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Blue Signal Named 2022 Phoenix Business Journal Small Business Awards Finalist

September 30, 2022 by Aylish DeVore

We are excited to announce that Blue Signal was named a finalist in the Phoenix Business Journal Small Business Awards in the midsized company category. These awards recognize excellence among entrepreneurs and small businesses in Phoenix. We are honored to be nominated alongside these amazing, and local businesses.

Phoenix Business Journal Small Business Awards, Midsized Company Category Finalists:

Blue Signal, LLC

Wilde Wealth Management Group

Venn Construction

evolvedMD

Handwrytten

SPS+ Architects, LLP

KP Elite

The Phoenix Business Journal chose to highlight 16 finalists in this year’s Small Business Awards to bring recognition to those who dealt with the pandemic, turnover, and more over the last year. Next, finalists were divided into the following three categories: micro sized, small sized, and midsized.

“This year’s honorees all share common qualities: leadership, ingenuity, and a passion for innovation. In a year fraught with hiring, supply chain, and countless other challenges, this tenacious group of companies rose to the occasion, overcoming obstacles placed in their paths through creative thinking and ingenuity.”

– Chris Jansen, PBJ

Honorees were selected based on a number of factors, including financial performance, historical achievements, contributions to industry, contributions to the local economy, and potential to shape the Phoenix business community, for instance. Click the video below to see what drives our passion. We aim to support our local community and beyond by building better careers and lives for our candidates and clients.

On September 22^nd, our CEO, Matt Walsh and his wife, Jessica Walsh, joined the Phoenix Business Journal and Pacific Premier Bank in person for their fourth Annual Small Business Awards event to meet and socialize with fellow finalists and of course, attend the official awards ceremony.

Specifically, a special congratulations goes out to Handwrytten, for being name the overall winner of the midsized company category! We have personally used their services within our business and are proud to be nominated alongside them.

In closing, we owe a huge thank you to Phoenix Business Journal and Pacific Premier Bank for creating this amazing opportunity. Through this event, they support thriving small businesses in our headquarters’ hometown. Additionally, we’d like to recognize our incredible clients, candidates, and staff who make it possible to do what we do. From all of us at Blue Signal, thank you!

More About Phoenix Business Journal:

Phoenix Business Journal (PBJ) is Arizona’s premier resource for breaking business news. Their publication delivers daily updates, weekly publications, and industry insights. Additionally, PBJ is also a member of the American City Business Journals (ACBJ). ACBJ is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States. They have 44 business publications across the country, reaching more than 3.6M readers weekly.

More about Blue Signal:

Having successfully completed over 1,800 search projects, it’s no surprise that Blue Signal has the experience, relationships, and tools to achieve this massive growth. Additionally, our deep industry knowledge and streamlined search processes help clients to secure high-caliber talent within tight timeframes. As a top executive search firm, we have been a driving force in our clients’ professional successes. Therefore, we immerse ourselves in our client’s businesses and our candidate’s careers to fully understand top priorities and the best direction for both parties. Our reputation is built on our ability to consistently incorporate these priorities into each of our searches to make long-term, impactful connections.

The 5 Recruiting Metrics Every Business Should Measure

July 15, 2022 by Lacey Walters

Hiring is one of the most important business decisions any company can make. However, many companies are unsure where to start when it comes to talent acquisition and often overlook key recruiting metrics. Hiring blindly can lead to poor candidate support, turnover, and lost recruiting dollars. In 2021, a bad hire was estimated to cost a business anywhere between $17K to $240K.

While hiring based on instinct can sometimes yield some lucky results, it isn’t a great strategy for long-term growth. In order to make the most informed hiring decisions now and in the future, businesses should measure and monitor these 5 essential recruiting metrics.

#1 – Time to Fill/Hire

When you have a position open up, it’s important to know your timeline. Of all recruiting metrics, this should be evaluated first. Setting timeline expectations can help internal stakeholders like teams and managers allocate proper resources to cover in the interim. The average time to fill a position is 42 days. Use this as a benchmark to ensure your business is able to hold out on operation of that role for at least that long. If not, that indicates that you will either need to reprioritize hiring, or come up with a short-term solution until you get the right person on board.

After you’ve set an estimated timeline, get ahead of the urgency by identifying funnels and streamlining your hiring process. As you go through the motions, watch to see what steps in the process take up the most time. Look for ways to speed them along, or remove them altogether. Regardless, it’s important to address common mistakes that could slow down the hiring process. After all, this could be the make or break of the candidate’s experience.

