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Datasource Background Screening Services is celebrating a big milestone this year, and it’s easy to see why. Amazing culture, integrations with your favorite HR systems, and a service-focused staff working hard to be the best. In today’s marketing tip, let’s make sure you have a meaningful unique selling proposition!
Transcript:
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This Small Business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re going to talk about marketing. We’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice that business owners can use to keep moving forward. This week we’re talking with DeeAnn Myers and Jessica Larson of Datasource Background Screening. But first, get another small business marketing tip to talk about
Jeff Randolph:
In today’s marketing tip, we’re going to talk about your unique selling proposition. You may have heard of it as a unique selling point or a unique value proposition, or USP. Whatever you call it, do you know your unique selling proposition? If we define that, it’s how you stand out from your competitors, just kind of generally speaking. The thing that you do or say that your competitors can’t say or won’t say. How are you different from the competition? There are a lot of ways you can describe your unique selling proposition, but whatever that thing is, it must be meaningful to customers.
If you’re different in a way that nobody cares about, it’s not much of a selling proposition. It’s also not just window dressing or puffery. It needs to be strong enough as a benefit to motivate people to choose you over the competition. When working with entrepreneurs on their marketing, it’s important to figure out how you are different than the competition, because we’ll use that in marketing language and in advertising campaigns to help your customers know why to pick you instead of someone else. Do you know what your unique selling proposition is? If you don’t, we should talk.
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome back to the show. I am here with DeeAnn Myers. She is the Executive Vice President at Datasource Background Screening, and Jessica Larson, Director of Operations and Client Care at Datasource. Welcome to the show, both of you.
DeeAnn Myers:
Thank you.
Jessica Larson:
Thank you. Happy to be here.
Jeff Randolph:
We’re excited to have you here. I want to start out and say you’re celebrating your 30th year in business, so congratulations on that. That’s a major accomplishment. Datasource Background Screening Services is a company that focuses on background screening. Strangely enough, background screening. Tell us what that means and some of the products and services that you guys provide?
DeeAnn Myers:
Well, we want to provide almost anything that a company or a small business or church or camp or any type of business would need to be able to vet their employees or their volunteers. We also do tenant screening. So really, anything in that background screening realm with the exception of fingerprinting right now. But-
Jessica Larson:
Criminal screening. Drug screening.
DeeAnn Myers:
Drug screening.
Jessica Larson:
Employment verifications.
Jeff Randolph:
If you need to know who someone really is before you hire them, start working with them.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes. Social media searches are-
Jessica Larson:
Or put them in your home. Tenants.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah, to rent to.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. Everything. It’s literally everything.
DeeAnn Myers:
Anything.
Jeff Randolph:
So the kinds of services that you do, it’s all encompassing. So a company comes and signs up with you, becomes a client, and they handle all, you handle everything for them from start to finish for that?
DeeAnn Myers:
For the vetting.
Jeff Randolph:
For the vetting, got it.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes. Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
Perfect. Well, let’s-
DeeAnn Myers:
We make it really easy for them.
Jessica Larson:
Super easy.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, tell me a little bit more about that. How do you make that easy? What does that look like?
DeeAnn Myers:
Sure. We connect them to our background screening platform, and then they instantly have access to a wide array of products and services that we offer.
Jessica Larson:
And different options for ordering. We can send a link to the applicant, have them fill everything out themselves, electronic authorization forms.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, that’s very handy.
Jessica Larson:
Store it in our system for them so that they don’t have to store that in-house. So, make it very simple.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah, literally they can type in their name and their email address and send them a link and get an email when it’s all complete.
Jeff Randolph:
All set. Yeah, I-
DeeAnn Myers:
So, it’s very simple.
Jeff Randolph:
Simple is an important piece for everyone who is involved in that process.
DeeAnn Myers:
And really inexpensive for what we do. I feel like it’s-
Jeff Randolph:
A value, a tremendous value.
DeeAnn Myers:
A tremendous value.
Jeff Randolph:
Perfect. Well, and 30 years, let’s not kid ourselves. Long time. During that time, you’ve had a chance to build a few well-known name brands as well. And so if somebody doesn’t know the name Datasource Background Screening, you may know Camp Background Checks or Christian Background Checks. Talk about those different brands that you have for a minute. Walk us through kind of, that brand portfolio.
