This got me thinking about recruitment agencies and 3 big lessons we can learn from this unexpected defeat.
The 3 Mistakes They Made
Complacency
Labor believed they were going to win and took their eye off the ball. Look around you, are your competitors being innovative and creating new and exciting ways to add value to “your” clients and “your” market? Have you been around for a while and just expect clients to give you their roles? If so, it’s time to refocus and investigate ways to have your clients and candidates understand you are doing everything you can and more to solve their problems. How is your customer service? Do your consultants return candidate calls? Are you losing candidates to backdooring? Do you make them feel valued and likely to refer business even if you can’t help them?
Out of touch
Labor’s policies didn’t line up with their traditional voters’ expectations and they were alienated. Are you offering a service that is what your clients and candidates tell you they want or are you marching to your own drum because…well it’s easier? Find out from your market how they are hiring, how they are looking for jobs, what new struggles they are facing and adapt your offering to meet those changes.
Trying to be all things to all people
This is the biggie. By trying to appeal to more voters they actually lost hoards of traditional voters in the process. Their message was confusing, and the opposition just had to play to that crowd to collect the disaffected voters. It’s interesting many people didn’t want to switch sides, but did because they felt they had no choice. You don’t want your clients going to their 2nd choice because they don’t feel like you serve their specific market well. By having a clear message to your market on exactly what you do and who you do it for will help you shore up your current clients and bring in new business.
Hope you find this interesting and useful.
Thanks for reading.
Belinda
Heh Belinda, this is absolute marketing gold. Well done on seeing so clearly through the mess. Definitely many golden nuggets in here I’ll apply to my business.
Thanks for the feedback Marci! Belinda