A study by Cronofy found that 43% of candidates have dropped out of a hiring process due to scheduling delays. That means that you could lose nearly half of your qualified applicants simply because it takes too long to process them. Assess your hiring bottlenecks early and often so you don’t miss out on top candidates due to poor task allocation and time management.

#2 – Attrition/Turnover

Next, it’s pertinent to know your company’s recruiting metrics surrounding attrition. By looking at the turnover rate of a candidate’s first 12 months on the job, you can determine the effectiveness of your recruiting and onboarding processes.

For instance, if you find that you have a rather high turnover rate for new hires, you might want to assess whether or not the job postings are accurately setting the expectations of the role. Are you being transparent throughout the interview process about what it will look like? Is your onboarding training setting these candidates up for success? Or does it need to be reevaluated?

Regardless of the cause, high turnover signifies a lack of communication somewhere in the process leading to costly falloffs. Research by Brandon Hall found that great employee onboarding can improve retention by 82% and productivity by 70%. Essentially, it pays to be conscious of the candidate experience!

#3 – Cost Per Hire

Speaking of payoffs, it’s important to prioritize cost per hire among your core recruiting metrics. This should include job board fees, time spent by hiring managers in interviews and screening resumes, ATS system subscriptions, and any agency fees. Divide that grand total by the total number of hires you’ve made to determine your cost per hire!

This metric is critical. It would be impossible to know whether your optimized recruiting efforts from any of these other steps are having effective ROI/cost savings if you don’t measure cost per hire. Not to mention, it will be important to know how much money you spend on recruitment annually when you begin planning and budgeting. Whether you’re scaling your business, planning for retirements, or getting ready to reorganize, it’s good to know your cost per hire.

#4 – Quality of Hire

Similarly, it’s important to track the quality of the candidates you hire. Although less data-driven, this step falls high among recruiting metrics because it can help you determine whether or not your recruiting process is yielding the results you want. To accomplish this, you’ll want to monitor the performance of each new hire’s first year on the job. Track things like time to onboard, assimilation into company culture, and their impacts on the business.

For example, how much revenue did a salesperson help produce in their first year compared to what you’d expect from someone in their position? Or, think about a marketing hire – did they contribute innovative ideas to the team resulting in audience growth?

If you discover that the quality of your hires does not match what you need from them for the roles you are recruiting for, this is a good indication to adjust your tactics and target a new talent pool. By measuring this success rate, you will also be able to forecast the impacts on the business you need to get to the next level - i.e. if you want to hit $10M in sales next year, you’ll need to know how many new salespeople you will need to hire to get there. Nailing down this recruiting metric can help you plan ahead.

#5 – Diversity of Candidates

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) benchmarks are becoming more prominent in sourcing goals for companies across the nation – especially as studies continue to show that the more diverse the team, the better they perform and innovate. Therefore, DEI is here to stay among the top recruiting metrics to measure.

To reach your own DEI goals, you’ll need to ensure your candidate pipeline is bringing in a diverse pool of applicants. Leverage Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) dashboards, candidate surveys, and hiring feedback to gauge where you stand today. Then, adjust your approach to meet the diverse candidates where they are online and in person. Most importantly, leverage resources – whether remote or in person – to foster the best environment for DEI within your existing team. As your candidate pool becomes more diverse, so will your company – and that will result in increased revenue, employee engagement, and more.

Let’s Review – Your Recruiting Metrics

Hiring should be a top priority for all companies, because when you have the right team, you will garner the best results. Whether your goal is to increase revenue, scale to handle new projects, or expand your service offerings – it all starts with the right hire. By tracking the right recruiting metrics, you will be able to address areas of improvement in your process and ultimately make better hiring decisions.

All companies need help when it comes to hiring – and the best resource can be found within their industry. Leveraging a recruiter in your industry saves money, time, and results in better hires and a greater impact on the business. For hiring help within telecom, wireless, manufacturing, healthcare, emerging technology, IoT, accounting and finance, human resources, lighting, cloud and managed services, cybersecurity, information technology, logistics and supply chain, plastics and packaging, food and agriculture, and medical industries – contact a Blue Signal recruiter to get you on the right path.

