A Nod to a Good Competitor

On corporate blogs like this you get a steady diet of self-aggrandizing posts.  Stuff like “We’re the only company that understands the customer” (chest thump) or “We’re the leading provider” (rib-cracking pat on one’s own back).

Whenever I see statements like that coming out of my own company, I move into high gear to shut it down because in the end bragging demonstrates weak character.  It creates anxiety and reduces trust.  It kills off enthusiasm.

An opposite tactic yields better results.  If you’re up front about how you can improve, prospects get the warm fuzzies.  They see the possibility of a great long-term relationship.

One competitor that I look up to is one that our customers may not think of as a competitor at all, so clever have they been in approaching the staffing and recruitment market.  I’m talking about Linkedin, the site that has staked a claim as the business person’s Facebook and has won the hearts  of many a recruiting team as an applicant tracking and job posting system.

Here’s a post I did recently over on Staffing Talk about cool things that Linkedin is doing with the presentation of candidate profiles.

If you’ve seen a demo of TempWorks WebCenter, then you know we’re hot on Linkin’s tail when it comes to great presentation.  In the coming weeks I’ll be posting on how this is playing out in other components of ours, especially in our job board product line.