Hello ragingacademic-ga,
If you’re not familiar with the world of HR departments and benefit
offerings I suggest that you do some reading to get familiar with the
field. Since the HR market is huge but the variety of services offered
is fairly standard, it’s hard to stand out in the field. I’ve
collected some links that should give you a good start on getting your
bearings.
I hope I understood your needs correctly. Let me know if you need
something else.
czh
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/home.htm
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Office of Compensation and Working Conditions
This is a good place to start. The BLS has wonderful reports and
statistics on the labor market and salaries and benefits.
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebrp0001.pdf
Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2000 (Tables Only) (PDF) -
providing data from the 2000 survey of all private establishments.
This is a 79 page report that gives a comprehensive overview of
national benefits practices.
http://www.ebri.org/
Employee Benefit Research Institute
EBRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed exclusively to
data dissemination, policy research, and education on economic
security and employee benefits.
http://www.benefitslink.com/
BenefitsLink provides compliance information and tools for employee
benefits administration.
http://www.benefitsmarketplace.com/cgi-bin/marketq.exe/about/market
BenefitsMarketplace.com is a listing service that makes it possible to
market your products and services directly to buyers for a $39 listing
fee per year.
http://www.hraspx.com/Pages/Partners.html
HRaspx is an asp solutions vendor.
http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/
HR Marketer is a web-based service for selling products and services
to HR departments.
http://www.fishervista.com/
Fisher Vista is a marketing and public relations firm that specializes
in services aimed at HR.
http://www.hrhub.com/content/homepage/default.asp?VNETCOOKIE=NO
HR Hub -- VertMarkets, Inc.
This is a trade magazine for the Human Resources industry. It’s a
portal site that offers many resources for anyone interested in HR.
http://www.hr-esource.com/index.asp?rightframe=hresources/hrMarketplace/hrMarketplace.html
to hr-esource.com
This is another portal site directed at anyone interested in HR.
http://www.shrm.org
Society for Human Resource Management
This is the premier association of HR practitioners.
http://www.ioma.com/
IOMA is a B2B publisher of management topics in Corporate Finance;
Human Resources; Legal, Design & Construction, and CPA Firm
Management; Lab Management; Corporate Services; and Manufacturing.
SEARCH STRATEGY
HR marketplace benefits
employee benefits |
Request for Answer Clarification by
ragingacademic-ga
on
20 Nov 2002 19:33 PST
czh -
There's definitely some very good information here, and I want to make
sure you're compensated for your time - I'd like to pay you another $5
to complete your answer - if you reread the question, i'm looking for
specific methods to do the following when selling a service to the HR
department -
+ how to get in the door (what will pique their interest)
+ who to talk to (what kind of positions exist in HR and who should I
be targeting - do I need to go straight to the VP HR, or are there
other positions responsible for benefits etc. - I'm totally unfamiliar
with HR structure)
+ how to approach the above people once I'm "in the door"
+ preferred sales tools, what do they want to see, how do they like to
be sold to
+ best practices to close the sale
If it helps at all, the service we are considering right now is a
smoking cessation service.
Let me know how we can arrange payment.
Thanks,
Erik
|
Clarification of Answer by
czh-ga
on
21 Nov 2002 01:31 PST
Hello Erik,
I’m glad you gave me more specific information about the the service
you want to sell to corporate clients. Now I know that you are
targeting medium to large sized companies to sell them a smoking
cessation service. I’ll discuss the questions you want answered and
give you more links to help you educate yourself about the roles and
responsibilities in HR so you can figure out how to approach specific
companies.
Smoking cessation services would go by various names in today’s
benefits market place. Some of the labels might be:
-- Employee wellness programs
-- Work/life benefits
-- Behavioral health benefits
-- Employee assistance programs
-- Health education benefits
-- Possibly others as well
Employee benefits are definitely an HR responsibility. Many companies,
especially mid to large sized companies (but increasingly even small
ones too), have chosen to outsource this function. This means that it
is highly likely that smoking cessation benefits will be bundled into
a comprehensive employee benefit package that is administered by an
outsourcing vendor. It appears that your target customers may be the
HR outsourcing companies instead of the employers. Hewitt and Aon are
both big names in HR consulting, Cigna is a major comprehensive
benefits provider and Worklife Solutions is a more specialized
benefits company.
http://was.hewitt.com/hewitt/resource/articleindex/article_index.htm#two
Hewitt Associates -- HR & Benefits Outsourcing
http://www.aon.com/us/busi/hc_consulting/hr_outsourcing/emp_benefits_outsourcing/default.jsp
Aon -- Employee Benefits Outsourcing
http://www.cigna.com/consumer/index.html
Cigna
http://www.worklifesolutions.cc/behavior/index.asp
Behavioral Health and Employee Assistance Programs
Now, let’s deal with your questions about approaching HR. Once again,
we don’t have an easy answer. HR has been traditionally seen as a cost
center and a necessary evil and frequently had little power to make
significant purchasing decisions. HR has also been fighting this
negative image and in some companies the HR function has assumed
greater responsibilities. Regardless of how HR is viewed, you need to
identify who has the authority to make purchasing decisions and make
your pitch to them.
