I often refer to the line used by Burgess Meredith (Mickey) in the Rocky films in the early 1970’s that, while training Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Mickey is insistent on the “need for speed.” “You need speed, lighting quick speed…” during my workday. A firm’s speed of delivery is one the best differentiators in how a company can stand out versus the competition.

As Sales and Recruiting professionals in an economy where competition is fiercer than ever, staff augmentation firms need to get creative and pull out all the stops they can to get a leg up over their competition and get that needed “speed.” Is your firm guilty of any of the following?

• You receive a requirement via a mass-generated VMO system and feel that, because there is so much competition against it that there is really no need to pay it much mind because the position is challenging or the pay and billing rates too low?
• You and your staff take a “wait and see” approach to handling new requirements and will get to the new requirement and any subsequent initial strategies tied to recruitment, advertising and marketing, etc. the next moment you can – even if it’s 24 hours later?
• Your firm is stuck in a “Form over Function” mentality?
• Your firm is simply understaffed due to layoffs and downsizing as a result of the tight economy and as such, cannot respond as quickly as you once could or should?

If the answer to any of these is “Yes”, well then maybe you need to take a look at your internal engines and see what needs to be done to add speed and get more out of what you already have. If you think you have done everything you could with regards to a situation – think again. Someone else probably has another solution to your problem. We are all faced to having to do things we never had to do in a tight staffing market such as this and it is also up to us to find our luck and create our own economies to succeed. Partnering with rival firms, sharing innovative concepts with partners and others, and really listening to ideas – any ideas that may give you and your firm a step up versus the competition. You then have to take real courage and implement those same ideas and work steadfastly toward a successful outcome. It’s up to you get smarter and quicker than your competition and utilize speed to your advantage.