You have to sell to stay in business. To have steady sales that generate steady cash flow, you have to develop a strong sales pipeline. It takes time, attention and skill, but the goal is to build a pipeline full of leads that get converted into customers and produce cash flow. Why not approach finding future employees the same way? Most small and mid-sized companies only think about recruiting talent when they have an immediate need. When an opening or new position comes up, they initiate the process of posting on job boards, getting the word out to their networks and employing recruiters. What if you pursued prospective employees like you pursue prospective customers? What if you built a strong pipeline of great talent that you wooed and cultivated even when no job openings were within sight? When an opening does arise, how much more effective and enjoyable would…

Last week I wrote about the importance of creating a recruiting pipeline with the same urgency and intentionality applied to sales pipelines. If you are intrigued or persuaded, but looking for some practical how to’s, this post is for you! The problems to be solved: Over the long-term, you want to flip from having to chase mediocre talent to being sought out by the best of the them. When you have an opening, you want to be able to immediately schedule interviews from a list of candidates you have previously screened and cultivated a relationship with. You are tired of wasting time interviewing candidates that are a bad match for your company, let alone the job description. In addition to wasting time, it dilutes the pool and you are concerned that you may be hiring the best of the worst. You are losing the talent war to companies with more…

Pursuing customers is common sense for any business. Without profitable customers, a business cannot exist, but customers cannot be acquired overnight. Everyone knows it takes a lot of time and effort to advertise, market and cultivate relationships to turn prospects into customers. So why do so many businesses assume acquiring talent is completely different? Too many business only worry about finding good candidates when they have a job opening. Remember, these are the people who produce the products, services and experiences for all those hard earned customers. Customers are too important to your business to only go looking for them when you need more revenue. If you start then, it is probably too late. In the same way, good employees are too important to your business to only go looking for them when you have an empty chair. How much better would your team become if you began to pursue…