5 Small Business Recruiting Tips to Attract the Top Talent

Attracting top-notch employees can be challenging when your business is first starting out. Although it may feel like an impossible task to compete with large firms with big budgets, there are plenty of no- or low-cost benefits you can offer employees to help attract the top talent.

All it takes is to determine what your recruits and staff really want and value, and a little creativity, says Jennifer Folsom, chief of corporate development for Summit Consulting in Washington, D.C. “Think about what will make your employees’ lives easier,” she says.

Summit got a lot of its human resources savvy on the job. The firm started out as one-person consulting shop in 2003, Folsom says. Now it employs nearly 100, and about half have been with the firm for 10 years.

Here are five unique ideas for low-cost perks you can offer to attract talent and keep employees happy:

1. Keep a well-stocked kitchen

Don’t underestimate the power of food. Summit Consulting spends about $1,000 a year on snacks for its employees, Folsom says, including a weekly fresh fruit delivery that costs about $100 a month. A Summit employee makes a weekly trip to buy snacks as part of his tasks, she says.

But, Folsom warns, don’t stock those kitchen cabinets with just any snacks. Summit sends employees a quarterly snack survey to make sure the team is satisfied with the food choices. If snacks don’t interest your team, perhaps a weekly team lunch or breakfast will. An added benefit of providing a weekly meal is your staff gets to bond while enjoying a perk.

2. Provide employees a convenience perk

Summit employees enjoy a free membership to the local bike share program, Folsom says. This is a great perk for a younger workforce living in a metro area. Fewer than half the staff owns a car, she says, and many opt to ride a bike to their client meetings rather than take public transportation. Other ideas for low-cost convenience perks include a weekly dry cleaning pick up and drop off or a Community Supported Agriculture (“CSA”) share, where local farmers drop off a weekly bag of produce for each employee to take home.

3. Offer hyper-flexible work schedules

Flexible work schedules benefit the entire staff, not just working parents. As more employees are asking for flexible schedules, more companies are responding positively as a way to attract top talent. Flexible schedules include offering employees the ability to work from home one day a week or allowing them to work longer hours four days a week with one day off.

Most employees are thrilled to eliminate one day of commuting time and expenses from their week. After working at Summit for six months, every employee, including support staff, can work from home one day per week, Folsom says. “It doesn’t cost a thing and it goes really far with employee loyalty and retention,” she adds.

4. Create a wellness room

Whether your staff needs Advil to relieve a data-induced headache or a stain pen to remove a lunchtime mishap from a shirt, employees will appreciate you converting a closet into a wellness room with a comfy chair and plenty of supplies, including breath mints, sunblock and Band-Aids.

5. Offer research hours

If you’re a startup trying to attract academic-level talent, offering employees time to research, publish and present their papers at conferences can be a magnet for attracting the best talent. According to Folsom, the key is to make sure the employee’s research aligns with your firm’s business development goals. Then it’s a win-win for both because employees are doing work that will support the firm while the firm supports their interests.

If you’re serious about attracting and retaining the best talent, there are some bigger steps you can take. Offering a competitive benefits package can be a serious lure for employees. To learn how you can implement a simple and affordable benefits plan, check out Nationwide’s Employee Benefits Suite.

10 Tips for Small Business Marketing

As the owner of a small business, you are likely the chief lead generator and chief marketer. These tasks may not be what you most enjoy, but they are not difficult and can even be fun. Here are 10 tried-and-true ways to make the process easier:

1. Market your expertise

What do you do or offer that no one else does? What expertise do you have that your competitors can’t match? This is part of your “authority platform.” Think about how best to use it to attract the clients you want. Perhaps you’re a health and fitness coach. Gyms and fitness centers provide a ready-made base of potential clients, but how do you reach them?

You could host a special program in person or via a Webinar. Such initiatives show potential clients that you have valuable information to share.

2. Tap word-of-mouth

Recommendations from people you’ve done business with and from family and friends will always be the best form of advertising. These days, word of mouth includes online and offline referrals from satisfied customers. Online reviews have a proven track record of generating new business, too. The cost of word of mouth advertising is low, which means your return on investment (ROI) is high.

