Workshops

Sales and Business Development Learning Track

Differentiate yourself in the sales process and walk away from the commodities game for good. Protect and increase your margins, shorten the sales cycle, and close more deals by developing a system for uncovering your clients' true needs and issues.

Margaret Graziano will review techniques in market identification, prospecting, and qualifying, and she'll take you all the way through the face-to-face consultative sales process. Decrease stalling and put-offs and improve your closing ratios. Separate yourself from the competition, gain control over the sales process once and for all, and position yourself as an invaluable component of your client's human capital strategy. Graziano will show you how a high-powered approach wins the exclusive deal.

Create Raving Fans: Profit From Client Loyalty
Eric Gregg, managing partner, iLoyalty
Wednesday, 11:45 a.m.–1 p.m.

There is a direct and meaningful link between client loyalty and the financial success of a staffing firm. Retention is less costly than making new sales, and loyal clients will refer more business to you. Learn how to distinguish yourself from other firms by discovering what is most important to your clients and how you can benchmark your services with the key drivers of loyalty and retention.

Eric Gregg leverages industry research involving more than 1,000 human resource professionals to highlight the six key components of winning new business and creating loyal, profitable clients. An accomplished staffing industry researcher with particular expertise in client loyalty, Gregg will explain how to serve the needs of your clients in a way that will lead to increased retention and profitability.

Negotiation Boot Camp: How To Make Better Deals
Ed Brodow, chief executive officer, Ed Brodow Seminars
Thursday, 1:45–3 p.m.

When your clients are using clever new tactics for negotiating fees, margins, and indemnity clauses, do you have the confidence and diplomatic skills to get what you want while still leaving them with a sense of satisfaction?

Ed Brodow, best-selling author and one of the nation's most acclaimed and innovative experts on the art of negotiation, will share proven strategies used by successful negotiators for making deals and getting what you want out of life. You'll learn how to negotiate staffing contracts and communicate more effectively with clients, suppliers, colleagues, and employees.

He will discuss negotiating techniques he has developed for clients such as Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Starbucks, Philip Morris, the Hartford, Johnson & Johnson, Hyatt, Revlon, Kimberly-Clark, and the Pentagon. "Ed Brodow is the king of negotiators," says Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Secrets To Becoming the No. 1 Producer
Craig Silverman, executive vice president, HireAbility
Jami Jackson, president, Jami Jackson LLC
Thursday, 1:45–5 p.m.
Also in recruiting, placement, and direct hire learning track Immersion workshop

Whether you're a sales rep, account manager, recruiter, or working a split desk, you sell opportunity and you sell talent. Learn the secrets to becoming the No. 1 producer on your team. Every time you screen a candidate, you get leads for the sales department. Recruiting is selling, and it takes three things to be a top performer: attitude, effort, and process.

During this three-hour immersion workshop, Craig Silverman and Jami Jackson will show you how to use the innovative techniques of top-performing staffing professionals, including a global professional network of corporate, agency, and independent recruiters. You'll take away tactics you can implement right away that will help generate new business through additional referrals, increased sales, and more placements. Learn how to overcome difficult objections. Discover how to develop creative newsletters, create voice mail messages that work, and use recruiting blogs, social networking, and virtual recruiting. Leave this workshop with action plans that create sales strategies that work and a time management plan that will help you achieve your goals and close more deals with less stress.

The Price Is Right—Get the Fees and Margins You Deserve
Bob Lanza, president, Sales Team Solutions LLC
Thursday, 4–5:15 p.m.

Have you ever paid more for a product or service because you know the company is reliable and friendly, or the process is hassle-free? Can your company charge a premium based on the service you offer to your clients? How can you make sure your front-line staff are selling value and not price? What are some common mistakes that invite your prospects and clients to challenge your pricing model? How do you change your organizational mindset on pricing?

Bob Lanza will give you a commanding knowledge of price—the basic ingredient of business—by cutting away all the taboos, myths, and hype that surround it. Learn how both clients and staffing professionals perceive price, what it really means, what's behind the number, and how to get the best number.

Power Positioning: The Magic of Marketing
Panel moderated by David McAnally, CPC, general manager, partner, Hire Dynamics Rx
Friday, 10:30–11:45 a.m.

In today's candidate-driven world, you must market your firm to both candidates and future clients. Knowing your clients' needs is vital to your business. Just as important, however, is your brand awareness—how familiar potential clients and candidates are with your firm. Because prospective clients and candidates have more staffing options than ever before, you need to get their attention and create a power position.

How is your company positioned? Do you know what kind of name recognition your company has? David McAnally, CPC, moderates this panel of staffing industry professionals and marketing experts, who will share nontraditional marketing ideas that have proven successful at breaking through the clutter. Find out what you can do to be unique and stand out.

RPO: Evolution of Recruitment and Staffing
Panel moderated by Richard Crespin, global executive director, Human Resources Outsourcing Association
Friday, 1:45–3 p.m.

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) enables organizations large and small to improve their ability to attract and hire top talent while enhancing work force effectiveness and reducing operating costs. How might the staffing industry take the lead in this evolution and define best practices? What are the roles of in-house HR generalists, recruiters, and hiring managers? What are the roles of third-party recruiters and consultants in the RPO environment?

While many staffing firms consider RPO to be a legitimate business opportunity because current and prospective clients are showing interest in this service delivery model, there is still debate about RPO's definition and scope because the industry is still new and evolving. Richard Crespin moderates a panel of staffing industry executives from firms that offer RPO services, who will share with you what might be in your future as you explore the possibilities of developing RPO capabilities.

Sales Success—Are You Selling Your Services or Merely Taking Orders?
Jeff Skrentny, CPC, CTS, ATMS/CL, president and owner, Jefferson Group Inc.
Friday, 1:45–5 p.m.
Immersion workshop

Satisfaction just isn't enough. Have you ever lost a good client to a competitor even though the client claimed to be satisfied with your services? Veteran recruiter, trainer, and business consultant Jeff Skrentny, CPC, CTS, ATMS/CL, will prove that you don't know your clients as well as you should and tell you why that should concern you. You must learn to use value-added sales techniques at every client interaction to turn prospects into clients and clients into business partners.

In this immersion workshop, Skrentny will provide a tool to help you build critical relationships with clients and prospects. Learn the questions you should ask before making cold calls, as well as those that should be used to conclude every successful placement. Learn how to follow up with a prospect who just won't agree to your price and how to review a postdeal process to make sure your client knows how you've helped the client succeed. Discover how employing interns and researchers can enable your sales professionals to do what they do best—sell your services and close deals. Skrentny will also share a new technique that makes reference checking your most valuable marketing tool.

You won't find success by merely satisfying clients—you need to create that "wow" factor to turn satisfied clients into "thrilled with your services" clients. It takes a team effort, practical technology, and knowing what they really want. Get the sales techniques you need to drive success.