The Right Time Is Now: Capitalize on The Economic Uncertainty

This article is written for those in mind who are already familiar with our on-demand labor model. If you’re new to Veryable, check out our other article which gives a bit more context.

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It’s been a difficult stretch over the past few years, as uncertain economic conditions, supply chain issues, and more plague US manufacturers and distributors.

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While things aren’t as grim right now as they were in late 2022, we’re not quite in the clear just yet.

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As a result of these conditions, you’ve been forced to rightsize and make some tough decisions in order to control costs and safeguard profit margins. While this was certainly a necessary move, business leaders must also keep an eye on emerging revenue opportunities, which are actually in abundance right now. The problem is, trying to go after these opportunities comes with a lot of risk and may not be worth the effort if relying solely on traditional approaches.

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That’s where Veryable can help.

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In this article, we’ll cover how you can use your labor pool during these uncertain times to not only stay profitable, but capture additional market share and revenue without taking on massive amounts of risk.

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Here's an Example

While this example isn’t 100% applicable to the current economic conditions, it effectively highlights how a labor pool has helped this business scale up and down drastically to match demand in the face of uncertainty.

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Staffed to minimum average demand, this business was in the middle of its holiday peak season and using Veryable to meet higher demands when they acquired a competitor. This required a significant boost in output, which they were able to effortlessly achieve by ramping up on-demand labor usage even further. Then when a winter storm came out of nowhere and shut things down for a week, they were able to scale down instantly and avoid thousands in labor costs. Afterwards, they were able to rapidly catch up on the backlog by posting more ops than normal.

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This also freed up capacity for them to go after new business while their competitors were still struggling to catch up on backlog and meet daily demands.

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Now Is The Time to Take It Back

In times like these, many business leaders are just sitting on their hands waiting for signs the economy is roaring back before taking any action. This is understandable, as the last thing you want to do is spend a bunch of time and money hiring when you don’t know if demand is here to stay. The problem with this mindset though is that by the time that mainstream sources tell you that things are back to normal, it’s already too late and many of the biggest opportunities have vanished. Then you’re competing with everyone else for the same resources as you race to scale up and capture the scraps of what’s left.

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The opportunities are here now - numerous businesses have shut down and others are capacity constrained due to mass layoffs and ill-equipped to handle anything more than normal.

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That’s where your labor pool can help.

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Overcoming Uncertainty With Agility

By connecting you with workers only when work is needed, a labor pool allows you to maintain a leaner full-time workforce and still meet demand by tapping into your flexible capacity as needed.

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This approach gives you the best of both worlds: a leaner headcount helps you keep costs low and retain margins, and unlimited flexible capacity at your disposal allows you to be aggressive.

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Let’s say a competitor in your area went out of business - obviously this is going to open up the door for others to come in and snatch up market share.

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But in times like these, most businesses don’t have the capacity to take on any additional volume. Even those that try to stay slightly overstaffed in preparation for opportunities like this may not be able to.

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This is why your labor pool gives you a competitive edge.

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With flexible capacity at your fingertips, you can increase the size of your workforce in a day and capitalize on these opportunities without a dropoff in service, excessive overtime or the risks of hiring more FTEs that won’t be needed everyday.

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Building a Layer of Resilience

Another great thing about having a labor pool is that when you don’t need the extra help, you aren’t stuck paying people to stand around. When demand dips, just post fewer ops or none at all. By doing so, you’re rightsized for current demand and able to maintain a constant cost per unit.

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Knowing that you can pull back resources at any moment allows you to be aggressive and take on everything you can without having to wonder whether the increased volume will be stable.

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Your competitors simply don’t have this option, and that’s why they’re all hesitant to react right now. The door is wide open for you.

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To read more about this, check out our article on downcycle agility

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Leveraging Improved Service Levels

You need to be able to deliver on your promises at all times, but especially when trying to go after new business. If you deliver late on your first order with a new customer, you’re reducing the lifetime value of that customer as they’ll be less likely to do business with you again. While your labor pool helps you eliminate late deliveries and maintain your service levels regardless of demand,  it can also be leveraged to further drive down lead times and increase speed.

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With the help of their labor pools, numerous Veryable users have successfully been able to increase speed by:

• Adding a temporary 2nd/3rd/overnight shift - if your output is limited by capacity, keep machines running with operators during your normal off hours. With 26% of ops on the platform posted for night and weekend shifts, you can always find the right workers to keep your operations running.
• Adding assistants - Bolstering skilled labor with operators for material handling and setup tasks can greatly improve throughput of your trained, highly skilled workers. On a side note, allowing your skilled FTEs to focus on their main objectives keeps them happier as well.
• Eliminating lumping/loading delays - adding operators to support dock operations can help you ensure that trucks are loaded and unloaded as soon as they hit the dock. 3PL provider Customized Distribution Services achieved a 36% increase in inbound receiving speed in just 6 months by taking this approach.

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Conclusion

It’s easy to get spooked by all of the layoffs, plant shutdowns, and uncertainty in the air and think that the best course of action is to just lie low and wait for better times. The reality is though, now is when the most opportunities are out there, and the future belongs only to those that want it the most. Leverage Veryable and go get your piece of the pie.

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Learn More

Comprised of former operations leaders, executives, lean practitioners, industrial engineers, and other operations professionals, the Veryable team has decades of experience in the manufacturing & distribution space.

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Email us, or contact your local team if you have any questions or need assistance.