Jessica Larson:
Sure. We basically broke into brands so that we can give back to that sector. So with Camp Background Checks, from a marketing standpoint, it’s kind of more fun because it’s all camp. And then we go to camp shows and we sponsor, we’ll send kids to camp, but we give back to that individual sector within. So Christian, really the same thing. And so we serve a lot of, under the Christian brand we serve a lot of churches, a lot of camps, a lot of nonprofit organizations that are out there making an impact.
Jeff Randolph:
Who all need it and need that very specialized service.
Jessica Larson:
Yes, making sure that you don’t, you don’t want a opportunity and that temptation to meet. So I feel like, especially with that vulnerable population, the children and the elderly, we do a lot of in-home health.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, sure.
Jessica Larson:
And so just making sure that you have the right people in the right places.
Jeff Randolph:
I almost want to know, are there different kinds of businesses that don’t need your help at all? I think everyone can benefit from this kind thing.
DeeAnn Myers:
Oh, absolutely.
Jessica Larson:
Absolutely.
DeeAnn Myers:
I mean, even cleaning companies, even though they do hire felons, you still want to know what’s on their background and not put them, say if they’re cleaning a school. So yeah, still very important no matter what the business is.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, spectacular. And we do work together, and so I want to talk about culture for a minute because you don’t have to read very far into your social media feeds or have any conversation with leadership to understand that culture and that culture of family is really important. And I sense that every time we go in for a meeting. Talk about what culture means to you guys and why that’s so important.
DeeAnn Myers:
Well, I think that in any business, regardless of what you do, it is about the people. And if you love and you care for your people, I feel like that will show through how they treat your customers. Me personally, I was actually hired originally about a little over six years ago as a consultant. And I came in and, kind of sounds weird, but I literally fell in love with the people there. And I mean, Jessica’s a big one. She is just a superstar. I mean, amazing. I literally had somebody call me and say, “Stop. I just have to tell you, Jessica is a rock star. She is a superstar.” I mean, it is. It’s the people and the culture, and if you walk around our company, it would almost be hard to know who owns the company.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, fascinating.
DeeAnn Myers:
Because you would think every single person takes that ownership kind of role, and just amazing. I mean, we have just incredible people. I think we have the pillars of the leaders that we need to scale this company four or five times the size that it is. I know who the leaders are because they’re already there.
Jeff Randolph:
Right. Well, and that definitely comes from the top down and so applause to the leadership team for building that, but not knowing really, not being able to tell exactly who that owner is when you walk in, and because everyone treats it as though this is so important, this is so personal.
DeeAnn Myers:
It’s everyone’s baby.
Jessica Larson:
It is.
DeeAnn Myers:
And they take care of it.
Jessica Larson:
And they care.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes.
Jessica Larson:
They care about the company and our clients. They truly care about who they’re putting in these companies. And when we review those backgrounds, we really think about what kind of effect it’s going to have.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, outstanding. It’s no accident. No accident at all, and great job bringing that out. I know that integrations are an important part of this, if we go back to the products for a second. Integrating with an HR applicant tracking system is an important piece for a service like yours. Tell us just a little bit about that. You’ve dedicated a lot of energy to it. Talk about those integrations and if you’re talking to an HR person, do you integrate with the thing that they most likely use? What’s going on in that world?
Jessica Larson:
We do have hundreds of integrations that automatically connect with our platform, so that is very easy. We always try to look at the HR person that we are trying to assist. We kind of want to be their superpower that nobody needs to know about. But thinking about an HR person, I mean, they already have so much on their plate. They want it to be streamlined and easy and compliant, and I think that’s really what it’s all about, is making it easier for that person who is trying to put the right people in place in a company. And I feel like they never have enough time and resources or energy, and so if we can do that and maybe save them money at the same time, then I think that’s always a good play. But we do, we integrate with hundreds of different backgrounds or I mean, HRIS and ATSs.
Jeff Randolph:
Probably the one that you’re working with right now.
Jessica Larson:
Exactly, exactly. I think we do already. Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
We already do.
Jessica Larson:
If not, we could probably make that happen.
DeeAnn Myers:
Absolutely.
Jeff Randolph:
I don’t know which applicant tracking system we’re using, but yes, we probably work with it.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes, exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s a good, that covers the bases.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes.
Jessica Larson:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
And when we’re talking about clients, who are the best clients to work with? And I don’t mean by name. Don’t say that, you know, “Gary is the best.” Just by their qualities, who is a great fit for you guys? Who would you keep working with every single day and it’s just a win-win? You guys look like a rock star, they look like a rock star.
