Avionte LLC seeks Product Manager (Sales Engineer).  Sell company’s proprietary software applications, where selling requires a technical background.  Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.  Confer with external customers to assess needs and determine system requirements.  Collaborate with sales team to understand customer requirements and promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.  Develop, present, and respond to proposals for specific customer requirements.  Sell products requiring extensive technical knowledge and related support.  Prepare and deliver technical presentation that explain the products and their functionality to customers.  Provide technical support and service to customers regarding use and maintenance of company products.  Requires Bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Network Modeling or a closely-related field.  Qualified candidate must have at least 5 years progressive experience in systems analysis and/or product development, working with staffing industry ERP systems.

Avionté is excited to announce its first annual Client Connection Forum.  We look forward to bringing together a great group of staffing industry professionals for several days of knowledge sharing, networking and learning. 

To register or request more information, please contact Brenda Long  brenda@avionte.com

I remember several years ago watching one of the reality shows about a pair of newlyweds.  They were very different than my husband and I when we started out.  Our lifestyles were polar opposites.  They were stars, lived an extravagant lifestyle and of course had money.  I thought as I watched they would have vastly different problems in their relationship and life in general.  I was surprised as I tuned in week after week to see they suffered from the same “newlywed” issues that we had!  How could this be?  I came to the conclusion that most people probably go through all the same things, just at varying degrees.

The same rings true with staffing.  Staffing is staffing.  It doesn’t matter if you are staffing on the west coast, east coast or somewhere in the middle!  I don’t think it matters if you are a large multi office staffing service or a small one office service.  You are going to deal with some of the same issues.

Earlier this month I spent some time training a company on the East coast.  As we worked through training on their staffing software I heard some of the same problems, issues, complaints and pains that I encountered when I worked in staffing.    At one point we were discussing reasons people give for failing a drug test.  You would think they would just fade away, but so many people want to explain why (I guess in case you change your mind?).   Is there a web site out there that provides excuses for failing a drug test?  How can people on opposite ends of the country both think they failed because someone put a little something extra in their spaghetti sauce?!

Here are a few other shared experiences:

• Temps can’t/won’t/don’t turn in their timecards on time.
• No Call No Show.  Really?  Why did you accept the assignment in the first place?
• The back office wished the front office would do their job.  Is it really that hard to put in a job order?
• The front office doesn’t understand why the back office gets so worked up over a missing job order; it can always be added later.  We still have ten minutes before payroll is run.
• Customers can’t understand why you can’t find the perfect person for their order, even though they have been looking on their own for the last month and can’t find them either.
• ALL temps think they are the perfect fit for every assignment you have open.
• Moms and grandmas really, really want their kids to get a job (and get out of the house)!
• Unemployment and Workers Comp… enough said.

So the next time you are having a tough day and struggling with an issue in your staffing company, take some comfort in knowing that somewhere out there, someone else is having the exact same staffing issue!

by John Long

As a novice writer, I do try to make sure the stuff I write is relevant and hopefully helpful to at least someone out there.  All of us are extremely busy and don’t have time to waste reading unentertaining, uninformative stuff.  But this posting – well, it just doesn’t have much in the way of educational value and may be a little inappropriate, but my staff found the story entertaining so I figured I’d share!

Earlier last week, one of our sales reps (Jason) and I went to a customer’s charity golf tournament held about an hour from our office.  We were early, so we went to Cabela’s, which is an outdoors superstore.  I like the place because of the huge aquariums that have monster bass, pike, catfish, panfish, crappies – basically, native fish to Minnesota.  At this point, I had to use the restroom.  Instead of trying to wait through the golf tournament for the safety confines of home, I decided I should bite the bullet.   After careful deliberation in choosing my destination, I was greeted with a protruding foot.  I’m talking the kind that there is no WAY my next door neighbor can even SEE the tip of his shoe.

Now – I don’t know what y’all would do in those types of situations.  It is one of the unwritten man-codes that there just isn’t any talking amongst neighbors in the bathroom.  Also - I’m not sure what I’d really say anyway?  “Excuse me, but your laces look a little loose.  Would you like me to tie those for you?”   So – I just kept quiet. 

