Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

Last December I attended a seminar about the various ways radio advertising can be used to accomplish goals other than simple product and service marketing.

One of the speakers spoke about using radio to recruit new employees rather than the newspaper or a recruitment service – especially when you are hiring for key positions.

Why Use Radio to Recruit Employees?

For one thing, it can be less expensive than the newspaper and is definitely less expensive than a recruiting service.

Schrock is hiring a Web Development Director, and it would have cost us over $900 to place a classified ad in the Lincoln Journal Star for that position.

A recruiter would have charged a percentage of the employees annual salary – typically 10% – which would have been up to $4,000 for this position.

Second, using radio allows us to do more than just look for an employee with an ad. It also tells all of the station’s listeners that we are hiring, we pay well, and that working at Schrock is a great experience.

While we are reaching out to potential employees, we are also increasing our brand awareness.

Here is the ad we ran for our Web Development Director position.

What Kind of Employees Do You Find With Radio?

The biggest reason to use radio for recruitment is so simple most HR managers miss it.

When you post an ad on Craigslist, in the classifieds, or on Monster you are advertising to the available pool of unemployed workers – or at best un-loyal workers who are always shopping around.

When you think about it, the people you want to reach are the ones that employers have held on to. These key people have the best skill sets, the highest degree of training, and are competent at what they do.

When you hire from the pool of employed people rather than the pool of unemployed people you get fewer applicants, but the applicants you do get are of a much higher caliber.

So How Much Does a Recruitment Ad Cost?

We ran an ad about 60 times on one local station for about $800. We had one very qualified applicant, currently employed with a competitor, on the first day the ad ran. The ad is still running, so I will post about how it comes out.

Schrock Innovations is seeking a Director for our Website Services Division in our Lincoln, NE Service Center. For the right candidate, this is an opportunity to make a real difference in the way business and non-profit organizations operate every day.

This is a description of what you can expect from the position and what we are looking for in a candidate:

Lincoln’s #1 Computer Repair Company is looking for a charismatic, energetic department supervisor to oversee our Web Development Division.

This position requires excellent customer service skills, a genuine desire to help our clients achieve their business goals, and over-the-top communication skills.

Direct responsibilities for this position include:

* Meet with web development clients and potential clients to identify needs and create plans to meet those needs
* Oversee the progress of our coders and ensure their work is meeting the expectations of our clients
* Customer relationship management tasks
* The development of a monthly client newsletter
* Coding minor HTML updates and image changes on client websites
* Prospecting for potential new clients
* Working with our service providers on any issues that arise
* Provide and maintain an organizational framework for the Web Development Division

A qualified candidate must be able to:

* Work in our Service Center in Lincoln, NE (this is not a telecommute position)
* Maintain a pleasant, professional demeanor at all times
* Understand web design business concepts such as hosting, reserving a domain, etc..
* Develop and skillfully present website proposals for clients and potential clients
* Edit existing HTML code with the assistance of Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
* Do basic image manipulation using Adobe Photoshop CS3 (resize an image, change resolution, etc)
* Work a 45-50 hour work week

Requirements for this Position:

* Applicant must have a valid driver’s license and current insurance
* Applicant must pass a thorough background check
* Experience in coding is a considerable plus, but limited training is also available
* Experience in business management, project management, or a similar field is a plus

Additional Responsibilities:

* Applicant will be required to fill in on the Front Desk 1-2 days a week
* Applicant may be required to answer phones, assist customers, or perform other assigned duties

Compensation:

* $30,000 to $40,000 annual salary based upon qualifications and experience
* Bonuses based on achieving specific performance goals
* 401K retirement package with employer match
* Employee Assistance Program
* Discounted products and services

Last week Schrock Innovations received a letter from the City of Lincoln regarding our support of America Recycles Day.

Each year students and businesses across Lincoln pledge to commit themselves to recycle more in the coming year. Each pledge is placed in a box and a drawing is conducted.

