Need help and advice on a new startup im doing

[telsa]

@buckeye_momof4 Wow this is so far the best advice ive read thank you.

Regarding your point #1, youre right 100%

Point #2: But how can i charge after they use my service? Does this point tag along with point #3, so i should just change my model from monthly to yearly?

Point #3: I like that, will def look into that asap

• Regarding slashing the price, i dont mind cutting it drastically, but thats only for long time subscribers correct? Or you mean just change the whole subscription model from monthly to yearly and lower the price too. But then if i do, do i keep them at 4 packages or do i lower them? What would the benefits be of how many job posts / CV’s they can view .. would appreciate some insight on this
• I love how you mentioned setting up myself as a “partner” and “problem solver” if i change my model to a yearly one and remove the free package and replace with a trial - i think itll go a long way - thank you for this one!
• Referrals are the best form of marketing, so yea i hope we can achieve that on both ends of the users, anyway to push this through? Maybe referral codes that give discounts for companies renewing? But then how about employees, how would that work?
• The magazines idea is good .. but i am on a budget, so i cannot do it regularly
• the last point is great too, but i do notice only two types of people in the companies use our platform: owners and HR people, so i dunno how the sales people in the distribution companies would send word to the two types of people .. although it is a great point you mentioned

Thank you for taking the time to send over your points, much much appreciated .. will really look into them

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@telsa My pleasure.

Presumably you have 3 objectives: 1a) Make Money 1b) Find People Jobs
1c) Help F&B solve a staffing problem

The problem with limiting a paying client to the number of CV's, your also limiting job searchers' chances of employment.

In my mind, you're looking at setting up a specialized version of Indeed/Career builder/Monster.

Get an understanding of their price structure. If they let businesses have unlimited CV views, you prob want to do the same.

In my company, we went with 3 service types Silver (basic), Gold (premium) Platinum(Deluxe).

We eliminated Silver because it was too basic for who were. It was great for cheap customers & competitive situations, but the service results sucked and it wasn't the market I wanted to be in.

I ultimately eliminated Gold too. It was similar to Platinum minus 1 premium component of the service.

We went with one service and referred to it as a "Deluxe Service Delivery" and maintained the Platinum price.
The premium component we pulled out of Platinum, we sold as a one-time add-on with a price range.

Most clients were fine w/price & service offering, perceiving it as good value, some complained about the price, but still hired us, others didn't and I was okay with that. I didn't want to be "Amazon" and have something for everyone.

In short, come up with a service offering that is comprehensive to appeal to the needs of your clients but at the same time simplify it.
Is it necessary or standard to have that many offerings?

The other approach is to have a down and dirty service offering at a low competitive price and become the price leader & make your money on volume. Companies who start this way don't usually end up this way. Ex., Amazon. They were once recognized as having a massive marketplace & low prices. Now they are all about convenience.

A couple of additional advertising ideas at lower costs: (Going back to an online model) Identify some of the largest F&B purveyors/distributors/wholesalers.
1) Enhance your SEO so when someone does a search for suppliers, your business appears in the search results.
2) Have banner ads appear on the websites of some of the bigger distribution co's.

Is your company US based?

 

[telsa]

@buckeye_momof4 Okay thank you for this ..

So ill look into Indeed / Monster pricing a bit more, although I’ve already seen them in the past. So you suggest I charge per job post and have unlimited CV’s for everyone? (If thats what i understood correctly)

So simplify the pricing .. no need to have that many packages, either just have 1 or 2, stretch it to yearly instead of monthly correct so companies can stay long term with us and we’d be considered as “partners” and “problem solvers” as you mentioned previously?

No were not based in the US, but any US company / employee can sign up with us (anyone in the world can).

Its funny, cuz we have 1 guy, he’s a job seeker, signed up from NYC lol

 

[jacke71]

@telsa cold email campaign targeting HR managers and recruiting companies. Also i'd do a freemium model so you can get those numbers up. 3K people ain't a large pool to pick from. I wouldn't pay that money when i could go on indeed and have millions or linkedin and post a job

 

[telsa]

@jacke71 Sorry what does freemium model mean ?

 

[jacke71]

@telsa Freemium is a business model in which a company offers basic or limited features to users at no cost and then charges a premium for supplemental or advanced features

 

[telsa]

@jacke71 Oh nice okay, yea i see that type of business model on so many websites.

So how would i freemium my website? Isnt it freemium already with the monthly free package? Or is that just considered free with out the mium lol

 

[jacke71]

@telsa i have not seen your site but from how to describe your situation it sounds like companies aren't signing up so there must be some friction in the sign up process that makes them bounce and think it's not worth their time

 

[telsa]

@jacke71 Its a pretty simple to sign up, ive dumbed it down a lot .. literally company name, then logo, where they are located and what entity they are (hotel or restaurant or coffee house or distributor etc..)

I just dont think the region im marketing in understands the concept, its a bit too advanced i think

 

[enoch27]

@telsa Too complicated.

 

[telsa]

@enoch27 My business model is too complicated ? Or the idea of the business ?

 

[anamcara]

@telsa The thing that jumps out at me is the pricing and number of CV's you can view is fairly limited, I think personally the rates are unpaletable but can I ask, Have you conducted user research with any HR/hiring managers etc to find out what they actually think? because without actual data from actual people in the right part of the industry you're probably going to be making a lot of assumptions, and that isn't the best way of going about it.

 

[telsa]

@anamcara I have asked the companies who used our platform and no1 complained about the price .. they were all ok with it and didnt find it expensive at all, especially when these companies are used to paying one or two months salary worth of their hired employee to the Recruitment Agency they got them from

 

[taji783]

@telsa The fact that the companies don't see the price before registering is a problem. Word of mouth acts against you. Businesses talk to each other. One business mentions your name, and the other one will say, "Do you know how much they charge just to see 30 CVs?"

It's like wanting to buy a car, but the dealer will only tell you the price once you visit the shop.

Proposals:

- Let all the job seekers see the jobs, not the contact info or the company. Let all the companies see the CVs, but, again, not the contact info. Since you said they don't have credit cards, create a payment per view by sending an SMS from their phone.

- Make sure that those 3000 CVs are actual and still available.

- Make some selections yourself to better target the companies.

I hope this helps. All the best.

 

[telsa]

@taji783 Thanks for your feedback.

So are you suggesting we add a Pricing page on the homepage so its viewable for everyone before signup? (I just hope job seekers dont think its pricing for them)

Regarding your advice:

Currently i dont have a template that job seekers fill out for their CV. They just upload their own CV and we put a watermark on each and everyone automatically.

Now the problem is, I cant show the CV to companies and cover the contact info because each CV looks diff and contact info are in diff places in each CV, so unless I go one by one and mark out the contact info on each CV so it doesnt show for the company, I dont really have any other solution for it. So its unrealistic for me to do.

 

[taji783]

@telsa On your first page, you can have two links: "I'm looking for work" and "I want to hire." If they're looking for work, they will not see those prices.

As for taking the CVs one by one, be creative. Add a field where the job seekers will add what they want, except contact info. Similar to a cover letter for example. If a company is interested in the letter, it will pay to see the details.

 

[telsa]

@taji783 We already have the two links you mentioned, i guess we can add the pricing in on of them

Regarding the cv’s, since a lot of them are low - mid income workers, no one will take the time to write up something during registration. We will just lose them and they wont sign up. This is in my opinion ofcourse.