Numerous small businesses fared well during the recession, thanks to wise leadership and timely decisions. In this presentation used for the webinar "From the Desk of a CEO" on 12/03/2009, we show how two small business executives led their companies to survive and thrive during the recent crisis.
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
TriNet Webinar: How 2 Small Businesses Survived and Thrived during the Recession
1. From the Desk of a CEO How two small businesses thrived during the recession December 3, 2009
2. Introducing the Speakers Dan StockmanCOO, i-Tech Support Burton M. GoldfieldPresident & CEO, TriNet Ron FortuneCEO, Education.com
3. Today’s Agenda Surviving the Recession View from Ron Fortune, CEO of Education.com View from Dan Stockman, COO of i-Tech Support Overview of TriNet Q&A
4. Surviving the Recession HR Trends Q3 Survey results 58.3% have hired or are hiring in 2009, up from 55.2% in Q1 60.7% feel their company is very successful in retaining talent in 2009 Small businesses continue to pave the way In the meanwhile… companies need: Strong, prudent leadership Focus on core competency Trusted advisors
6. Ron Fortune, CEO of Education.com Education.com TriNet client since: 2006 Number of employees: 24 Location: Redwood City, CA Web destination for parents Parenting and educational consumer channels are growth areas Fastest-growing website in educational and parenting space (comScore) 2009 4X growth in traffic and 3X growth in revenue Will expand business in 2010 in terms of revenue, web site visitors, content, and hiring
7. Impact of the Recession Online advertising business model. $67 billion spent on online advertising in ‘09 vs. $69 billion in ‘08 Cautious tone by our investors What we did: Followed prudent business practices as we always do Watched the spending. Continued to spend every dollar as if it was our last. Postponed raises Created emergency plan: to reduce company size, not implemented Established quarterly milestones that guided investment levels
8. Three Lessons Learned Don’t overreact in crisis situations. Instead of layoffs, we stayed with the business plan. Metrics matters. Measure everything Make decisions based on data. Watch fixed costs. Outsource where possible. For Education.com, that means: HR Payroll Legal Development (content creation and software engineering) Expanded services using variable cost
9. How TriNet Helped Outsourcing HR and Payroll to TriNet is more affordable than trying to perform internally Just started using TriNet's Talent Acquisition service to recruit talent In recruiting and retaining staff, we are able to be competitive with much larger businesses Online tools and support for employees HR support and web tools for managers (various admin levels)
11. Dan Stockman, COO of i-Tech Support i-Tech Support TriNet client since: 2005 Number of employees: 13 Location: Orlando, FL Virtual IT department to small and mid-sized businesses in the Southeast offering: Integrated computer systems design Network design Network security IP communications Tech support
12. Impact of the Recession New prospect sales dipped. But people still need computers to work on. What we did: Cut G&A expenses. Will save $40K next year since we moved into a smaller space. Increased recurring revenue from client base. Goal: increase by $35k a month. Met and exceeded that in Q3 2009. Streamlined processes: outsourced when more efficient.
13. Three Lessons Learned Ramp up sales and marketing efforts.Use every channel available: social media, mailers, events, and weekly webinars. Leverage your partners.Call your partners and generate a joint event where you split the costs. Make the best use of your time. Don’t spread yourself too thin by taking on too many things.
14. How TriNet Helped Saved us money in healthcare costs Made a shift in healthcare providers which will save us a lot of money in 2010 TriNet has become an extension of our business by handling all HR matters TriNet’s service has saved us time and protected us from liability by being our trusted advisor Dedicated service person providing extraordinary service: Marie Miller Expertise in a termination situation Support in answering HR questions
38. Thanks for Listening Q&A For more information about TriNet and how HR Outsourcing can help your organization, visit www.trinet.com.
Editor's Notes
LORI:Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to today’s Webinar titled “From the Desk of a CEO”. Today’s discussion will revolve around small businesses and how they’ve managed to thrive despite the economic downturn.My name is Lori Heyman, and I’ll be your moderator for today’s event. I have just a few quick announcements before we get started with the presentation. We will have a Q&A session at the end of the presentation, although please feel free to submit a question at any time. Simply type your question in the “ask a question” text area in the bottom corner of your screen, then click the submit button. You may enlarge the slide window at any time by clicking on the “enlarge slide” button, located below the presentation window. The slides will advance automatically throughout the event. If you are experiencing problems with the program, please press the F5 button on your keyboard or close your window and re-launch the presentation using the alternate media player. Let’s now get started with today’s presentation.
BURTON: We’d like to welcome Ron Fortune, CEO of Education.com to tell us about his company and how it weathered the downturn. Ron? Give us some background on your company …
BURTON:Thank you, Ron. At this point, we’d like to welcome Dan Stockman, COO of i-Tech Support to tell us how his company weathered the recession. Dan?
-------Typically, when we meet with a company for the first time, they tell us about how overwhelming and complex it is to manage HR, They typically speak to challenges in 5 areas. (Build the slide and speak to each item).Managing the “alphabet soup” of regulations…not only keeping up with federal laws, but every state and many regions have different labor laws…and the tax code is ever-changing.At the same time, the responsibility of HR function is more than just Payroll. It now includes benefits planning, attracting and retaining talent, workers comp, and tons of administrative/compliance issues.As a result, it is very common for customers to tell us that in their previous DIY approach, many of the processes are ad-hoc, require manual effort and become a paperwork nightmare. Errosr can be made that have financial consequences.The complexity of today’s HR requires the management of multiple vendors to handle all entire scope of HR. Payroll vendor, multiple insurance vendors, multiple benefit vendors, etc.And finally, the explosion of benefit options has created a huge administrative burden for many businesses. Employees demand benefits packages and even a simple benefits package requires the management of paperwork and administration for multiple options, vendors and complexity.The results can be frightening…
-------TriNet is:1) An established company with high-growth in the last 3 years, and is financially stable with GA’s backing.2) Recognized as an innovator in the HR Outsourcing market with the leading HR IT platform and expertise in Human Capital Consulting practices3) Partner to a solid base of passionate customers, some of the most forward-thinking companies in business today.And the results are measurable…
-------Companies select TriNet because of 4 primary differentiators. I’ll briefly touch on these on this slide, and then we’ll cover them in more detail.First, TriNet acts as your Trusted Advisor, delivering the highest service levels in the industry. Only TriNet offer an integrated service team with knowledge specific to your company’s industry and situation. In addition, TriNet only employs certified expertise. We are the only vendor where 100% of our employees in our service network are professionally certified.Second, Benefits 2.0: TriNet offers the best benefits plan in the industry. Not only the broadest choice of plans to make sure you can deliver the right benefit for EVERY employee, but TriNet removes most of the barriers that prevent employees from enjoying a high-quality benefits plan. Third,100% paperless. Only TriNet offers a solution that completely eliminates your need to manage any paperwork. If you are considering other options, you may want to ask them if there are any forms or paper that you or your employees will need to fill-out to be part of their service.Finally, as your company grows, your HR needs will change. TriNet not only fits your needs today, but anticipates your needs as you grow and matches services to your ever-growing needs.Only TriNet offers these differentiated capabilities. And these are the reasons why so many companies choose TriNet.