Mike Cleland named as Finalist for the Fast Growth Entrepreneur Legend Award

Mike Cleland was named as a finalist for the Oxford Center Fast Growth Entrepreneur Legend Award at the Oxford Center Get Real Conference in New York City on September 26, 2014. The Entrepreneur Legend Award is a lifetime Legacy Award to an entrepreneur who has built and successfully exited fast growth companies, continuously demonstrates excellent customer service, exhibits a positive influence and is still actively engaged in the advancement of society. The Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs is dedicated to educating and helping fast growth entrepreneurs take business to the next level. Oxford Center knows the dedication and success necessary to achieve the high level of growth to be nominated for this honor.

Art of the Sale – Staffing Industry Review

Sales management is as much art as science. But there are three principles of sales management that can make your sales team more effective and help ensure you get the most from outside investments when you do decide to make them. The principles are sales strategy, the sales-focused organization and effective performance management.

In the Driver’s Seat – Staffing Industry Review

Most staffing managers will admit that even though business continues to grow, that growth is not a cause for unbridled optimism. The staffing industry faces headwinds that are driven from multiple forces beyond its direct control. Clients continue to ask for more while paying less; new regulations and stronger enforcement of existing regulations increase the cost of doing business; and the changing face of technology challenges how we must leverage the talent pool, which is the very essence of our service. Complicating all of this is an economic recovery that is tenuous at best. All these factors mandate that staffing companies develop strong managers who can rise above the inertia of the status quo and develop and implement high-impact operational improvements to ensure long-term sustainability.

Understanding the Competitive Forces Impacting IT Staffing Published in SI Review

In speaking with staffing companies across the country one thing is clear. Job order numbers are increasing and placements are starting to follow. This is welcome news; however, many executives see a rapidly evolving industry fueling concerns about the long term prospects for growth independent of the state of the economy. This article will discuss three of Michael Porter’s five competitive forces that are having the biggest impact on the future of our industry; Bargaining Power of Buyers, and the Threat of Substitutes and Rivalry among competitors. Understanding these forces will provide insight on how your company should respond strategically to a rapidly changing marketplace. The increasing bargaining power of buyers has been a challenge for staffing firms ever since the beginning of the millennium. The pressure on IT to produce greater ROI to justify its existence has led many buyers to transform their staff augmentation model away from differentiation based on relationships and customer service and towards a focus on program compliance and performance. Many firms blame the advent of the VMS for this transformation, when in reality VMS is only a symptom of the natural evolution between buyer and vendor as an industry matures. It is only natural … Read More