing to do anything. Many people think they can do this work, but rare is the person who thrives on the challenge and has the level of professionalism we require.  Recruiting wades through the stacks of resumes looking for individuals who love cold calling, who genuinely enjoy the challenge of getting through gatekeepers and voice mail to finally reach the right decision-maker so they can generate interest in less than 120 seconds. And while perhaps a few more of those special people are looking for work now, finding them is just as hard as it ever was.