EnquiryBot Interview

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an online interview with Adam Smith, Director at EnquiryBot. 

It's no surprise that our interview was focused around COVID-19 and how that is affecting us currently and how we plan to grow out the other side.

You can find the questions and answers below as well as a link to the recorded interview here: 

1. Tell me about your normal daily routine, before CV19

I’ve been lucky in the sense that my primary office has been at home for the past 2 ish years.

However, I’d typically work from home 2-3 days per week at a desk in the hallway…

The other days I would be out meeting clients and partners at a neutral locations such as a hotel, golf club or coffee shop. I always find it nice to mix up the locations, and I’d probably plan to get there early or stay after to carry on with some work. 

What I liked was the flexibility I’d always start the day gym after the completing the school drop. I say completing as it can be a challenge some days!

Starting the day with a clear head and finding a nice environment to work form.

2. How has this affected your daily routine?

It’s been both positive and not so positive… Where I can save time and stress with the school drop I am no longer getting out of the house for the gym so we have to be a little inventive.

My wife, Kelly, has set up a home gym for us which is a combination of weights, the elastic tension bands and yoga mats, coupled with Peloton’s 90-day free trial. I don’t think I’ve ever worked out as hard!

On a more positive note, whilst I can’t pretend I’m doing a full 40 hour plus week I’m now prioritising my time to balance with the family and their needs. I probably work 2-3 days a week now over the 5 days.

And when I am on an important conference call my children are always keen on popping in to say hello too! 

3. How have you adapted to make sure your business doesn’t suffer, your clients are retained, or prospects are maintained but most importantly, receive the same or similar service.

Tough question, I guess we don’t truly know how we will suffer or for how long its still early days.

At Qonnectd we are a little different to most, we are a hybrid between a recruitment agency and a job board.

Our clients pay us on a monthly retainer to manage all their hiring needs which is much more cost-effective than the large agency fees that most businesses are accustomed to! 

On this front, we have paused our monthly invoices from April 1st in an effort to preserve our client relationships as they aren’t actively hiring yet. For any business that has paid us upfront for 12 months they will simply get a contract extension for whatever length we are in this for.

We are now focusing heavily on technical developments & marketing.

One of the ways we will ensure we don’t suffer for too long is building out our technology while we can, we’re fundamentally a technology platform simplifying and improving the hiring process. 

We are about to launch a new website with 1,000’s of direct employer vacancies as well as our very own applicant tracking system which is very exciting! One key feature for us is one directional and 1-2-1 interview capabilities. 

4. Do you think the adaptions you have made due to the virus be long term, regardless of how long the virus lasts?  I.e. do you see peoples buying habits changing and could you see it been a successful change?

100% we were toying with the idea of office space; my co-founder Robert and I have always been torn with the idea but this has proved to us both that we can operate effectively remotely.

We use Gmail for our organisation so that comes with most of the software we need, Google Hangouts, Google Chat, shared docs we then use Hubspot, Canva, an other software to collaborate.

I don’t think we will be looking for office space after this.

We will be looking to take on staff in late Q2 and I’m almost certain these will be remote roles as we are now set up to manage that effectively.

5. Finally, if you have any advice to people as business owners, managers etc, regardless of the industry they work in, what would it be? 

Great question!

Firstly, we’ve never experienced a time like this before, but that’s exactly what’s on our side for a change, TIME!

Use it wisely, take a good look at your P&L and where can you lean up?

How are you marketing your company? Right now, I don’t think we should be selling but offering free advice, supporting people, maybe even write a blog if you can?...

Probably most importantly, reconnect with people, reignite your network and use the time to set up calls with old contacts, you never know what might come from it! 

Finally, I would like to take the time once again to thank Adam for setting this up! It was great to talk through what we are doing and I also look forward to watching EnquiryBot grow, they are a great business that I have personally seen great results from. Keep up the hard work!