I don’t know if y’all remember the incident we had here in the MSP airport with a certain politician, but that certainly popped into my brain.  So, while I was staring the invading foot down – waiting for the tapping – I couldn’t help but think – of all places, why an outdoors store?  What is the etiquette if the shoe does start tapping? 

1)      Ignore it, pretend you aren’t hearing the tapping?  This seems rude.  In my single days, if I tried my best lines and the lady didn’t respond at all – seemed a little rude, no?

2)      Quick stomp?  This is the equivalent of a slap.   But here is the thing – what if it the tap wasn’t on purpose and then I just stomped on the guys foot for no reason?  Then, he comes out of the stall, all 6’4”, UFC fighter wanting to kick my butt in its precarious position!  Well – in all fairness – I could be outfitted with a helmet and a baseball bat and still be in trouble. 

3)      Verbal response?  Would I go against the unwritten man-code that clearly states no talking from the restroom stall?  

Anyway – I kept my eyes on the shoe – still wondering logistically how the guy could get a foot that far over while still sitting.  There was no tapping and I got out of there in record speed. 

To make the business parallel, because I feel I should offer something worthwhile… 3 things you might be able to take from this story and apply to your business:

1)      Who surrounds you?  Fundamentally – we are all people and it is important to be yourself.  However, some of your actions might cause unintended reactions among people you are dealing with, your employees or your customers.  You should surround yourself with people that feel comfortable enough with you to just tell you that your foot is too far over, you have food in your teeth or a policy/mannerism you have makes them feel uncomfortable.

2)      No answer is sometimes best.  Have you noticed that the better you get at anything, the more people/society tries to bring you down?  I struggle with this a lot.  As we have grown quickly and are producing great technology solutions for staffing firms, we have been subjected to more outside, unproductive criticism and targeted attacks.  Same is true with any individual leader.  There is always a subset of people that won’t like you.  No matter what you say, what you do, it won’t matter.  So, the trick is to just move on.  Do your business and live your life.

3)      Focus on the big picture.  I love the little things of life – but, I can sometimes get lost in the details instead of focusing on the big picture.  For the example above, the big picture was I had a need and should just get it done.  By not focusing on the minor detail of a foot, I could have saved myself torment by knowing things weren’t perfect, but I was going to get my job done.  Same in business – there are so many details that we need to get done in a day, it is important to keep the big picture front and center.

And lastly, of course – if you are using a public bathroom and can’t see your foot – please retrieve it.

by Brenda Long

While many people may think profit and numbers when asked about the health of their company, Avionté has been working towards a new sense of the word healthy.  A few months ago we launched a new initiative to motivate our staff to get healthy.   Losing weight is not the goal, although I am in love with my BodyBugg (an unusual, but welcomed V-day gift from my husband after the birth of our son).  The goal of Avionte FIT is to get our team healthy and active.  It’s no secret that the more active and fit you are the more energy you have.  It’s also no secret that we are hoping some of that extra energy will be channeled into their daily work lives. 

We broke the company into teams and each person earns points for their team for each 30 minutes of physical activity they complete.  The number of points for that activity is determined by the level of intensity.  Getting our staff out playing tennis, racquetball or simply walking together over lunch has been an added benefit to the program.  A little time away from the desk each day that doesn’t include the term Super Size Me and gets the team bonding at the same time, just can’t be a bad thing.  

 To be honest, I sort of figured the novelty of the whole program would die down after the first month, but the team is still working it.  The latest talk around the office has been the P90X workout program.  A handful of people started it just about the same time and so far they all appear to be true believers and faithful followers.

Congrats to the “BodyThuggs” in April and “The Winners” in May.  June is looking like a close race so far.

One of my very first tips was about using Avionté to reduce or eliminate the paper in your office.  I am hoping that many of you have taken the time to evaluate your paper use and look at options other than just hitting print!

Staffing can be a paper heavy industry… no doubt about that.  However, you don’t have to just accept it by continuing to create a file, stuff the paper in it and then file it away.  How about using our Document feature to keep all your Employee, Customer and Contact documents in one location?  You can virtually add any document to Avionté that you want, and not just the ones that you have an electronic version of.  Take a minute to think about the papers that are currently in your inbox, on your desk or in some random file.  Do they fall under any of the following categories?