Personality & Relationship Skills:

1. What’s your favorite part of a sales job/process? Least favorite?

This response will offer key insight when fitting candidates to your exact sales role. For example, if the role you’re looking to fill is 60% cold calling/prospecting and the candidate replies with this being their least favorite – the role most likely isn’t a fit. Often, sales executives will shy away from admitting something they don’t enjoy in fear of not coming across as a team player. There are multiple ways to frame this ask if you don’t think you’re getting a straightforward answer from a candidate. Asking “In your last position, how much time did you spend cultivating customer relationships versus hunting for new clients? Did you enjoy that?” often does the trick.

2. If you asked your manager what your biggest strength and weakness is, what would they say?

Asking sales executives about their strengths and weaknesses may seem like a basic interview task but it’s common for a reason. Framing this from the perspective of their current or previous manager will give you even more insight to their past experiences. This will also shed light on the candidate’s confidence level in those roles. Often, sales executives will dodge the weakness aspect of the question. Don’t take “none” for an answer and try to uncover how they are at “selling” themselves, and how they are at critical thinking/problem-solving.

3. Given these three terms: promotion, money, and recognition; put them in their order of importance.

This question will give insight into what a sales executive values in both their career and in life. As a follow up question, ask them to explain what each of those terms look like to them. Their answers will explain what they’ll be motivated most by and what they’ll use as a benchmark for success. Be sure to leverage the answer if you end up managing them, and you’ll already be ahead of the game.

4. If you had no obstacles and could start your dream job tomorrow, what would that role look like?

This more creative way of asking the tired “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” question will keep an interviewee on their toes. It still allows you to break down their short-term and long-term goals, but also sidesteps the possibility of a candidate providing a manufactured answer. Oftentimes, the 5-year question usually prompts a response that the candidate thinks you want to hear.

Regardless, planning for the future of any employee you decide to hire is important. Thinking in terms of the future benefits not only the sales executive, but the manager and company as a whole as well. When forecasting team strategy, you’ll need to know your sales executives are here for the long haul. To help avoid even higher turnover rates, asking this question weeds out the candidates who aren’t truly passionate about the position, and helps you determine whether or not you’d be able to offer them their dream job, either now or in the future.

5. Tell me about a time when you collaborated with other sales team members and those outside of the sales team.

This answer will be key when deciding if they’re a team player or a lone ranger in the field. If one or the other is important to the role, the response can be extremely useful. In most sales roles, relationship building and collaboration skills are essential, so don’t be shy with follow up questions if you need more information! Asking “What impact were you able to make or what goals did you achieve?” can lead to further insights. Again, this will depend on the exact position the interview is related to. If the role will have a high amount of internal collaboration with a team – focus on that, and vice versa.

Ideal Work Environment Insights:

6. What type of work environment do you thrive in?

This question and answer often gets overlooked but can be one of the most detrimental if discovered post-hire. In order for a sales executive to thrive in any position, the environment and culture around them needs to be a fit. Take the candidate’s response and compare their preference to the environment they will be in at your company. Does it seem like a match? If you don’t value the same things here, turnover can be expected and moving forward with the hiring process wouldn’t make sense.

Another thing to consider is that all 2022 hiring trends point to the remote and hybrid workforce continuing to grow. Experts predict that by 2025, roughly 36.2 million employees in the US will work remotely. If the role you’re hiring for permits, be sure to ask candidates key questions surrounding their remote working experience. Ask if they thrive most in a remote, hybrid, or in-office work setting. From there, you should be able to gauge if they require consistent team interaction to succeed, or if they are sufficient working independently majority of the time.

7. Have you ever had a manager you didn’t like? Why?

Management styles can alter the success of a hire in the same way as a work environment. Dive deep into the candidate’s ideal management style and compare it to your own. Can you see yourself working closely with this candidate? Do they seem eager to learn from you and willing to take direction? These are all good follow-up questions to ask yourself after reflecting on their answer.

Also, be sure to note how they portrayed their past experiences. Did they bad-mouth their previous manager, or did they offer facts and expand on the lesson they learned from their experience? Venting and talking negatively about a past role or leader can be a sign of arrogance and lead to a toxic relationship down the road.

8. Which sales metrics do you pay attention to and why?

In sales, personal drive is essential. Asking what metrics they specifically look at when determining success for themselves will give great insight into how they operate. Are they motivated by the same things you use to track success and promotions? If not, it may be hard for the sales executive to feel fulfilled and experience growth in the role.