Jessica Larson:
Well, we were talking about this on the way here, actually, it’s kind of funny. I would say our client list is very diverse. Very diverse. I mean, if I was to name just a couple of things that they do, in probably our top 20 we’ve got a steel manufacturing company, we have a nudist camp, we have a lot of schools. We recently just signed up a local school district. And just a wide variety. A lot of businesses, a lot of nonprofits, churches, camps, and just a lot of businesses. Manufacturing, cleaning, transportation, a lot of healthcare, in-home healthcare, really-
Jeff Randolph:
Any particular size, like tens of thousands of employees, hundred thousand employees, down to one?
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes.
Jessica Larson:
I mean yeah, the bigger the better. But you could even run a background check on yourself. We have links that we send out to individuals who want to run their own background check now. You can’t run it on someone you’re trying to date.
Jeff Randolph:
Fair, fair.
Jessica Larson:
You have to have permission for that.
Jeff Randolph:
At least there is some kind of safeguard against that. That’s good. That is good to know.
Jessica Larson:
But yes, they can. They can run one on themselves. So really one, two, I don’t know-
DeeAnn Myers:
One to hundreds of thousands.
Jeff Randolph:
One to whatever you’ve got. Got it.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
Perfect. Well, I think that covers the bases.
Jessica Larson:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Why don’t we do this, why don’t we go into the lightning round and let’s find out a little bit more about you guys.
DeeAnn Myers:
Okay, I’m excited.
Jeff Randolph:
See what’s happening. And I’m going to start this out. Let’s see, there are no wrong answers in the lightning round it’s just whatever you’ve got we’re going to talk about, and let’s start with this quiz question. And this is one that I think I’ve seen around on some of your social feeds and things. How many Americans have a criminal record? How many Americans? Like, one in however many. What is that number do you think?
Jessica Larson:
One in three.
DeeAnn Myers:
One in three. Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
One and three. Both of you at the same time.
DeeAnn Myers:
Oh, yeah. We know.
Jeff Randolph:
Nailed it.
DeeAnn Myers:
One on three.
Jeff Randolph:
One in three. And I saw that stat.
DeeAnn Myers:
If you think about that for a minute, there’s three of us in here.
Jeff Randolph:
There’s three of us in here.
DeeAnn Myers:
I mean, one in three. It kind of blows in my mind and I’m in the business.
Jeff Randolph:
Which one of you is it, is the real question for me. Because it’s not, you know.
Jessica Larson:
Well, if it’s none of us, then you go to the next group of three and there’s probably two in there.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, it must, that must be. That has to be it. That has to be it. Yeah, it’s a good thing you guys are out there. Because I don’t know that people really understand the scope of things. That this is important so that you uncover all of the things that need to be uncovered. This is an all-play, so both of you can answer. If you could have more money or more tacos, which would you choose?
Jessica Larson:
Money.
DeeAnn Myers:
Money.
Jessica Larson:
I could buy more tacos.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
I guess that’s fair. That’s fair. DO you have a Desert Island movie? That movie that every single time it comes on, you are going to watch it no matter what. This is the go-to it every single time.
DeeAnn Myers:
I don’t know. “Almost Famous” is one of those for me. I love watching, “Almost Famous.”
Jeff Randolph:
Almost Famous.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah.
Jessica Larson:
I don’t know. It seems like we don’t have the TV on very much in my house.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, really?
Jessica Larson:
I would say weirdly, maybe “Cheaper By the Dozen.” We used to play that at the lake house over and over and over. It would just be on repeat.
DeeAnn Myers:
So it brings back memories too.
Jessica Larson:
So it brings back a lot of memories. So yeah, if I saw that, I would have to just stop and I think everybody in our family knows every line. So, it’s funny.
Jeff Randolph:
And this wasn’t like a held captive kind of situation where it was on and just kept repeating and you were forced to watch it again and again and again.
Jessica Larson:
Right. But we still sit and watch it, even though it’s been playing for the whole weekend. We still stop and just-
Jeff Randolph:
You’re still there.
Jessica Larson:
Yeah. And still watch it.
Jeff Randolph:
That is a Desert Island movie right there.
