CONTENTS

• Survey Results (Corporate Gifts)
• Article One (Looking After your Clients – Don’t Fall Asleep at the Wheel! by Simon Bennett)
• Article Two (Building a Great Permanent Desk by Gaynor Lowndes)
• Don't Miss This (Discount on Lander Headhunting Course - HR Business Directors Summit - Press Release: Home Office’s decision on Bulgarian and Romanian workers)
• Discussion Board Summary
• Online Recruitment Update (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites - Blog Watch - Louise's UK Recruiter Blog - Press Release: JobsInSearch.com Celebrates Second Birthday)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

Survey Results

Last week we ran a mini survey asking you some questions about corporate gift giving. Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond. The results show:

• 60% of respondents gave at least one corporate gift last year and the same amount intend to give one this year.  

• The plans for this year are 30% of the gifts will be logo'd merchandise (pens, mouse mats, etc), 24% will be wine or champagne, 11% will be chocolates, another 11% will be a hamper and just 5% of gifts will be a donation to charity. The rest will be either vouchers or other gifts such as lunch, a weekend spa break or something chosen because of it's relevance to the client. 

• 57% of respondents will spend a maximum of £10 per person with a further 28% spending between £10 and £50. The other 15% plan to spend over £50 per person. 

• 52% of respondents received a corporate gift last year. Of those who received a gift 61% said it had made them feel more positively about the person or company who gave it to them. However, 29% said it hadn't made them feel any more positively. 

• We asked what the best corporate gift you had been given was and the responses included being bought lunch, wines, Christmas hamper, return flights to the US and a trip to watch motor racing in Milan! 

These results show that you give more than you receive and that you shouldn't expect every gift to warm the heart of your client. Mind you, we don't know what those respondents who weren't positively swayed by the gift were actually given. A logo'd bic isn't going to have the same effect as a slap up lunch or an M&S hamper!

My favourites will be back next week.  Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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Article One: Looking after your clients – don’t fall Asleep at the Wheel! by Simon Bennett

When it comes to ‘good excuses’, I guess that those used by car drivers claiming on their insurance are hard to beat!

"I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."

I read a news item last week about a consultancy firm ‘somewhere in England’ (I’m not naming names!). The partners had announced that, after 15 years of operating, they were reluctantly closing the business because they were unable to replenish their ‘dwindling client base’.

It made me wonder how, after all that time serving hundreds of clients, they lost the ability to generate business activity? Maybe a huge international firm opened up in the same area – or maybe something happened to irretrievably damage their reputation – or maybe nobody needed their type of expertise any more?

I can’t tell you what did happen – but I’m willing to hazard a guess. Someone ‘fell asleep at the wheel’ and took their eye off their existing relationships.

Let’s be honest here. As a recruitment consultant, you probably don’t have a secret formula which puts you way out in front of your competitors. The chances are that most of what you do can be copied (or even improved upon) by rival firms – probably overnight. What can’t be copied overnight are the relationships you have with your existing clients.

Your existing relationships and your expertise are your two most valuable assets – and you need to invest time, effort (and money) into both. One without the other will inevitably result in a ‘dwindling client base’ – so here are a few suggestions:

• Be as determined and systematic in developing relationships as you are with ‘Continuing Professional Development’. Enhancing your professional skills and knowledge is not something you leave to ‘random chance’ – so be just as proactive and methodical when it comes to improving your relationships.

• Identify all of the ways you can ‘stay connected’ (email, phone, letters, hand-written notes, face-to-face meetings); then evaluate the effort and expense of each compared to the potential contribution to your business. Don’t simply do this in general terms – do it for every single client.

• You know how you ‘go the extra mile’ when you’re trying to win new business? Work out what it is you do best when building relationships with potential clients – then make sure you do at least as much for your existing ones. If you spend more time and effort looking for strangers than looking after your friends, you’re probably heading for trouble.

• Take an objective look (that means from a client’s perspective) at your ‘touch points’ – i.e. every possible point of contact between your firm and those people you already deal with. Your reception, your email newsletter, website, invoices, marketing material, invitations to events – they should all present a clear, consistent welcoming face to your existing contacts. 

Make your relationships personal!

People buy from people. People buy from people they like. So – give people the chance to get to like you! Recognise that, however good you are at delivering the ‘ideal candidate’, ‘mere delivery’ will not create a great relationship.

