Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:

The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Matt Lowney

Matt Lowney is currently EVP of Talent & Operations at The Buntin Group, Tennessee’s largest advertising agency. Previously he was director of recruiting for HealthSpring and recruiting manager at DaVita. Connect with him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattlowney

Articles by Matt Lowney

Business Development

If You Want My Business, Here’s What You Need to Do

by on Mar. 19, 2013


Staffing agency

Editor’s note: Matt Lowney, EVP of talent & operations at The Buntin Group, will be speaking at the 2013 Fordyce Forum.  He’s worked with hundreds of outside recruiters and agencies during his years as a recruiting leader at HealthSpring and DaVita. He’s been pitched so many times he’s lost count, but knows what works and what doesn’t. He’ll share that insight during his Forum presentation and tell you just what you need to do to get his business and how to set yourself apart from the herd.

Staffing agencies struggle to differentiate their brand message and uniqueness in a sea of competition. In my dealings with staffing agencies, their pitches all begin to sound the same, but they also recognize that the sheer volume of competitors makes it difficult to sound different, if they truly are. In most local markets there are a handful of solid players and a larger number of peripheral staffing firms that tend to create the “noise” (read: sales calls).

Here are my thoughts on being a top agency player in your market:

Be different: I harped on this point a while ago, but I challenge any staffing agency that wants to be great to clearly communicate their compelling business case. Talk about your recruiting process, client relations, local market connections, and client successes.

Keep reading »
No comments

Business, Business Development, Cold Calling, For Managers, Staffing

If You Want My Business, Here’s What You Need to Do

by on Feb. 11, 2013


Try me marketing on billboard

Editor’s note: In a world where corporate recruiting leaders get a call — or more — a day from staffing and search firms pitching their business, how do you get through the noise to land the business? Drawing on his years dealing with recruitment vendors of all types and sizes, Matt will tell you how to reach him and sell him during his workshop at the 2013 Fordyce Forum. 

Try me marketing on billboardStaffing agencies struggle to differentiate their brand message and uniqueness in a sea of competition. In my dealings with staffing agencies, their pitches all begin to sound the same, but they also recognize that the sheer volume of competitors makes it difficult to sound different, if they truly are. In most local markets there are a handful of solid players and a larger number of peripheral staffing firms that tend to create the “noise” (read: sales calls).

Here are my thoughts on being a top staffing agency player in your market:

Keep reading »
4 Comments

Business, Staffing

Staffing Agency Pitch: “We’re Different.” Employer: Yawn.

by on Jul. 31, 2012


bigstock-Pushy-salesman-with-an-oversiz-21273605

Over the last several years I’ve sat through no less than 100 staffing agency “pitches” in person or over the phone. At this point these meetings have begun to all sound very similar, so I’ll bucket agency sales pitches in to these three areas.

“We’re Different.” Almost every agency says they have a special/unique process for reviewing resumes, sourcing candidates, and access to candidates that sets them apart from their competitors. From my experience I’ve not really seen the impact of their “unique” process in the candidates they’ve submitted. Additionally, most agencies don’t appear to have a thorough understanding of their competition. At some point in almost every vendor meeting someone says that they don’t push paper like “everyone else.” I would encourage vendors to have a much more in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape before they make such broad sweeping indictments of their competitors.

Keep reading »
4 Comments