Jessica Larson:
So yeah, I’ve watched a thousand times and I’d still stop and have to watch that scene or whatever.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, spectacular. Let’s see. DeeAnn, I’m going to go to you for this question. I see a whole lot of inspirational content on your LinkedIn feed. From the Tim Tebow Foundation doing some amazing work, to Caitlin Clark giving motivational speeches, to the story of the founder of Spanx who was like two inches too short to play Goofy at Walt Disney World. All of those things are tremendously motivational. What motivates you personally to get up and do everything that you do all day?
DeeAnn Myers:
Well, interestingly enough, we did have motivational tests done on us.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, really?
DeeAnn Myers:
So I know the top three things that motivate me and her and another part of our leadership team. But making an impact. If I couldn’t make an impact, I don’t know that I could exist. So that’s really what it is. Trying to make an impact on my daughters who live with me and are in high school, one’s in high school. Making an impact in the company. The people that are there, trying to just do something that can inspire and motivate them to be able to continue doing what they do. And make an impact on the community.
Jeff Randolph:
Man, you want to
DeeAnn Myers:
I am highly motivated by impact. She is too. So, we all had impact on ours.
Jessica Larson:
Both of us were like way, number one.
Jeff Randolph:
Everyone had it on there? Did you have something that was higher than impact? What is it that motivates-
Jessica Larson:
Her next one is being an expert. which-
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah. I want to know everything about anything.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, we could hang out. We could definitely hang out. We can-
Jessica Larson:
My second was money.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, that’s good.
Jessica Larson:
Money motivates me.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, first. Well, first.
Jessica Larson:
First is impact.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s make an impact. And then second, can I make a living doing that? Can I actually make a living?
Jessica Larson:
Can I get paid for that? And then when I make some money I can make an impact with that money.
Jeff Randolph:
Good times. Good times.
Jessica Larson:
But, yes.
Jeff Randolph:
Excellent. Let’s see, Jessica. You recently celebrated 11 years at Datasource.
Jessica Larson:
I did.
Jeff Randolph:
That is a third of the time that you guys have been around.
Jessica Larson:
That’s that’s a third of my life almost.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s a third of your life that you’ve used very well. In a post you said, “I’m proud to be part of a team that prioritizes integrity, respect, and accountability. These values have not only shaped my professional life, but have had a positive impact on my personal development.” Can you tell us more about that? Give us a little more insight into those values and the match that you’re seeing there.
Jessica Larson:
I don’t know. I mean, being there for a third of my life, I feel like the people there have just taught me so much. Those three words that you mentioned are our core values. We talk about those very regularly. So I do feel like that it has, I’ve grown up with these words.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Yeah, you would. I mean, you really have.
Jessica Larson:
I use them a lot. I teach those things to my kids and I do feel like it’s changed me.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, man. And again, not a mistake and not a, like a great place to be if you have to go into an office all the time.
Jessica Larson:
Oh yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Great place to be.
Jessica Larson:
I prefer to be in the office. I tried that working from home thing during COVID and-
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah? Not for you? That was not a-
Jessica Larson:
Yeah. No. I love the people I work with and I prefer to be there with them and know what’s going on.
Jeff Randolph:
Man, again, intentional. Very intentional culture, very intentional thing. It’s great to see. Let me throw this out as another all play, because you guys spend some time at trade shows. You are there. You have different ones for the different industries that you’re in. You mentioned the camp ones earlier. Camp trade shows tend to be a little more fun. Not all of them can be fun, but it still gives that sense that, “I’m going to a trade show, I’m working that trade show.” And if you have only experienced the trade show from the attendee side you know that it’s a grind to be at a trade show all weekend or all week or whatever as an attendee. On the exhibitor side, it’s a different animal altogether.
Jessica Larson:
Absolutely.
Jeff Randolph:
Because you got to be there earlier, you have to set up, you have to get up and people all day. Tell us a little bit about how do you get up and be that smiling person that everybody wants to see after being at trade show after trade show? It’s a grind for a lot of us humans, so I’m real curious how you guys get up and be motivated for that.
Jessica Larson:
We love it.
DeeAnn Myers:
WE do.
Jeff Randolph:
You just thrive on it. No kidding.
Jessica Larson:
Yeah.
DeeAnn Myers:
It is. I think it’s a chance for us to be together in a weird way.
Jessica Larson:
It is. We’re leaving on Sunday to go to one where we are the attendees.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, good.