As we have done in the past, we donated a computer system to this year’s pledge winner. Here is the text from the letter we received from Gene Hanlon, Lancaster County’s Recycling Coordinator:

Dear Thor:

I’m writing to express our sincere appreciation to you for your support of America Recycles Day and donating one of your computers for our Community Grand Prize Drawing. Your donation of the computer provided a valuable incentive for people to take the time to complete a pledge to increase their recycling efforts or buy recycled products.

This year we received over 1,900 pledges from Lincoln and Lancaster County residents to step up their recycling efforts. I don’t believe this would have been possible without your support. I hope you found your involvement in the America Recycles Day campaign beneficial.

Best wishes to you and your family during this holiday season. I hope that the New Year brings much happiness to you and your family.

Schrock Innovations received a letter last week that our Lincoln Service Center has been selected as one of 100,000 “Favorite Places” on Google.

The selection was based on how many people have sought out information about Schrock Innovations on Google. That information includes reviews, requests for driving directions, and general search data.

Contained within the letter was a window decal for our Service Center as well as some statistics about how local Lincoln, Nebraska Google users were seeking out Schrock Innovations over the past 6 months:

• An average of 14 people a month request driving directions to Schrock Innovations (pretty nice considering we are on one of the busiest intersections in Lincoln)
• There were 942 requests for specific information about Schrock Innovations (coupons, reviews, etc.)
• The majority of users who look into Schrock Innovations are looking for computer repair services

Gooogle Favorite Places is a sub component of Google Local Business Center. I was unaware of this program until Google contacted us to let us know we had been selected.

If your business has not been selected, you can apply for consideration by signing up for and completing an entry in Google Local Business Center.

Schrock Innovations had an amazing 2009 in Lincoln and we need another technician to continue building on that success.

We posted an advertisement on Craigslist, and we ask that qualified candidates please apply on our website rather than in person or calling by phone.

What are we looking for?

We need a technician that is proficient with PC and Mac troubleshooting who can work alone in the field or in the service center as part of a team.

We are expanding our on-site hours to include weekends. We have also taken on a umber of corporate clients in Lincon and Omaha who use Mac and we need more than one technician on staff to handle the workload.

We need a tech who already knows troubleshooting and is experienced with all versions of Windows and Mac OS. Of course we will train on Schrock procedures, but we need someone who has the skills to do the job on day one for this position.

This month you could win a $1,500 Schrock Innovations 2009 Holiday Special PC with Solid State Hard Drive Technology just for watching the morning News!

Here is the spot that is running on Channel 10/11 to promote the contest:

I was just informed the Schrock Innovations won #1 Independent Computer Repair Company in the Three Eagles Communications Best of Lincoln contest for the 8th year in a row!

Other winners were Best Buy and Quick Tek. This award comes on the heels of Schrock winning the Nebraska Retail Federation’s 2009 Customer Service Business of the Year.

This year the voting for Best of Lincoln was spread over all of Three Eagles local stations. The station group owns most of the top-rated radio stations in the city. Voters were told to go to the website of the station they were listening to to vote in over 60 different business categories.

Listeners had to vote for a super-majority of the business categories for their vote to count.

Thank you to all of the listeners and customers that took the time to vote for Schrock Innovations. Schrock takes its service lvels very seriously, and awards like these let us know we are on the right track.

Schrock Innovations opened its Omaha Service Center in 2003. Due in large part to its local Omaha radio show, the service center was an overnight success.

Unfortunately, the station we were on flipped formats and we were not able to find another Omaha AM station that could match the success we initially had.

As many of our Omaha customers know, we regouped by concentrating all of our technical operations in Lincoln while focusing all of our web development services in Omaha. This allowed us to maintain a token presence in Omaha and honor the warranties we had issued and service the customers who placed their trust in us.

In early 2009, we moved into our new $825,000 Service Center in Lincoln and found that the simple change in visibility DOUBLED our sales and profitability overnight. That Service Center is now bringing in over 62 new customers each and every month.

Omaha’s Time Has Come

With all of our efforts going toward staffing, equipping, and launching our new Lincoln location, Omaha went without significant attention for over 12 months.

That is all about to change now.

Yesterday was the last day that our present Omaha location was open for business. We have closed the Omaha location at 3032 N. 93rd and transferred all web development services to competent staff in Lincoln.

