Hoping to meet-up with DI Rebus in The Oxford Bar (http://www.oxfordbar.com/)

What is it about his renegade approach to business that is so appealing?

Seth Godin’s new book (Tribes) and accompanying social networking site explains more:
"One of the ideas I talk about briefly in the book is that powerful tribes aren't open to everyone. The exclusivity makes it work. .... Even with just a few people in the pre-beta tribe we've built, I can already see how powerful it can be to have a safe, well-lit place on line where like-minded people can connect."

‘Guidelines for the triiibe’ (or Tribes?) Seth Godin
• Everything on the triiibe, stays there. We agree not to cross post or to quote without permission.
• The best triiibe members are active posters in the forum and generous with advice and counsel. Lurkers... wake up!
• It's not a promotional platform. The goal is to learn and to help, not to sell.
• The site is by invitation only, and our moderators are free to disinvite anyone who's not making the site a powerful resource.
• It won't work without you. Thanks for joining.

"It's not a promotional platform. The goal is to learn and to help, not to sell."
I belong to an Elite (http://www.eliteleaders.co.uk/) Tribe (although I have never before thought of it as that). ‘Learning and listening without selling’ is alien to concept to many recruiters (on too many occasions myself included), but I suspect the most successful companies and company leaders over the next 18 months will belong to the Tribe mentality?
I would value your thoughts – tell me more – and I promise to listen.

Earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to hear a number of words of wisdom from Jeff Grout. In addition to a distinguished career in recruitment Jeff was able to draw on his experience as Business Manager to Sir Clive Woodward (2002 -2006). I latched onto the concept of ‘Team rules’. How the England rugby team set their own rules – (how does a world class team behave?) – and their own needs? (What does the organisation need to provide?)

On Friday of last week we spent a team day in Cambridge. The team looked at Behaviours we needed to alter in order to continue our development as a world class Recruitment agency; and what Ifftner needs to provide. We also explored our core values – this will allow us to benchmark future hires. We presented our new Vision for Ifftner and a three year road map. If there was a recruitment World Cup – we are on our way!
On reflection – invest in a day away from the office – we always say it, but ‘it pays back in spades’.

If you need help setting up a similar day for your organisation – gill.claireaux@ifftner.com

We recently engaged with a contractor who Ifftner who had last worked within in 2003. I am delighted to have him back on board – he is a high quality Business Analyst and we know the client will be pleased with his input. However, there is a disadvantage of repeat contractor business: when you have a quality service it is hard to raise the bar even higher. The initial conversation went some like ‘ last time I worked with you guys you gave me a flexible payments plan , the contract was altered to reflect this …… status, you negotiated …. for me etc’

It reminded me of some recent discussions with my daughter Molly (Age 4, negotiation skills – awesome). The previous weekend my wife and I had been preparing for a party and Molly had been a little sidelined. So the next weekend I said that Molly could decide what we were going to do: “Turn my bedroom into space and build me a rocket that will take me to the moon …..!
When you are in a position of negotiating power …. Go for it!

http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4085913&id=899780639

Its 100 yrs since one of my heroes – Sir Ernest Shackleton set-off on the Nimrod expedition – an expedition that would take him within 160km of the South Pole. (if you are interested in his heroics then I suggest a read of ‘Endurance’ ("Endurance": Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Paperback - Mar 1998).

A truly inspiring individual – as summed up by Sir Raymond Priestly:
"For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

Although, I think Sir Ernest’s recruitment advert maybe a little too frank for our industry:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."

We have one ‘pay-when-paid’ contract remaining. (We have spent the last 4 yrs cleansing our client contracts – renegotiating unfair terms etc). However, this contract with a large consultancy – deems that payment can only be made once funds are received from the end client. We would never look to enforce such an agreement with our suppliers. Is this enforceable? I would welcome your comments.

As part of our ongoing new business strategy we have begun to focus very heavily on referrals. Over 60% of our new business over the last 4 yrs has come from active Advocates of Ifftner. However, to gain a greater customer insight we have been working with http://www.thefeedbackcompany.com/. We look forward to blogging the results of initial surveys … and turning a few more satisfied customers into Advocates

I met with Jeff Brooks (former Marketing Director of Parity Solutions) last week. In a forum set-up to discuss Master Vendors / Managed Service Programmes we looked at the Pros and Cons. Of overriding interest was the likely reality in the current market:

• Master Vendor agreements will continue to grow for the foreseeable
• They will be less effective in most instances
o … because the level of saving are not longer there to be met (existing agencies have already agreed to highly competitive margins)
o … because out of process hires will remain prolific where subcontracted margins are too poor

(Master Vendor proved an attractive option for all when 20+ % margins were the norm. (Agencies were often willing to take 2-5% cut for a greater slice of the  resourcing and Clients were impressed by the volume of saving / single point of invoicing. It gives the client (Procurement) the impression (and sometime reality)  of greater control).

• Master Vendors will look to outsource some of their low margin business. Multi-million pound deals that impressed shareholders are no longer looking quite so attractive with creeping debtor days and higher borrowing rates from reticent lenders

The next 12 months, will in my view, be a good test of the best MV deals and the breaking of many that were hurriedly signed on the basis of market share as opposed to profitable business.

In procuring recruitment services the Master Vendor / Managed Service is an attractive reality.
From a finance perspective the benefits are clear to see – competitive, standardised margins. However, aside from the potential drop in the quality of candidates (and in my view that’s a very significant aside); the real (hidden cost) is much more tangible.

In my first Process Consultancy pilot Audit the preliminary results made uncomfortable reading for client and agency – in over 25% of sample contractors on site the real cost was more than the stipulated margin covered in the contract

In a typical example:
1 - Master Vendors’ strongest Recruitment Consultants move away from Master Vendor account (low margin) onto higher margin billable work (after all this is usually a commission driven industry).
2 - Remaining consultants need to engage 3rd party suppliers, but the margin is not sufficiently high to split; so 3rd parties present candidates at a total cost (perhaps shadowing the deal as the contractors Ltd / Umbrella Company).
3 - The real margin (the difference between contractor pay and client charge) can easily be double the agreed Master Vendor margins

If you would like an Audit to verify your contractor margins then please contact gill.claireaux@ifftner.com or jim.marshall@ifftner.com

Ifftner engages consultancy partner to add further value in the information and storage market. After further talks with Safeto’s management team we have agreed to partner solutions across our blue-chip client base.

I feel this is an exciting development for Ifftner Solutions – Safeto allows us to enter some new client markets and brings a reputation for technical expertise and solutions within complex environments.

Safeto recognises the ability of Ifftner’s team to react quickly to peaks in resource demand coupled with highly efficient back-office processing. ‘Ifftner’s attention to detail in contract placements, resourcing and payments are second to none’.