Relationships are not so different to newsletters. ‘Good’ email newsletters deliver a little bit of your expertise every month; ‘great’ email newsletters deliver a little bit of you as well! 

Just like Louise, I publish a regular email newsletter - helping people to win new business and new clients through ‘relationship marketing’. It’s not that I address my readers by name that makes it personal – it’s the fact that I give them the chance to see what makes me ‘tick’. 

Here’s the bottom line. Most people who publish a monthly email newsletter recognise that, in terms of the things you can do to ‘grow your business’, it’s just about the most cost and time effective activity there is.

Great relationships – just like great newsletters – don’t happen overnight and don’t happen by chance. Plan to start or renew both today – and make sure you’re not guilty of ‘falling asleep at the wheel’!

As a ‘relationship marketing’ consultant, Simon Bennett is the founder of enewsletters4 – which helps companies increase sales through building better relationships and which designs and publishes email newsletters for its clients. He welcomes feedback on info@enewsletters4.co.uk or 01509 670612.© Simon Bennett 2006

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Article Two: Building a Great Permanent Desk by Gaynor Lowndes

Many times over the past few years I have been asked “what is the secret to building a great permanent desk?”. In this article I will share with you some of the things I have learned about running a high revenue perm desk from both my own personal experience as well as from those that I have met during the past five years running The Recruitment Training Company. In a future issue I will share the secrets behind running a high revenue temporary desk.

1. Big perm billers measure their statistics. The old adage of you can’t fix what you can’t measure stands true. My belief is and always has been that key performance indicators are in place to help me be successful. If you don’t complete KPI reports for your manager, then create your own. You should be tracking the following:

• Dials: Connects if you are getting a low success rate here you probably need to address your skills at getting past the gatekeeper or revisit your prospect list to ascertain if the account is really worth your time chasing.

• Connects: Visits if you are getting through to the decision maker but not getting a visit, then you need to review your call structure, how you overcome objections and how you close.

• Visits: If you are getting quality visits but not converting them to opportunities then you need to look at your visit structure and also review how you close – do you ask for the business?

• Jobs on: placements how many jobs are you managing at any one time – could you use your time more effectively? What is the point of listing 30 perm contingent roles if you are only filling 6 or 7? Big Billers only list roles that they know they can fill quickly.

Ever had a month when you have felt that you have worked really hard, but it’s not reflected in your placements? It’s probably because part of the process has fallen down. By measuring your statistics, you will know exactly where your time is going, and if you are getting the result that you should based on where you are spending your time. Measure yourself against yourself, not someone else as the latter will cause you much stress.

I recently had the pleasure of spending a day with a high billing consultant who had hit a brick wall. She couldn’t work out why she was working so hard for less. She was working contingently, but had 5 “gold” clients who always called her first. She has contacts throughout the market that she works within and had jobs listed from many first time users. Her reputation was such that it had been fairly easy to get candidates and she filled jobs very quickly as she understood her market and her client needs. This had all changed when the candidate flow dried up. I felt that she should move two of her gold contingent clients to retained clients and then decide who she didn’t want to work with and headhunt from them to fill the retained roles. She didn’t feel comfortable doing this because she felt that her clients would not use her exclusively as they had been successfully getting quality candidates by working contingently. We then looked at identifying where she could headhunt from. The outcome of the day was that she learned some proven headhunting techniques and had also identified how she can increase her billings whilst not moving too far outside her comfort zone. She now spends 20% of her day making headhunting calls to quality candidates that she knows she can place.

2. Big perm billers work on more retained than contingent roles. If you read my last article, you will know that I am an advocate of working retained in the current market. If you would like to read click here 

3. Big perm billers are expert time managers. Understanding the opportunity cost theory is essential to being a big perm biller. If you are undertaking an activity, it is at the cost of undertaking something else because you can’t do two things at the same time. So, if you are spending your time canvassing for new business, it’s at the cost of interviewing, taking reference checks etc. Therefore, big billers make sure they get a result from everything they do. Focus on the urgent and important tasks first, then the important/non urgent and so on. Read Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, for more information on the four quadrant model.

