Management Solutions, Inc, San Jose, CA
“I started a boutique exempt-level contract staffing firm specializing in accounting and finance professionals. My two partners and I were all former Big Four management executives and had only participated as “hiring managers” before starting our firm, Management Solutions Inc. (currently, Kula Consulting) in San Jose, California. With only two people from a big national temp placement firm we set up our “process” . Within a year we were generating over a million dollars in contract revenue and another $300,000 in “perm” billings. Through a referral, I attended a one-day training class in San Francisco put on by a guy named Peter Leffkowitz. I was hooked from that session on a very unique style of recruiting and the need to set-up a daily time-management process to become structured in my new profession. I still use the skills that Peter demonstrated in that training session.
I loaded up with his videos, daily planners and the Objector “flip chart”, and a script manual, tabbed for every call and went back to our San Jose office. Over the next four or five years, Management Solutions grew to be one of the largest finance and accounting staffing firms in the Silicon Valley with over 25 placement people on staff. During this growth spurt, we used the Morgan Method training videos to start new employees off on how we did business.
Then, we decided to take the company to another level and put an expansion plan in place that included a significant emphasis on his training. We felt we needed a way of doing business that would ensure that every office we opened would have the same consistency of technique, messaging and corporate culture as our San Jose office. We asked Peter to spend a couple of days reviewing our operation and then install a replicable “in-house” management plan for multiple office growth. Within one day, Peter opened my eyes to the power of managing by activity, not dollars. We developed a Secret Sauce Recipe for daily activity that we could train to and manage to, that helped us build the foundation for our expansion.
We then asked Peter to help us set-up a customized training program for our people.
The program included training everyone at the Tall Pony Ranch, and a two month on-the-job, in-house training program for all new hires. We then launched our expansion plans and over the next six-year period we grew organically and through some strategic acquisitions to a ten-office firm, with over 200 recruiters who produced over $55,000,000 a year in revenue. Our per desk averages on the direct hire side were 2.5 deals per desk, 20 new qualified candidates per month and a 3.5 to 1 send out to placement ratio. We also had less than one percent fall-offs on placements.
In early 2001, we sold the firm to one of the big international staffing firms for over seven times EBITDA.
After sitting out my non-compete agreement, I started a boutique staffing firm in Santa Cruz called Kula Consulting doing finance and accounting placement specifically in the California market place. I’ve revised my secret sauce to accommodate staff working remotely compared to my former firm. But the thing that remains a constant is the training provided by Morgan Consulting. We have attended his Zoom “Morginars” and still use the Morgan Planners and Situational Guides and will send new staff to his Tall Pony Ranch to get them started as only Peter can do.”