http://www.ipma-hr.org/index.cfm?navid=202
International Personnel Management Association
HR RESOURCES >> Featured Sections >> Organizational Structures
This overview of the HR field discusses how HR relates to the
organization as a whole and the varied roles in HR.
http://www.workindex.com/hrexecutive/default.asp
Human Resource Executive trade magazine
http://www.workindex.com/hrexecutive/top1002.asp
Top 100 corporate employers (by number of employees)
Table shows Name and Title of top HR officer and also shows Reports
to. This will give you some idea of the importance of the HR function
in the company.
http://www.careerjournal.com/hrcenter/shrm/features/20020801-shrm.html
Role of HR Executive is Undergoing Big Changes
This article discusses the need for HR to broaden its skills and
abilities, especially in the areas of business strategy and finance.
http://www.careerjournal.com/hrcenter/shrm/features/20011210-shrm-bates2.html
Despite Lack of Experience, Execs Assume New HR Roles
This is another article that discusses HR’s credibility – or lack of
it.
http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/22/98/index.php
Who's Investing in HR?
A new survey asks HR professionals about the real worth of human
resources in Corporate America.
This article discusses the ongoing issues with HR’s lack of
credibility and not having the authority to make purchasing decisions.
(requires free registration for non-members)
Once you’ve gotten in the door you will need to emphasize the value of
your product. You should develop some materials that show what will be
the ROI on implementing your service. The articles I included (and
some of the HR sites I sent earlier) should give you some insights
about the current hot-buttons for HR. Showing that you understand the
competitive marketplace and illustrating why you’re the best choice
would be helpful. Demonstrations, case studies or other methods to
make your product real are also important.
http://www.workforce.com/tools/mediakit/hr.htm
The Human Resources Market: A Current Outlook
HR for all companies. All Economies
This Workforce Magazine article briefly reviews marketing to HR.
I’ve also gathered some information for you about the smoking
cessation market. I was amazed at the number of providers. It might be
very challenging to stand out from the crowd. Here are some links to
help you take a look at the competitive landscape.
http://www.endsmoking.org/resources/employersguide/pdf/employersguide.pdf
Employers’ Smoking Cessation Guide: Practical Approaches to a Costly
Workplace Problem
This is a 43 page report that gives you the guidelines for presenting
the “business case” to a company for being involved in helping
employees stop smoking. Provides tips on how to evaluate smoking
cessation vendors and lots of statistics for justifying smoking
cessation programs. It includes links throughout the text and an
appendix of key resources. Excellent starting place for your project.
http://www.mkt-data-ent.com/smokingtoc2.html
Smoking Cessation Products & Services: A Market Analysis
(November 2000)
Published by: Marketdata Enterprises, Inc., 2807 W. Busch Blvd., Suite
110, Tampa, FL 33618, (813-931-3900)
www.marketdataenterprises.com
Table of Contents – Review of the industry
http://www.marketdataenterprises.com/studies.html#SMOKING
http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2000/03/06/focus2.html
More HMOs, insurers offering smoking cessation programs
March 3, 2000,
This is a fairly long article that discusses large company smoking
cessation programs
http://www.opm.gov/ehs/smokgud3.asp
Work-Life Programs -- Smoking Cessation
Guidance on Establishing Programs Designed to Help Employees Stop
Smoking
http://www.opm.gov/ehs/Smoking1.asp
Section I: Funding Smoking Cessation Programs
http://www.lungusa.org/ffs/
American Lung Association
Freedom From SmokingŪ Online
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4731
American Heart Association
Smoking Cessation
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Health/Mental_Health/Addiction_and_Recovery/Smoking_Addiction/
Yahoo! Commercial Directory
Shopping > Smoking Addiction
SEARCH STRATEGY
smoking cessation programs
corporate "smoking cessation" industry
benefits purchasing decision makers
I appreciate your offer of additional payment. When you rate my answer
you will be asked if you’d like to give me a tip. I’ll be gratified if
you raise the amount you’ll pay for this research.
I hope that you’re satisfied with the information I’ve gathered and
please post additional questions as you continue to develop your
project. If you like, you can specify that the question is for me.
This was an interesting project and I wish you success as you proceed
to take your product to market.
czh
|
Clarification of Answer by
czh-ga
on
21 Nov 2002 17:19 PST
Erik,
Thanks for the affirmations and the tip. I hope we'll have the chance
to help you with future research efforts.
czh
|
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