Barbara Bruno
on Nov. 2, 2011
Dear Barb:
For the past sixty days I’ve been using the voicemails that you suggested leaving for both marketing and recruiting presentations. It does work to get clients to call me back. In fact, I now have an 80% call back percentage. However, one of my prospects, a VP of HR, was upset when she realized I was a recruiter. She insisted on knowing the reason for my call and who referred her to me. How do I overcome this type of reaction?
Jill F., Springfield, IL
Jon Bartos
on Oct. 24, 2011
Welcome to the last installment of The Art of Marketing and Business Development series. Last week, we discussed the first five business development scripts that are working today:
This article continues with highlighting the additional five marketing scripts, 6-1 0. Keep in mind: different selling situations will call for different scripts. As a recruiter, it is important to have as many options (clubs) in your recruiting bag as possible. Master them all, so you will be prepared for any selling situation and have the ability to pull them out when that shot is needed. Don’t forget, the goal is to achieve a large quantity of job orders coming in so you have the ability to continually ‘top grade’ the work you have on your desk. Until you get a large number of “A” search assignments (job orders), keep marketing every day. That’s right – every day.
Jon Bartos
on Oct. 20, 2011
Earlier this week, I shared with you three key principles to establishing a strong marketing foundation. Of course, it all starts with obtaining high quality searches.
After that though, you need to know how to have an appropriate conversation with potential new clients, and the best way to do this is by having a pre-written script to help you. Today, I bring you the first 5 of the top 10 marketing approaches that rock the recruiting world today.
Jon Bartos
on Oct. 17, 2011
Finding the perfect candidate for an open search assignment is an exciting moment in any recruiter’s day and contributes significantly to the overall success of achieving their goals. More important than fulfillment, however, is the role that business development plays in the process. Effective marketing is the biggest factor in any recruiter’s success.
There are three key principles to establishing a strong marketing foundation. It all starts with obtaining high quality searches. The better the search you have to recruit on, the more placements you will make. Period. Most of us agree with this concept, however practicing it seems to have become a lost art. Time is money and you want to make sure you are spending your time on searches that will result in placements. Ask yourself about the searches you are currently working on – are you guaranteed a placement if you find the person you are looking for? Resources are too valuable today to be risked on uncertainty. A good search means that “if” you find the right candidate, your client will hire them — no maybes and no excuses.
Lee B. Salz
on Oct. 13, 2011
The sales team is the primary revenue source for most businesses. However, this revenue is not without significant cost. If not carefully managed, this revenue source can easily become a money pit. There are five areas business executives should watch to ensure they make a wise investment in their sales team.
Bob Marshall
on Sep. 16, 2011
This time the phone rang after hours. Lucky for me I was working late and answered the call. It was from one of my favorite students. She was having problems navigating this sluggish economy. She complained that she hardly ever wrote a ‘recruitable’ Job Order anymore and that her main problem was once she had a great JO, she was unable to recruit anyone for it. She was stuck!
We talked about recruiting for a while and it was obvious to me that she had a knowledge deficiency that was leading to an execution deficiency. Yes, she was indeed stuck. The bottom-line was that she had forgotten how to do the “recruiting” part of our business. And so, I began at the beginning…
Jeremy Snell
on Aug. 15, 2011
…only without strategy!
There is a common mistake that I see repeated across the recruitment and staffing industry. From a development and training perspective over 80% of the recruiters I encounter are seeking to develop their sales skills: opening techniques, killer questions, Jedi-like influence skills, and robust closing skills. Each of these is a potentially valid training need. Each an area that I know I can help them to develop, although for some it is a case of putting the cart before the horse.
Let me explain further. Becoming a ‘great’ sales practitioner is clearly the goal of every sales person. Developing the techniques to win more clients is undoubtedly an important focus area for a self-sufficient recruiter. What benefit is there to develop such skills if you are pointing in the wrong direction? Developing the salesmanship of the individual alone is not going to generate more business.
Terry Petra
on Jul. 7, 2011
By definition, a tie down question is one that requires a response that clarifies (ties down) the position of the one answering the question. Asking the right tie down questions at each step of the search and placement process is one of the earmarks of a top producer.
The two primary benefits of asking tie down questions are:
In the jargon of sales training, tie down questions are also referred to as closing questions. In our business, we need to be asking tie down questions (closing questions) at every step of our process. At no point is this more critical than when we begin our process with a client. In fact, many recruiters who fail to ask the proper tie down questions at that time eventually discover they are trying to work with a client who really has little or no desire to work with them. This represents an almost perfect definition of a waste of time.
Therefore, here are three examples of tie down questions that can be asked at the outset of your discussions with a client if you have any doubt whatsoever about their willingness to work with you. These examples are simple in their wording but leave no room for ambiguity in their answers.
Steve Spalding
on May 16, 2011
Other than writing pithy blog posts and tweeting, a big part of what I do to pay the rent is consult. Over the years I’ve become a lot better at it and have, through trial an error, gathered a few nuggets of wisdom that have helped me become not quite as awful at my job. The following is part of my Living in the 21st Century series, this time dedicated to shedding a little light on how consultants can fail. At one time or another I’ve done (or seen) most of these things, which is why it gives me such great joy to shine a spotlight on them.
A recruiting colleague recently suggested that many of the following items apply directly to recruiters as well as consultants, specifically in the area of business development, and that I should adapt this list as a cautionary note for recruiters, and particularly for the business owners who manage them.
Terry Petra
on May 11, 2011
image source: Dafne Choet
Several of our recent articles have focused on the “process” we execute in serving our clients, particularly how to establish an effective and efficient process, one that will deliver qualified and interested candidates within a reasonable time frame.
In theory, we all would agree that moving forward in a timely fashion with a proper sense of urgency is critical to gaining a successful outcome — i.e. making the placement. Furthermore, most of our clients would also agree with this theory. The major exception to this would be the client (term loosely applied) who really is not that interested in having you fill the position as they plan to do everything possible to fill it on their own without paying a fee. In these instances you need to ask yourself whether or not you should even accept the search/order since your efforts never will be fully aligned with those of your client.
Never try to work with a client who does not want to work with you.
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