3. Got raving fans?

Turning the people who know and do business with you into raving fans will further boost word-of-mouth ROI. Perhaps you run a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning company and one of your clients, a hair salon, is having a business anniversary. Offer to throw a party. You’ll generate loyalty, score brownie points, and add a personal dimension to your bond with the client.

4. Strategies, then tools

Educating and providing value to clients and prospects is one example of a strategy. How you follow through may include tools such as in-person workshops, articles on LinkedIn, free e-newsletters or free 15-minute consultations. Let the strategy and your authority platform guide you on the best initiatives to launch. Otherwise, you’ll be spending valuable time and resources on initiatives that yield no long-term relationships and do nothing to expand your client base. Also, make sure your strategy is cost effective.

5.Think intrinsic value

Relationships have value and are not a means to an end. People can “smell” when you’re angling for leads and are not committed to developing relationships, says Art Radtke, a customer success manager at marketing firm More Prospects Now, based in Annapolis, Md. “We want attraction,” he says. “We want to give people the ability to step toward us naturally,” which goes back to figuring out how you can serve them.

A young investment advisor Radtke knew went to a meeting looking for referrals. He met many people, including a couple of estate planning lawyers. The attorneys didn’t send clients to him directly, but, when asked, they were quick to recommend him to others.

6. Expand your attitude

Anything that gains or maintains a place in someone’s mind is marketing. An example: Radtke’s firm suggested that a title company make homebuyers feel as comfortable as possible by offering them coffee, tea and homemade cookies while they read and signed their contracts. Midway through, the clients found a $50 gift card to a local restaurant as the title company’s thanks for their business. They went home happy and told others about their positive experience. Referrals jumped by 30%.

7. Get help!

Be sure to ask clients for help with referrals and social media posts. (This goes back to word-of-mouth.) People for whom you’ve done a good job will want to recommend you. Make it as easy as possible by putting clients’ verbal testimonials in writing and asking them to post to Facebook or other social media channels.

8. Advertise

You still have to build relationships. If people don’t know you and you’re not providing any added value, they disappear. This is why paid advertising is also key. Be sure, though, to think through the most effective way to promote your services before you take out an ad. A pastor Radtke knew tried unsuccessfully to advertise services at his church on Facebook. Radtke suggested that he change tack and highlight the church’s support groups for the newly divorced. People signed up to receive a series of informative articles aimed at recently divorced singles, allowing the church to expand its email subscriber base. Some of those who subscribed joined the support groups and took part in other church-related activities.

9. Evaluate

What’s the return on investment from your strategies and tools? If you don’t already know, ask new clients how they found you. Tailor your marketing accordingly. Maybe four hours of cold calling yielded only one person who’s ready to buy your product or engage your services. Maybe a workshop that likewise took four hours of your time yielded five referrals, three of which are now clients. Record the time spent on each strategy and the number of new clients added. Having this information at your fingertips will allow you to assess which strategy is working best.

10. Track the long haul

By recording this information and using it to conduct periodic assessments, you may discover that an endeavor that at first appeared ineffective has actually been very effective over the long haul.

Remember: Some initiatives take longer than others to yield results, and client relationships take time to establish. Don’t be impatient, as strong relationships are key to any successful business: They yield repeat business, solidify client loyalty and generate referrals.

How to Manage Small Business Risks

The business you are building has been an all-consuming priority, a labor of love. You’ve devoted time and trouble to get the business up and running. Your creativity keeps it growing. You’re a rock of commitment.

It’s exactly because you’re so devoted to the business, though, that you might be overlooking business risk factors that are obvious to others.

Experts call it “confirmation bias.” People see what they want to see, filtering out facts and observations that contradict what they want to believe. It’s a universal affliction, doubly dangerous when you’re making decisions about your company, because you’re shaping your financial future as well as that of your family and your company.

