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What do you know about your competition in your staffing market?  Richard Piske, co-founder of The Staffing Cooperative talks with his partner Dave Reiss about how when he was running a national staffing firm, his sales organization knew as much about their competition as their competitors knew about themselves.   

Richard says, “We knew how they thought…, what their strategies were…, how they behaved…, where they were weak…, where they were strong.  There wasn’t anything we didn’t know.”  Listen to this blog-video to hear some specific examples of the type of intelligence your staffing sales organization should be gathering on your competition.

This conversation was held before staffing executives and staffing professionals at AST’s 2009 Users Group in Jersey City. AST (http://www.astusa.com) has been providing staffing software solutions to the staffing industry since 1985.

In last week’s blog-video, “For the Staffing Industry – What’s Different About This Economy?,” Richard said that while this recession is “more comprehensive,” regional staffing agencies can gain advantage in their staffing markets by gathering solid market intelligence and leveraging the “tenure that they have in the marketplace.”   This week, Richard laid out the aggressive “need to know” attitude that a successful staffing sales organization has to maintain to gain in their market.

Ask Dave and Richard about the types of questions you should be asking about your competition by clicking on the following link: What should I be asking about my competition?

Click in next week for “Using Linkedin to Develop an Online Presence for Your Staffing Business.”

Everett Reiss
Business Relationship Development
The Staffing Cooperative
Check me out on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/evreiss
Check us out on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/StaffingCo_op

We encourage you to keep your staff and temporary employees informed about the Swine Flu.  Below are the main contents of an email that a staffing company who happens to be a member of the Staffing Cooperative sent out to their employees.  Feel free to use the contents of this entry in your email:

“The US government has announced a Public Health Emergency for the Swine Flu (it is a warning to be prepared, not an epidemic).  The government has started to prepare by administering vaccines to the military and will be making available vaccines to hospitals and other first responders.

The five states that have shown an outbreak are:  New York, Ohio, California, Kansas and Texas.  It’s not clear how many people truly have this particular strain, or why all countries but Mexico are seeing mild disease, nor is it clear if the new virus spreads easily, one milestone that distinguishes a bad flu from a global crisis.

How do people get infected?  About one case of swine flu in humans is reported to the CDC every one to two years, but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases were reported to the agency. According to WebMD.com, 11 of those people had direct or indirect contact with infected pigs. Human-to-human infections do occur similar to the way the human seasonal flu virus is transmitted — through coughing, sneezing and coming in contact with a person or object with the virus.  People cannot become infected by eating pork or pork products. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit kills the virus as well as other bacteria, notes the CDC.

What are the Symptoms? Symptoms are similar to those of the regular human influenza virus: fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some who have been infected with the swine flu also reported having a runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

How is it treated?  Tamiflu, http://www.tamiflu.com, the generic name for oseltamivir, appears to be effective against the new strain when taken early, says the CDC. There is currently no human vaccine for swine flu, but the flu vaccine may provide some protection against the H3N2 strain, though not the H1N1 strain.  Tamiflu only be acquired through a prescription.

The best precaution is to Stay Healthy, Health officials recommend people continue to take the same precautions to protect themselves against a potential influenza pandemic as they would from colds and seasonal flu.  Make respiratory etiquette a habit.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
• Throw the tissue away after one use – do not keep on your desk or in a pocket
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or upper sleeve it you don’t have a tissue
• Try not to touch your eyes, nose or mouth, germs often spread this way
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.  If you are not near soap and water, use an alcohol based hand sanitizer.
• Keep your distance from individuals that are ill
• If you are ill stay home from work “