I have a confession.
I’m becoming a pickleball junkie.
Now, it’s not quite an obsession (yet), but it’s getting there—as evidenced by my Facebook feed which is currently dominated by pickleball paddle ads.
But this article is not about pickleball.
It’s about Friday Pickleball, the paddle manufacturer that advertised to me.
Their mission scored a direct bullseye for me:
Friday Pickleball was born out of a desire to level the playing field. At Friday, we create paddles you can trust with a look and feel that actually make a difference. The paddle you choose should make you feel confident and comfortable so you can show up as the best version of yourself, every day. That’s why we offer premium paddles at accessible prices so you can look great and feel confident on the court.
So, how does this apply to staffing?
First, the message is a lot like Haley Marketing’s mission – to make world-class marketing fast, easy, and affordable so we can help small to midsize staffing and recruiting firms to level the playing field.
Lesson: When your mission resonates with your ideal client, people will want to do business with you.
Does your mission resonate with your ideal clients? Does it illustrate how you are an ideal partner for their staffing needs?
Second, Friday’s mission is about providing a value that their ideal client desires – quality and affordability.
It’s not hard to guess that is a fairly universal desire.
It applies to pickleball paddles…and staffing services. How can you provide high quality AND more affordable services?
Typically, high quality means high price. But to win in today’s market, you need to determine what drives value for your ideal clients…then become uber-efficient at delivering that value.
In Friday’s case, they did not just lower prices, they determined the features and technology that their clients wanted, and then they found a way to manufacture and sell the product at a price point that works for everyone.
Part of their genius is that they promote two paddles for the price of one, so while the effective cost per paddle is really low, their revenue per client is good.
In staffing, most employers want high-quality talent and job orders fulfilled quickly. So how can you deliver this value—and offer better pricing?
- Like Friday, you can consider volume discounts.
- You can focus, so you become really good at recruiting specific kinds of people.
- You can use automation to eliminate manual work.
- You can implement a staffing platform (an app or marketplace) to accelerate all parts of the staffing process (taking job orders, recruiting talent, fulfillment, onboarding, etc.).
- You can use offshore resources to reduce your cost-of-service delivery.
- You can use AI to improve communication and automate customer service.
- You might partner with other firms to be more efficient at recruiting…or to develop new pipelines to place the people you are recruiting.
- You could target smaller companies that often don’t find staffing affordable—and help them level the playing field when it comes to recruiting.
Lesson: When you design your product and pricing (i.e., your service delivery) around your ideal client, you create a product-market fit that gives you a clear advantage over your competitors. |