• Letter
• Resume
• Contract
• Proposal
• Reference Letter
• Job Description

You can add these or any other categories by going into Admin Tools, ConfigChoice, System, Add New, CustomerDocumentType (if you are adding one for a Customer) then create your new dropdown choice. If you don’t have Admin rights, talk to your Administrator about the new drop downs you would like to see.  Remember.. all of these documents are searchable through Advanced Search.

Don’t have your documents in electronic format?  Scan them and then save into Documents.  Although scanning will take a few minutes depending on the size of the document, it is much quicker than filing and then searching for the file each time you need to review it.

View complete Tip of the Week for Avionte Staffing Software

by Brenda Long

A continuation of my staffing humor post from last Friday where I shared a list of 10 excuses our  staffing software clients have gotten from their employees for not coming to work.  Here’s the next 10…enjoy!

1. I won’t be in today because I have come down with Spring Fever.    
2. Can’t make it in. I have a chance of filling in for someone on jury duty.
3. I’m too high to go to work today.
4. I had my hair braided last night and it does not look good so I can’t go in! –from a guy!!!
5. My mom died.  Frank you told me that last month.  She really did die this time.
6. I had a guy tell me he was not going to be able to be to work because he had 10 tickets to a Brewers baseball game that he had to scalp. He said “I can make more money today scalping these tickets than I can cooking.”
7. I’m too tired.
8. Water heater broke; can’t take a shower.
9. Employee called in VERY sick and could barely talk.  Later saw him on T.V at a ball game. Darn big screen.
10. My man won’t let me go to work

Feel free to comment with your own great staffing stories and check back next Friday morning for another list of great excuses. 

by John Long

This past weekend, my neighborhood had a massive garage sale.  There were over 50 houses participating, attracting people from all across the metro.  This is the first year we had actively participated – mostly because this is our “Not having any more kids sale”.  As novices, we had/have a lot to learn.  Full disclosure – when I say “we”, I’m using the term loosely, as it really is more of “she”, as in my wife.  My role comprises of a) building the clothes racks b) watching kids c) running to get ones to make change and d) offering a beer to those who buy more than 3 items.   The first night a couple truths came out – one of which is about presentation.

In all business, including garage sales and staffing software sales, presentation really matters. 

Here are 4 things that proper presentation can bring:

1)       A quick overview of what is being offered.  In our garage sale – we are about kids clothes – lots and lots of kids clothes.  For our software, what does it do?

2)      Accentuation of the positive.  All businesses have strong points and not-so-strong points.  Proper presentation helps to get those positive points to the prospect quickly

3)      Prospects can visualize using the product/service.  To buy, prospects need to be able visualize the use of the product/service.

4)      Allows prospects to easily find what they are looking for.  For garage sales, clothes hanging on racks dramatically improve the chance of sale over products on tables or “in a heap”.  People don’t want to work for finding the right product. 

Now – I’m not great at presentation so I’m not going to try and ‘teach’ anything here.  Heck, if you have any good suggestions, especially relating to garage sales and software (!), please send them on.

But the first step in the process is to figure out your strong points.  Even if you get outside help on presentation/marketing, you still need to be able to communicate to them what features you want to promote. 

Couple quick tips:

1)       Fewer is better.  Don’t try to be all things to all people.  We had loads of little girl clothes and miscellaneous other things.  I had a person ask me if we had a “router”.  Being a tech guy, I was thinking about something completely different than what he was.  The point though, is that if you want power tools, go next door.  In software, we aren’t a fit for everyone – and that is OK.

2)      Pick features that can be communicated easily.  Getting across a marketing message is tough.  It requires repetition and you only have a couple seconds of the prospects attention.  Unless, of course, you give them free beer!

3)      Pick features that have a quantifiable return or benefit.  The temptation is to pick things that YOU think are cool.  Pick stuff your prospects like which provide true value, not just cool. 

Any of you doing garage sales – good luck and use my beer for three thought!  For the rest – I know of a great place to get girls, 0 to 5T at a great price!