If you have been working as long as I have in staffing, you’ve seen this growth pattern before: An entrepreneurial company that thrived with the traditional staffing model for five to 10 years graduates to professional services and/or managed services. Voilà! A new era of growth is possible. 

Yet recently, that path is harder to navigate. First, there’s more competition. As SIA reported in its Staffing Industry Forecast: March 2024 Update report, $5 trillion in federal pandemic spending spurred unprecedented industry growth and many new competitors. At the same time, competition from alternative sources has soared with the rise of freelance talent platforms and SOW consultants.

Recent SIA data also shows the industry is on track to decline by 3% this year. When I speak with staffing leaders, I learn they’re feeling the decline keenly. Their buyers are also cautious. In easier times, long-time client relationships were enough to ease the transition into a solutions model, such as asking your organization to offer direct hire or stand up an MSP.

Now, staffing providers are competing vigorously both for staffing business and to gain a foothold in solutions, such as SOW work and managed services. It’s imperative your staffing firm’s sales organization be as adaptive and sophisticated as possible.

Assessing Readiness

As staffing firms grow, they need to consider how well they’re selling their professional services and/or managed services. Offering these solutions is only beneficial if your sales team is prepared. How do you know they are? Consider these critical factors.

Buyer mindset savvy. The ideal client profile for a solution offering is very different from a staffing ideal client profile  in terms of pain points, timelines, budgets, goals and even the decision makers. Is your sales team able to toggle between both?

Solutions comfort zone vs. solution sellers. Over the years I’ve seen many staffing firms strive to grow the solutions side of their business to 40-50% of their revenue but remain stuck at 15% or less. The problem? Sales team members often default to the quicker staffing sale, losing patience with the longer sales cycle that managed services and projects require. Those businesses that break through often hire solutions-focused sales professionals, building two sales groups inside the business.

Embrace Alignment

Staffing firms grow when they expand their capabilities. Giving your sales team more solutions-selling support, via knowledge, training and incentives, can accelerate that expansion. Here are three ways to do it.

Provide target knowledge. Ensure your sales team has all the information it needs to understand the new targets and what makes them buy. Will the account be profitable, scalable and a long-term fit for business growth? Do you offer solutions that address their biggest challenges? For example, if they are implementing Salesforce, can you help them not only with the talent to successfully implement it but also with solutions that could lead to a long-term managed services engagement? Great salespeople achieve amazing things when given the right insights.

Train your team. SIA’s Internal Staff Survey 2024 report discovered that sales and marketing tactics were one of the areas of training internal teams ask for the most. Solution selling skills can be taught. Don’t miss this chance to provide training sales teams are hungry for. And, if your team is resistant, consider building a dedicated solution sales team.

Show them the money. Unfortunately, compensation is often something I’ve seen businesses overlook when expanding. Sales incentive plans need to be adapted to offer rewards for solutions selling, which often has a longer timeline than other types of selling. Ensure that your compensation plans align with the business growth you want to see and that there are rules of engagement when two sales teams (staffing and solutions) are involved. Incentivize teams to work together rather than to compete for commissions.

Who knows, firsthand and from the front lines, how hard growing into a solutions provider could be? Your sales team. That’s only one of the many reasons to give them the tools, knowledge and motivation needed to keep you competitive in a challenging — but winnable — marketplace.