"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle or you can live as if everything is a miracle."
"— Albert Einstein
I'm not going to sugar coat it, we are facing some challenges in the country and the economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the U.S. unemployment rate for January 2009 rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent and that payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007; about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months. In total there are over 11.6 million unemployed people in the U.S. By the time this article is in print it will have most likely increased by an additional 1 million people. If you really want to dig into the employment report go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (website at www.bls.gov.)
Enough doom and gloom if you want more just turn on the evening news. Let's take a brief step back and instead of continuing to focus on the problem, why not look for the potential opportunities that the problem may present?
If you look at the majority of ISOs and agent offices in the business, most have chosen a distribution strategy of employing independent agents or contractors. One of the biggest challenges or possibly the biggest challenge ISOs and agent offices face is hiring good, qualified independent salespeople. You know as well as I do that "you have to kiss a lot of frogs until you will find a prince" in the recruiting game.
Now I'm no rocket scientist but if we are in the middle of a declining employment trend of which many of the workers are highly skilled and highly educated, wouldn't it seem self-evident that it's now time to put the pedal to the metal and starting recruiting this pool of talent before someone else does?
Is it just a coincidence that franchise and business opportunity advertising experiences an up tick when unemployment is on the rise? I don't think so, these entrepreneurs realize that many people still yearn for the American dream of owning their own businesses and that many of these unemployed people have retirement savings and funds to invest in a new venture.
Our industry has the best recruiting story in the world.
 We offer products and services that every business needs.
We are a relatively recession proof industry.
Agents can get started with little or no investment.
We offer unlimited earnings potential.
Agents can create a residual stream that pays them over and over for a one time effort.
New hires are independent and free to build their businesses they way they want. They will not be at the mercy of an employer ever again.
While others are reducing staff, we are hiring! (I'm sure you can think of many, many more)
Ok, we know we have a good labor pool and a great opportunity, now what? You can naturally choose the market areas to recruit from that are geographically beneficial to your company and location or if you are recruiting nationally I recommend conducting extensive research.
When I work with a client developing a recruiting strategy I usually will conduct research from a variety sources, a couple good resources are:
Census Bureau
"This will provide information on population, income and educationfor any given area. www.census.gov
Bureau of Labor Statistics
"Local area reports. You can research individual areas for specific labor data. www.bls.gov/lau
City Mayors Statistics
"Data from Mayors that are in the trenches. www.citymayors.com/gratis/uscities_growth.html
Inc. Magazines
"Best Cities to do business in. www.inc.com/magazine/20040301/top25.html
Top 100 Newspapers
"Circulation data for all the major papers. www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0004420.html
Use this raw data to intelligently target your ideal market via print or online advertising. I believe that we have a window of opportunity over the next 6-18 months to hire hard-working, well-educated and experienced people who are a great fit for our business.
This is a win-win for everyone involved, they receive a fabulous career opportunity; you receive a great sales partner and the country benefits by having them back on the employment rolls. Many great fortunes have been made during the most challenging times in history. This is your opportunity to make a move while your competitors are still stuck in the problem.
Einstein had it right, there are two ways you can approach life. I encourage you to put the pedal to the metal, take massive action and start building and expanding your sales organization. When you look back a couple of years down the road you'll be glad you did.
Good Luck  |