Ability to Remain Resilient:

9. What do you do to regroup and recover when you have a bad day? Bad week? Bad month?

Sales requires a lot of resilience and the ability to deal with rejection frequently. Asking if sales executives have an established coping mechanism will be telling in how dedicated they are to succeeding in their role. You’ll also be able to reflect on how much experience they’re bringing to the table. This is especially important if the role you’re hiring for will require a lot of cold-calling. Have the sales executive provide personal examples of this experience, which will shed light on how they’ve succeeded in previous roles.

10. How do you motivate yourself?

Along with overcoming rejection, sales roles typically require a good amount of self-motivation. Similar to the previous question, asking how a candidate motivates themselves will highlight their work ethic. An ideal sales executive will have a detailed answer based on past experiences.

11. Describe a time when you had a difficult prospect but were able to persevere and win the sale.

Ideally, the last two questions will lead into a version of this question naturally - but if not, it’s a good one to follow up with. Don’t be afraid to ask for specifics! Some sales executives are pros at misdirection. Candidates who give vague, wordy answers should be a red flag. By asking for a specific time when candidates managed a difficult prospect, and how the situation played out, you’ll be able to gather the details you need to trust their skills. An ideal sales executive will offer insight on lessons they learned and will be able to explain how they applied that knowledge to future situations – preferably without having to be asked. This highlights strong customer service and interpersonal skills that are essential in any good sales executive.

Sales Executive Expertise & Other Skills:

12. Explain the steps you take from the beginning of the sales process to the end.

Look for detailed answers here that point to their confidence and industry expertise. See which tasks will be similar to the role you’re hiring for. Make note of what will need to be retrained and what will be a breeze for them to pick up when it comes to transitioning into your company’s processes.

13. Pitch me our company’s product/service.

This question is a spin on the classic “sell me something” concept and shows how much knowledge the candidate already has. The biggest underlying insight you’ll gain from this question is the amount of research they did to prepare for this interview with your company. A sales executive with a firm understanding of what the company does and the products and services they provide will ultimately be a dedicated addition to the team. Those who did their homework should be noted, as it directly reflects one’s work ethic and initiative.

14. What’s your proudest sales accomplishment?

This question leads to insights into the candidate’s skill level, confidence, and how large or small of sales they are used to closing. This will also point to their passion for the industry. From their response, you should be able to tell what gets them excited about sales.

15. Have you used CRM software before? If so, which one and how advanced are your skills?

This may seem like a basic, technical question but it allows for major bonus points if the candidate will be able to breeze through learning software during training. Even if the candidate hasn’t worked hands-on with the exact software you use, you can ask them if they’re familiar or have heard of it as follow-up questions. Even a little bit of familiarity and knowledge is better than starting from scratch!

16. How do you stay knowledgeable about your target audience?

A dedicated and passionate sales executive will take the initiative to stay up to date on their industry’s trends and updates. Ask what specific resources they leverage or how often they review industry news. Watch for vague answers here, this is one candidates may try to talk themselves into a circle about if they don’t have a solid answer. Bonus points if they can tell you a bit of recent news they’ve heard with specifics on how they are planning to implement it into their process.

Company Culture Fit:

17. Why did you apply for this position?

This question is a great way to uncover why they’re looking to leave or why they left their current role. Be sure to take notes on how they talk about their previous or current company. As mentioned earlier, bad-mouthing of any kind should be a red flag. This question will also give insights into what drew them to your company specifically. If the vision that was portrayed to the candidate doesn’t fit what you want it to, this then gives you insight on how to better market yourself as an employer.

18. Are you ready to jump on a sales call right now?

In other words, this question asks, “Did you do any research on our company and product offerings?” This will show either a strong work ethic and desire for the role, or a lack of ambition. If you like the answer you receive, another great follow-up could be “If you were to start the job tomorrow, what would you be doing tonight to prepare?” Again, this will shine a light on their motivation and drive to succeed in this role.

19. Why do you want to work here/sell our product/service?

It’s no secret that an employee who is passionate and invested in the company they’re working for will out preform those who aren’t. Gallup's report on employee engagement shows that companies with a highly engaged workforce have 21% higher profitability. This question allows sales executives to open up about what they find intriguing about the role and overall company. Play close attention to see if any buzzwords from your company’s core values show up in their response. Finding candidates that have similar values to what your company is striving for is an excellent bonus.

