Attendance at the North American Power Sweeping Association’s (NAPSA) Best Practice Session at the National Pavement Expo on January 28, 2016 couldn’t have been better. The room was filled with professionals wanting to learn more about the topics being presented. Those topics included:
- Advertising for New Employees
- Airport Sweeping
- Integrating Green Practices
- Quality Control Measures
- Government Contracts
- Preventative Maintenance
- How to Establish Core Values
At each of these roundtables, the facilitators presented great information and the attendees shared what has worked for them and didn’t work as well. Let’s take a look at the topic of “Advertising for New Employees” and see if we can find what is called a “NAPSA Nugget”, which is a valuable piece of business information.
According to Payscale, employee turnover will cost anywhere between 60 – 136% of the salary for one position to be filled so when looking for an employee it is imperative to “choose wisely grasshopper.” Obviously employers want to attract the largest and most qualified pool of candidates for the position. As the employment market shifts back toward an employee’s market, this process takes on a new dynamic. Welcome to the beginning of a paradigm shift and if you’re not shifting, you may find yourself paying a lot of money in employee turnover.
So in NAPSA’s Best Practice session on “Effectively Advertising for New Employees”, NAPSA’s founding member and current Board Secretary, Mark Carter of StreetSweeper.com LLC in Orange, California, shared that, “business owners need to have the ability to change their thinking about the hiring process. This is now a sales process.”
In developing a market for employees, broadcasting a wide net would garner more notice. Not everyone who is qualified will find that single Craig’s List ad. Place that well written ad in two or three locations in your advertising tool. You may want to put one ad under skilled labor while putting another one under transportation for example. This helps to test the reach and see better responses coming from a specific area.
Think Guerrilla Marketing tactics. Have you ever tried bonus bounty? This is an incentive that pays immediately upon hire but also after an extended period of time so that there is an incentive to stay.
Unconventional marketing doesn’t necessarily have to cost money but it does need to be relevant to the prospect. Below is an employment advertisement. Which one do you think will get more notice?
Version 1: Night shift job with good benefits. Contact Sam at:
Version 2: Do you need to be home to get the kids on and off the bus? You can do that with this third shift job that offers the security of good benefits. Contact Sam at:
Both of these ads are for the same job but version 2 is written to make it relevant to the typical prospective employee. And maybe that same ad would be rewritten to appeal to the night owl without kids, the one who just likes to sleep in late in the mornings. And who is that target market that you are looking for? Some of the best employees are folks who have come from different trades. Perhaps someone in the construction trade would be interested in driving a truck as opposed to swinging a hammer. An idea for an ad is to appeal to someone who hasn’t been in the sweeping business by calling out for a change in career.
So whether you put out a yard sign for help wanted, hand out business cards to the guy at the gas station or put magnets on your trucks, make sure that your sales message gets heard. And speaking of those truck magnets, these talk to those folks already in construction or working third shift and see them driving around on your truck. Often times these will find the best candidates who are already employed…remember, Guerrilla Marketing! For a one-time charge, a magnet can advertise your company repeatedly to a focused crowd and can just have your phone number or your website if you have an employment section.
Finally, be prepared. We all know that turn over happens. Have your plan written and in place so that when that change does happen, all you need to do is push the button for the process to begin.
If you like this tip, wait until you read about the other topics covered at the NAPSA Best Practice session. Or better yet, contact NAPSA to find out more about this dynamic business trade organization. We can be reached at (888) 757-0130 or by email at [email protected]. You can visit our website at www.PowerSweeping.org.