Jessica Larson:
And those are fine. But you’re right, it is a grind. You’re going to sessions and you’re going to talk to vendors and you’re trying to learn new things and just take it all in. The ones where we’re exhibiting, I don’t know. I feel like it’s a breath of fresh air. We get to see face-to-face the clients that we talk to on a daily basis.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, that’s a very good way to look at it.
Jessica Larson:
And then those people will come to our booth and they’re like, “You’ve got to use these guys. They’re amazing.” We just, I don’t know. It’s-
Jeff Randolph:
Affirming.
Jessica Larson:
Yeah.
DeeAnn Myers:
It is. It is so refreshing. And our customers, I mean, they do love us. And rightfully so. I feel like our staff loves them. So yes, it is. It is a grind. We do drink a little more coffee, I think.
Jessica Larson:
Oh, absolutely. Two a day.
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah we’ll come back like, “Ooh, I got a little Starbucks addiction coming.”
Jeff Randolph:
So you have to wean yourself off of the caffeine.
Jessica Larson:
Wean off.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Jessica Larson:
But it is. It’s fantastic and seeing those customers just, and making a difference. You know that you’re helping them. I mean that’s, again, the impact.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re making impact. That’s pretty good.
Jessica Larson:
But seeing them, it is so fun to do that. And it energizes us. It really does.
Jeff Randolph:
Man. I want to have that kind of energy. Maybe all of the places I’ve been doing any kind of trade show, I don’t get that same kind of affirming thing from all of the customers.
DeeAnn Myers:
And we do make the booths really cool. Like camp. I mean, we love camp. Everybody loves camp. We eat s’mores during camp season. I mean, we just immersed ourselves in it. So our booth has grass, have camp, orange camp chairs that kind of-
Jessica Larson:
We got like a turf rug.
Jeff Randolph:
Nice.
Jessica Larson:
And camping chairs and s’mores. We always have good food so people can come in and sit down and just hang out. Yeah, relax.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. I think there’s a real difference between when someone who is there working the trade show has a hand in designing what that booth experience looks like so that it isn’t, you know.
Jessica Larson:
Oh yeah, and she had a firsthand, we both did.
DeeAnn Myers:
But yes, it’s fun to create what you want and to create that environment. And make your vision come to life.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re an inspiration for all of us who have to go to trade shows and go, “Oh man. All right. I’ll keep working on this one. There’s not enough coffee in the world.” Thanks for being there and helping cheer everybody else up. Let me take you out of the lightning round. That was easy. You guys-
DeeAnn Myers:
Super easy.
Jeff Randolph:
Nothing to it.
Jessica Larson:
That was easy, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Were you afraid of some kind of question? Because, let’s go ahead and ask that question now.
Jessica Larson:
I don’t think so.
DeeAnn Myers:
Not anything in particular.
Jeff Randolph:
No? No, no. Why would you ask? Why would you ask? Why don’t you do this for me, why don’t you tell me where can people find you if they need more information if they want sign up, if they want to become a customer, a client, how do they find you?
Jessica Larson:
Our website is datasourcecorp.com, so datasourcecorp.com. And then our phone number is (816) 228-5255.
DeeAnn Myers:
We love to talk to people. Call us, ask us questions. We’ll answer them.
Jeff Randolph:
They’ll answer all your questions.
Jessica Larson:
They usually answer on the second ring. I mean, it’s kind of-
DeeAnn Myers:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, you’ll talk to a person. There’s no recordings.
Jeff Randolph:
Is this a competition? Is it like, “Oh, who’s answering? Go!”
DeeAnn Myers:
Yeah.
Jessica Larson:
It is. I mean-
Jeff Randolph:
Personal service. Great experience.
Jessica Larson:
I do hear that a lot though. Customer service, two people answer at the same time and one of them, they both say, “This is Datasource, how can I help you?” And one of them’s like, “Ah, I didn’t get it. I lost that one.”
Jeff Randolph:
It’s like they lost a radio contest.
Jessica Larson:
Yeah. Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
Outstanding. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you for doing exactly what you do. DeeAnn Myers, the Executive Vice President and Jessica Larson, Director of Operations and Client Care at Datasource Background and Screening. Thanks for being with us today.
Jessica Larson:
Thank you.
DeeAnn Myers:
Thank you so much.
Jeff Randolph:
And that is our show. Thank you to DeeAnn Myers and Jessica Larson at Datasource Background Screening for being with us. And thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave us a five star rating and review, drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.