20. How do you think our company can improve?

Loyalty plays a big role in employee retention. If you can decide which candidates already have initial loyalty to your brand, that’s a big plus! By asking what the company can do to improve, you’re really asking “How much do you care about the company succeeding?” This is a good question to watch for some common red flags as well. Often, you’ll be able to notice if the candidate is the type to tell you what you want to hear, or if they are critical thinkers. Those that answer honestly and critically are more likely to work through challenges to help better the company.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, not all sales roles are created equal. Leverage these interview questions as an outline but be sure to adjust to fit each role’s specific needs. While it’s very important to prepare and have a roadmap for leading the interview, don’t be afraid to get creative and be ready to pivot with follow-up questions based on candidate’s answers.

Once you’ve ran through all the questions you prepared, a great way to wrap up the interview process is by opening up the floor to them to ask you questions. Sales executives who ask questions show they are inquisitive about the role and company culture – which means they are trying to picture themselves there. Declining to ask any further questions is a tell that they may have bad communication skills and may be afraid to ask for what they want – not a skill you want in a strong sales executive. In this sense, be prepared to answer some questions of your own! 67% of employed Americans say that job interviews influence their decision to accept a job – so be sure to portray your enthusiasm for the role, company, product, and/or service offered. LinkedIn reported that the most important considerations in accepting new jobs are compensation (49%), professional development (33%), and better work/life balance (29%). Make it a point to touch on these key points to get sales executives excited about joining the team.

When preparing for the undertaking of hiring new staff, remember that Blue Signal can help alleviate the stress. As experts in the hiring process, our recruiters can help not only coach you through the interviews, but help with sourcing candidates, scheduling interviews, negotiating hiring terms, and so much more. Contact us today to get matched with a specialist in your industry!

You’ve Lost Your Star Employee, Now What?

December 2, 2019 by Lacey Walters

Losing a star employee is one of the most challenging things employers have to face. Top performers are typically among the most engaged in a company and when they make an unforeseen departure, this makes their leaving even more difficult to swallow. While no company is immune, (particularly in today’s competitive market), there are ways to ensure you’re better equipped to handle the situation when it does. Read on for best practices on how to recover from the loss of a top employee.

Think before extending a counter-offer.

Assuming there is still time to counter, your initial thought might be to do so in hopes of retaining a top performer. However, you have to consider the long-term implications of this. It’s possible that compensation may be the main driver behind their departure, but your star employees will likely have addressed this concern prior to making a decision to leave. Whether they have or not, this leaves both parties in an awkward spot. Your employee will be left wondering why it had to come to this point for them to get a raise, and you will feel that it took a form of blackmail in order to keep them on-board.

Make sure their departure is as positive as possible.

While emotions are still likely running high, it’s important that you treat your employee’s departure as professionally as possible. Conducting exit interviews that allow them to speak to any frustrations should be a regular practice. Even if their reasons for leaving have no bearing on their experience at your organization, they’ll appreciate the opportunity to be heard. In turn, they’re much more likely to leave with a positive view of their time spent with you and will be more likely to recommend future candidates to your organization. In fact, employees that leave with a positive experience are 2.9 x more likely to recommend their former employer to their network.

Take your time in finding a replacement.

Losing a top performer is a tough blow, so it’s important to take a step back and not act on emotion. It may be your first instinct to try and find a replacement as soon as possible, especially if you’re going to be hiring from outside of your organization. This could be an excellent opportunity to hire an executive placement firm. Let them know what your former employee did well, and possibly where they fell short. They can often be an invaluable resource in finding your next big star, and you can continue to focus on business as usual.

Show a little extra appreciation for your current employees.

When any employee leaves, it can start a chain reaction. Present employees wonder what caused the departure and may reassess their own place internally. When a top performer leaves, however, this is doubly concerning. This can cause worries around lack of stability or merely open people’s eyes to greener pastures. While the feeling will likely be fleeting, it’s important to re-address why each individual employee is valuable.

So how do you go about that? It could be something as simple as having conversations with individuals about their career paths within your company. Another option that’s mutually beneficial is to identify opportunities for development. If employees have expressed an interest in training in a specific area or skill and you have the resources, invest time in doing just that. The bottom line is that your people want to feel that their work is valued and that there is room for growth and learning within your organization.