Lemonade was the theme of our last Fordyce Letter article (Lemonade, Anyone? From the January 2011 issue). We were happy to share the three main strategies we implemented when a down economy really forced our hand, driving a change from a salesperson-driven culture to one more affordable and still focused on new business development, but sans salesperson. To recap, our three “Lemonade” initiatives were:

1. No more salespeople. Our traditional staffing coordinators are now relationship experts — not only with applicants and contract employees, but also with prospects and customers. Their relationships, and strategic business development goals, drive new business development.
2. A bigger, friendlier brand presence with customers. We continue to be the “little staffing company that helped.” We don’t want the lack of dedicated salespeople to create a vacuum, so we continue to stay very active in personal relationships, educational marketing initiatives, and social media, to stay top-of-mind in a truly helpful way.
3. A more engaged, relationship-oriented presence continues to be our recruiting strength as well as a sales strategy. Since the Lemonade article in January, we have continued to avoid paid recruiting advertising and stayed focused on the more personal touch — including all forms social media, referral programs, job fairs, and other old-fashioned recruiting methods. We even resurrected the “Now Hiring” job flyers — they work in our market!

As we continue to make “lemonade” and improve and strengthen our relationship-based, social media-driven methodologies, we were delighted when one of our longtime clients asked us to bring those tools to the table when they threw a huge party — in honor of BURYING the recession. Here is a “When the economy throws you a curve ball, make Jambalaya” story that I hope makes you smile. Thanks to our client, OEM Fabricators in Wisconsin, for allowing us to be a part of this event and share the story.