4. Big Perm billers believe their own story! Having a strong self belief is essential to being successful. If you don’t believe your own story with all your heart, then it will be pretty difficult to convince your clients and candidates to believe it. You must believe that you are worth every cent that you charge and that working retained is better than working contingently for everyone involved.

5. Big perm billers stay ahead of the market and know their competition. In times of economic boom (like now) we work differently to how we would work during an economic slowdown or recession. You should now be safeguarding your client base ready for the slowdown in 2007. Knowledge is power in our industry – keep your friends close but your enemies closer! Know exactly what your competitors are offering your clients, how often they are canvassing your clients and who in particular is making the approach. Ask your clients and candidates for information on your competitors but remember never bad mouth your competitors to anyone.

Building a high billing desk is about gaining the skills and knowledge required to be successful and then implementing what you have learned. Watch successful consultants within your office, read books, listen to CD’s and attend any training session that you can. Take on board the points mentioned above and you will be well on the road to becoming a big billing permanent consultant.

Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company, has over 18 years recruitment experience, gained in both Australia and the UK. If you liked this article, consider Gaynor’s highly successful book “The Art of Recruitment”. Visit www.trtc.com.au to place your order.

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Don't Miss This

Discount on Lander Headhunting Course
Lander Associates are offering ukrecruiter subscribers an exclusive rate for their superb headhunting course on 23rd November. Normally costing £345.00 per person, ukrecruiter subscribers can book for just £295 per person. Call now as places are limited on 01582 791838 or email emma@landerassociates.co.uk quoting reference: ukrec

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Press Release: Concern about Home Office’s decision on Bulgarian and Romanian workers
The REC has expressed concern about the Home Office’s announcement on Bulgarian and Romanian workers. Marcia Roberts, Chief Executive of the REC said: “The opening of our labour markets to the countries of central and eastern Europe has been extremely beneficial to the UK economy. Our monthly survey Report on Jobs reveals that the demand for workers in sectors such as construction and HGV driving persist so it is a shame that the Home Office has opted for a fudge when it comes to workers from Romania and Bulgaria.  Citizens of these countries will be able to travel freely to the UK and we fear that if they are not allowed to work legally, they may fall prey to illegal operations. Unfortunately today’s decision makes it more complicated to recruit from these countries and will lead to greater confusion for recruitment agencies who have to check eligibility to work.” The REC pledge to continue to press the Home Office to enforce its immigration rules effectively. 

Discussion Board Summary

Don't forget to visit The Discussion Board. Current topics on the site include:

• Reed Website - free job postings - there was lots of discussion on this last week and it looks set to continue 

• Discussion also continues on Age Discimination in Advertising and the old favourites of Software and website for one man band and Recruitment Databases

• Is anyone Using Skype and can they offer some advice?

Any postings you or anyone else makes will be included in the weekly digest. Sign up for the free digest here or hit reply to ask me to include your email address

It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to register to view messages. Visit the site; ask questions and share your knowledge

Online Recruitment Update (sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk for "the UK's favourite job posting system")

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 21st October 2006
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.monster.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, jobs.tes.co.uk, www.eteach.com, www.jobsgopublic.com and my.monster.co.uk. Hitwise don't aggregate data from sites who form part of a network such as fish4.co.uk For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Blog Watch
Tim Elkington announced the players in NORAS 2007 at the end of last week and yesterday he blogged about possible controls on sites like YouTube.com in the UK.  You can read his blog here.  Stephen Fowler has had a busy week talking about video blogging, Jajah (an alternative to Skype) and blog job boards on his blog.  From the US Jim Stoud has had another prolific week of blogging.  I find nearly all his posts really interesting and useful but there is one particular one about the UK market.  He talks about Robert Walters banning certain words from job descriptions here.

Louise's UK Recruiter blog
In the past week I've talked about Shally Steckerl's LinkedIn Cheatsheet and a new website called Vacancy Informer.  You can read "Louise's UK Recruiter blog" at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com 

Press Release: JobsInSearch.com Celebrates Second Birthday
"www.JobsInSearch.com celebrates its second birthday this week having launched two years ago as the first specialist international job site covering Search Engine Marketing related jobs and careers. Since the launch in October 2004 the site has featured job vacancies with leading Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms in both the UK and North America and featured interviews with Industry leaders."

This section is sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk; "the UK's favourite job posting system".

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Copyright (c) 2006, UK Recruiter Ltd