New Contractor Portal - Sourcing new contracts - What do you want?

[BrilloPad]

I have met some great agents

but have met some terrible ones as well.

Same as contractors really.

Not sure I see what is wrong with the term pimps. Its just a bit of fun.

For me I look for honesty an an agent - there are a few out there I know and trust. Obviously the more clients the agent has the better! I also object strongly to agents who try to force you to be paid in a certain way. If they hand over the money to a UK ltd company then the rest is none of their business. I use Montpelier as my "umbrella" - for this reason I am unlikely to use Aston Carter as an agency again.

DP connect spent sevaral months calling me evey week. That was about 2 years ago. But they have got alot better since then.

[Cliphead]

It actually annoys me in fact to hear agents referred to as "Pimps" etc. I'd like to think we are one of the better agencies but am always keen to find out how we can improve things from the Contractors perspective.

JAFP

(Just another ******* pimp)

[GreenhitheLee]

Interesting points guys.....

Really greatful for the honest and frank feedback so far.

Honesty seems to be the most requested. Being as transparent as possible is something a lot of agencies need to brush up on.

Two points which you might be able to advise me on, as considerations for the new portal.

1) Managers names / References - These are actually very useful to my clients, as sometimes they have had very bad expereinces of highly paid contractors not performing. This is an expensive aquisition also. Even an average 6 contract is likely to cost the end client just short of £50k.

What other ways (other than references / referals) can clients / Agencies check the credibilty / stature of a Contractor if they have never dealt with them before ????

2) Leads - One comment was that the more clients and agency has the better. As with any business, Sales / New business is the only way that people get new clients in the first place. What other ways could agencies win more business if they dont get this sort of information??

NB: Please dont treat these comments as flippant in any way, liek I said in my original post, I am trying to improve our service and make your expereince a better one !!

[Cliphead]

Really greatful for the honest and frank feedback so far.

Honesty seems to be the most requested. Being as transparent as possible is something a lot of agencies need to brush up on.

Two points which you might be able to advise me on, as considerations for the new portal.

1) Managers names / References - These are actually very useful to my clients, as sometimes they have had very bad expereinces of highly paid contractors not performing. This is an expensive aquisition also. Even an average 6 contract is likely to cost the end client just short of £50k.

What other ways (other than references / referals) can clients / Agencies check the credibilty / stature of a Contractor if they have never dealt with them before ????

2) Leads - One comment was that the more clients and agency has the better. As with any business, Sales / New business is the only way that people get new clients in the first place. What other ways could agencies win more business if they dont get this sort of information??

NB: Please dont treat these comments as flippant in any way, liek I said in my original post, I am trying to improve our service and make your expereince a better one !!

JAFP

[To BI or not to BI?]

Really greatful for the honest and frank feedback so far.

Honesty seems to be the most requested. Being as transparent as possible is something a lot of agencies need to brush up on.

Two points which you might be able to advise me on, as considerations for the new portal.

1) Managers names / References - These are actually very useful to my clients, as sometimes they have had very bad expereinces of highly paid contractors not performing. This is an expensive aquisition also. Even an average 6 contract is likely to cost the end client just short of £50k.

What other ways (other than references / referals) can clients / Agencies check the credibilty / stature of a Contractor if they have never dealt with them before ????

2) Leads - One comment was that the more clients and agency has the better. As with any business, Sales / New business is the only way that people get new clients in the first place. What other ways could agencies win more business if they dont get this sort of information??

NB: Please dont treat these comments as flippant in any way, liek I said in my original post, I am trying to improve our service and make your expereince a better one !!

My personal view on the above:

1) Managers names / References - I appreciate that some client may want to check references, but this should be done only AFTER there is a firm offer on the job, not as a way of getting leads and then disappear....

2) Leads - Again, I understand that the more contacts you have the greater the chance to to do business. On the other hand, would you like to be called every day by would-be contractors asking you to get them a job, even if you have nothing to offer them? And would you return their calls? I believe the best way to get good leads is by doing a good job, part of which is respecting people's privacy.

Just my 2p worth.....

[cojak]

1) Managers names / References - I appreciate that some client may want to check references, but this should be done only AFTER there is a firm offer on the job, not as a way of getting leads and then disappear....

Hear, Hear - what BI said.

I haven't got a problem with the Client asking me for references at the interview, either.

[Cowboy Bob]

1) Managers names / References - These are actually very useful to my clients, as sometimes they have had very bad expereinces of highly paid contractors not performing. This is an expensive aquisition also. Even an average 6 contract is likely to cost the end client just short of £50k.

What other ways (other than references / referals) can clients / Agencies check the credibilty / stature of a Contractor if they have never dealt with them before ????

Given that you have the policy of naming the client to the contractor on first contact, why do you even need to see the references? Why not allow the contractor to give the references direct to the client? No need for the agency to see them, and it seems less suspicious to the contractor. No-one minds giving references, just that most suspect they are being used to generate leads - which they are with some agencies.

[expat]

Managers names / References - These are actually very useful to my clients, as sometimes they have had very bad expereinces of highly paid contractors not performing. This is an expensive aquisition also. Even an average 6 contract is likely to cost the end client just short of £50k.

What other ways (other than references / referals) can clients / Agencies check the credibilty / stature of a Contractor if they have never dealt with them before ????

No help in the immediate future, but our profession needs a professional qualification. Not just a paid membership or a CV certification, but a qualification that means that the professional can do the job.

[malvolio]

No help in the immediate future, but our profession needs a professional qualification. Not just a paid membership or a CV certification, but a qualification that means that the professional can do the job.

I'll second that.

Also, you should start recruiting people who can do the job, not people who have a long list of technical qualifications. Your client wants a website built, he doesn't want three months of someone practising their PHP, SQL Server, fluent Swedish and Prince2

And having done more than a little research on how clients and contractors can get together, a Portal that merely extends the Jobserve model is not going anywhere. You need a new approach altogether. How about one that says "We need this doing. What's your best price?"

[Mordac]

DP Connect are generally one of the better agencies, but I have stopped sending my CV to them as they use IProfile (which is an utter pile of shambolic sh1t). It would be interesting to get an agents feedback having used IProfile, do you find our profiles are wildly inaccurate? (as mine always seems to be).