The odds of success are with you, at least if your company is big enough to have employees. The Small Business Administration reports that about two-thirds of businesses with employees make it for at least two years, and about half survive to their five-year anniversary.  Small business survival rates are remarkably consistent, changing little in boom times or recessions, regardless of the type of business or industry.

That makes you, the owner, one of your company’s biggest wild cards. Here’s how to manage business risks as well as the risk you represent to your company.

Head in the clouds, feet on the ground

Eric Sowatsky, a senior manager with accounting and consulting firm Yeo & Yeo, headquartered in Saginaw, Mich., says the entrepreneurs he works with bring energy and enthusiasm to their concepts—along with a determination to overcome barriers to success.

Sowatsky seeks to be a voice of reason for his clients without being a buzzkill, asking questions designed to uncover small business risk factors that have the greatest chance of derailing the venture.

He starts where all entrepreneurs should start: with a business plan. He and Emilia DiMenco, president and CEO of the Women’s Business Development Center, which provides business advice and financing to startups and established businesses alike, agree that solid business plans are important.

Entrepreneurs, says DiMenco, “must have a business plan that includes their business goals and objectives and that addresses potential barriers and market realities.” That means being realistic about the likelihood of success and being careful not to be so in love with your ideas that you underestimate the competition and other market realities.

Talk to partners about business risk management

Neutralize the risk factor that is your enthusiasm by having a tough-questions session with a business partner, peer group or advisor who knows you well, recommends Sowatsky. If they’ve seen you manage business decisions and deal with the repercussions, they will provide the dose of common sense that you probably need.

“You want someone with experience who can point out things you haven’t thought about and possibly say, ‘That’s a great idea, but I don’t see how that’s a valid business right now,’” says Sowatsky.

Checks and balances for business risks

Business advisors agree that starting a company requires an assessment of your family’s financial future so you can create a buffer zone.

How you structure your venture will dictate the risk you take on. Many business owners choose to incorporate because it creates an element of distance between their family’s finances and the company’s operations. Informal partnerships can be vulnerable because one partner might be sued for another’s actions. This is a key topic to review with a business advisor or attorney.

Have small business insurance to help cover business risk

Small business insurance is an elemental expense, experts say. Business insurance covers errors, omissions and other liabilities that are created simply because the company exists.

As your company grows, you’ll have to cover the lives and ability to work of key players, such as the partners or top executives.  If one key player dies or cannot work, the policy covers the cost of bringing on a replacement and, depending on the particulars, might also cover the cost of business continuation, such as consulting to recover lost information. Assess how your own death or disability might affect the company’s ability to operate and your family income, and insure accordingly.

In addition, stay ahead of risks to help avoid the damage they can cause before they occur. Find out if your insurance includes access to risk management resources. While a business continuity plan can help prepare you for the unexpected, other loss control tactics like ergonomic programs, routine safety meetings or maintenance inspections can reduce risks you may not have considered. Taking these precautions can help protect both your bottom line and your reputation.

Adding up small business risks

Outlining small business risk factors isn’t a glamorous entrepreneurship exercise, but it can be turned into a chance to sharpen your financial acumen, says DiMenco. Investors and business partners expect to see risk management as part of your strategy, she says.

“What happens if Plan A doesn’t work? What’s your Plan B?” That’s the risk management mind-set that becomes second nature for seasoned business owners, says DiMenco. “What causes a business to fail is often not lack of profitability in the first year but poor cash management,” she says.

One way to minimize business risk all the way around is to consider your entrepreneurial venture as another phase in your career, not as a one-way exit from the corporate world, says E.J. Reedy, a senior research fellow with the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City.

As you size up possibilities for a launch or expansion, explore how this step develops your skills and marketability, should you return to traditional employment.

For instance, winning and keeping customers makes you adept at “business development and customer service.” Shifting gears to offer what customers truly want—not just what you want to sell them—is “product innovation.”

The process of starting up and growing a company expands your network in new directions. “Exiting the company is not necessarily failure,” says Reedy. “There might be a business there, but not the business you want to do forever. Think of entrepreneurship as a phase of your career. “