We are still honoring our warranties and serving our Omaha customers – we are just bringing our service to them rather than making them come in to us.

New Service Center in the Works

I can’t say too much about it at the moment, but I can tell all of our Omaha customers that a new Service Center is in the works. This location will operate similarly to our famed Lincoln location with one notable exception.

This location will be geared toward mobile repair services rather than in-shop repair.

Our new location is tentatively set to open for business in the late first quarter of 2010.

Award Winning Service COntinues in Omaha

If you are a Schrock Omaha customer, you can still call our local Omaha phone number, 934-9423, and we will schedule an appointment that works with your schedule to come to your home or business to repair your PC or to take it back to our Lincoln Service Center for repair.

This week Schrock Innovations started a new series of commercials running on three different radio stations in Lincoln (KFOR, KZKX, and KIBZ) that talk about the features of the 2009 Holiday Special and the benefits of choosing a Modular PC.

Chris Goforth and I met up to make the spots and to be honest I was just not in rah-rah marketing mode that day. I knew what I wanted to talk about, but did not have a script or even a bulleted list for that matter.

Chris and I were talking about what we wanted to do and I suggested that rather than the traditional commercial that we style the commercials in the same tone that we do our weekly radio show. Chris agreed so he hit record and we went to work.

I have to honestly say that these commercials were the easiest, least forced, and most informative spots I have ever done for any product. A couple days later Chris and I ran into each other at the studio and he even commented that when he hears the spots its like he has been teleported into our show for that minute.

Take a listen to these two spots and tell me what you think of them.

Spot 1 – The Features of the 2009 Holiday Special PC

Spot 2 – The Benefits of Choosing a Modular PC

We have a third spot that will begin running on Monday, that talks about Schrock’s award winning service. I am not allowed to talk about that just yet, so subscribe to my RSS feed to hear all about it in your email Monday morning!

Schrock Innovations is sponsoring this year’s Lincoln America Recycles Day Celebration by donating a new $1,300 Modular Computer to one lucky winner.

There are some really great prizes, and you can enter as a business or as an individual.

Here is the release that was sent yesterday:

PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES DEPARTMENT

Recycling Office, 2400 Theresa Street, Lincoln, NE 68521, 441-7043, fax 441-8735

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 12, 2009

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Gene Hanlon, Recycling Coordinator, 441-7043

CITY ENCOURAGES PUBLIC TO PARTICIPATE IN AMERICA RECYCLES DAY EVENTS

The City Recycling Office encourages the public to participate in America Recycles Day November 15, an effort to encourage recycling and the purchasing of recycled products. Residents have the opportunity to make a pledge to improve their recycling efforts and to participate in several special events.

“America Recycles Day is an opportunity for people to shape part of the environmental impact they have on our community and the world,” said City Recycling Coordinator Gene Hanlon. “By making a pledge, residents have an opportunity to make a commitment to increase their recycling efforts and help reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”

Those who fill out a pledge form are entered into a drawing to win prizes, including

• computer system valued at $1,300, donated by Schrock Innovations;
• a six-year curbside recycling subscription, donated by the Lincoln Journal Star, Midwest Refuge, Recycling Enterprises and Star City Recycling;
• $100 gift cards donated by Russ’s Market and Wal-Mart;
• free Panera Bread for one year.

The pledge drive runs through Sunday, November 8. Prizes will be awarded at noon Saturday, November 14 at EcoStores Nebraska, 530 W. “P” St. Pledge boxes are located at Russ’s Markets, Lincoln City Libraries and select recyclers. Pledge forms and more information about America Recycles Day also are available online at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: ARD).

Several other recycling-related events will take place in Lincoln next month:

• A free tire collection will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8 at N.W. 38th Street and West Webster Road. The collection is sponsored by the Emerald Sanitary Improvement District and funded by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.
• EcoStores Nebraska will host a usable latex paint exchange from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, November 14. Usable paint is free, and $2 is charged for disposal of unusable paint.
• Paper shredding and electronic equipment recycling events are also being planned. Locations, times and fees will be announced at a later date.