Case Study

Spencer James Group

Business Challenge

2005 was coming to a close, and Steve Faulkner, owner of The Spencer James Group, was disappointed with year-end revenue results. He knew he needed to do something different in 2006. He also knew that successfully running an executive search firm in the employee benefits industry requires constant communication with employers and job candidates throughout the country. He needed to develop a communication system that would keep The Spencer James Group top of mind within the industry while allowing him to give active employers and candidates the time and focus required to maintain his firm's reputation for matching only the best candidates with the best positions.

• Rainmaker Marketing's Outsourced Sales Assistant (OSA) lead cultivation service - a communications system that keeps Faulkner in front of his clients on a regular basis, giving him the time and confidence to focus on active deals and key business strategies.

• Knowing his company is top of mind with the best candidates in the field
• A competitive advantage over other recruiters
• An opportunity to expand his business into other areas
• A record number of referrals
• 15 to 20% response rates to outbound communications

Recruiting Firm Earns 400% ROI from Rainmaker Marketing's
Outsourced Sales Assistant (OSA) Lead Cultivation Service

The competition is never far behind when you are playing on a small field. The playing field for Faulkner of The Spencer James Group in Denver, Colorado, consists of a very small network of insurance companies and top-notch sales and management candidates whose job will be to sell their company's benefits packages to employers. Faulkner's job is to orchestrate the best employee-employer matches within this niche employee benefits industry. "There are really only five big health insurance companies left," said Faulkner, "along with about 15 companies that sell non-medical benefits." The top candidates in each territory are always in high demand.

"I need to stay in touch with all of them," said Faulkner. "I can't afford to ignore my networks in Houston or Los Angeles while focusing on active placements in Boston and Denver." He recalls one instance in which he was asked to recruit a candidate for a position in Houston. "I hadn't done a search in Houston for two years," said Faulkner. "When I sent a communication out to my old list of contacts, I learned that 25% of them had gone to work for new companies. By allowing myself to lose touch, not only did I lose track of valuable contacts, but I had missed the opportunity to help with their moves. If I had sent them a postcard, an email or a voicemail on a regular basis, I more likely could have participated in several placements." That's why Faulkner decided to invest in the Rainmaker Marketing Outsourced Sales Assistant (OSA) service, developed by President Craig Harrell.

"You aren't doing everything you can to stay in touch with your contacts," Harrell told Faulkner, "so I will do it for you." And during the last week of 2005, Harrell helped The Spencer James Group plan a lead nurturing campaign that would ensure a minimum of 8 personal communications per year to every person on the company's list of job candidates. Communications were designed to convey a personal, one-to-one message directly from Faulkner to the prospect. Rainmaker Marketing's technology automates the appearance of a personal interaction and avoids the look and style of a mass marketing communication.

• An email addressing the recipient by name and signed with Faulkner's electronic signature
• A short, casual, informative voicemail pre-recorded by Faulkner
• A postcard with a brief message in Faulkner's own handwriting
• An article of interest with a sticky note in Faulkner's own handwriting

Faulkner estimates that he personally spent less than 8 hours on the project. "Craig walked me through every step," he said, "and all that was required of me was to occasionally tweak the messages and tune up the database by providing Rainmaker with an Excel spreadsheet of new contacts."

"Rainmaker is very credible and has a strong background in sales," said Faulkner. "I think of Craig and his team as business consultants who ask the right questions and help provide the right answers. Everyone who has ever read a sales book knows that the services Rainmaker provides are the things you must do in order to prevent opportunities from falling through the cracks, to be able to capture the sale when the prospect is ready to buy, and not to get cut out of another sale because you were so busy with the first one that you weren't there at the right time."

Useful, Relevant Communications Ensure Top of Mind Status

The OSA service Rainmaker Marketing developed for The Spencer James Group included a combination of personalized email, voicemail and direct mail communications delivered throughout the year to the company's target list of candidates. Messaging was useful and relevant to the recipient, not intended to sell or to force a decision, but to maintain a line of communication with the recipient that would ensure The Spencer James Group top of mind status in the event that a candidate had decided to actively begin looking for a new position. The communications solicited responses from recipients and initiated dialogues not only from active candidates, but also from those who were able to refer a colleague or share important company and/or industry news. "You always learn something on every call," said Faulkner. "Everyone knows someone. It is a chance to find out what is going on with different companies, get a referral, or collect the bullets you can fire to hit the next person's hot buttons."

OSA voicemail communications on behalf of The Spencer James Group solicited an average response rate of 15%, while response to emails has reached as high as 20%. In addition, since implementing the OSA service, the company's list of targeted candidates has almost tripled in size.

"I calculate my 2006 return on investment in Rainmaker's Outsourced Sales Assistant service at 400%," said Faulkner. "Not only can I directly attribute a substantial amount of income to the service," he added, "but I have also gained several intangible benefits, including the peace of mind that comes with knowing that while I am focusing on strategies or specific searches, all this other stuff is happening!"

Faulkner is so pleased with the results of the service in 2006, he readily signed up for another year of services in 2007. "I have so much more confidence going into 2007," said Faulkner. "Before I partnered with Rainmaker, everything was pretty much ad hoc. Now I have a system in place that gives me a much higher profile in my niche market, and I know that many of the seeds planted through the Rainmaker OSA service in 2006 will bear fruit in 2007. And as an added bonus, more and more of the industry's top candidates are calling me based on referrals from the network of people included in my ongoing OSA communications service."

Faulkner also gives the OSA service credit for keeping him focused on the right activities on a day to day basis. "It isn't always easy to be motivated to get on the phone and do your thing every day," explained Faulkner. "Some days, I may get distracted with debriefings or other activities, and I'm just not focused on pounding the phones. But if Rainmaker sends out an email or voicemail on my behalf, now people are calling me, so there is a lot more pressure to be responsive." This pressure makes it easier for Faulkner to maintain his goal of 10 conversations with new candidates and clients per day and 10 first interviews per month.

"If I am doing all the right activities, then the money will take care of itself," said Faulkner. "I am also more comfortable starting to expand my business by networking in more senior areas, because OSA keeps the wheels humming on my core business."

For more information about Rainmaker Marketing and the Outsourced Sales Assistant service,
visit www.rainmaker-marketing.com or call 800-941-6109.

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