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CONTENTS
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Article One: Differentiating Yourself From The Competition by Andy Preston Whenever I’m training recruiters, one of the main things they say to me is “Andy, I’m fed up with being seen the same as every other recruiter. I know that we’re different, but the prospects just don’t seem to appreciate it! What can I do about it?”..... If you’re sick of hearing things like “We’re happy with our current agency”, “we get dozens of these calls every day” and “we don’t use agencies” and would prefer to be perceived as different, actually listened to by prospects and given some “airtime” by decision makers, this article is for you. Here are some things you can do right now to be seen as different to your competition…… Andy’s Tip No 1 – If you want to be seen as different, you need to sound different! How on earth do you expect to be seen as different, when you sound like every other recruitment call that person receives? You approach the call the same way (because you probably undertook similar training), you sound the same, and you even ask the same questions. In fact on that note, if any of you are still asking “are you recruiting at the moment?” you deserve everything you get! Think about the opening lines from your calls and ask yourself “is that really the best thing to say to get the decision maker interested and involved in my call?” Or could there be something else I could use instead to get better results? Andy’s Tip No 2 – Actually be interested in the potential clients that you’re calling How much value do you think there is for the decision maker (you are speaking to the person who makes the decision, aren’t you?) in the average recruitment call? That’s right, not much! Is it any wonder that they consider your call an interruption, an irritation and something they want to get rid of as soon as possible? If you show an interest in the person you’re calling (and it needs to be a genuine interest), in how their business strategy can move forwards and how you may be able to add value to that, would that get you considered as different to most other recruiters, do you think? Andy’s Tip No 3 – Stop lying! Now I know we’re recruiters and we’re in sales, so sometimes we might have to “bend the truth” a little. But does outright lying build any credibility with potential clients whatsoever? In fact, one of the most stupid examples I’ve encountered so far, has to be “we spoke 3 months ago” when you blatantly didn’t! At best, they’re thinking “Did we speak then? I’m not sure. I don’t really remember that”. So now they’re confused, not really listening and distant from your conversation. Not really the effect you were looking for, was it? At worst, they’re thinking “No we didn’t. You’re just using that as a pathetic, weasely attempt of trying to gain some rapport, aren’t you?” It’s not big. It’s not clever. Stop doing it. Now I know I’ll get some recruiters saying “Now Andy, I’ve been using that for years and it’s got me some results”. And it probably has. However, just think how much better your results could have been if you’d been more professional and credible…. Andy’s Tip No 4 – Be reliable You know what? Just actually doing what you said you were going to do would differentiate you from most of your competition for a start! I’ve lost count of the calls I’ve listened to where the consultant has agreed to do something, but then never actually does anything about it! If you don’t like the “next action” that results from your call, that’s probably because the prospect defined it, not you (there’s a lesson there as well). The thing is, by not doing it you look even worse than you did before. So do it (because you agreed to it) and learn the lesson for next time. Andy’s Tip No 5 – Progress your calls I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve heard consultants make exactly the same call to the same prospect, over and over again. What kind of impact do you think that has on the decision maker? Imagine them sitting there, right now, listening to the start of your call, that may go something like “Hi Mike, it’s Andy calling from xyz recruitment. We’re the leading provider of …..” Can you imagine the impact that has? Half way through your pitch might they be thinking “Yes, yes, yes I know that already. You called me with that pitch last week, and the week before, and the week before that….” You should be looking at getting towards an outcome from each call, and with each call be moving the prospect closer to becoming a client. If 12 months or 24 months later they’re no closer to being that, what have you actually achieved? Andy’s Tip No 6 – Look after your clients (and your candidates) Whenever I’m talking to successful recruiters and top billers they all seem to agree that good consultants become more successful by looking after their existing clients and their candidates. One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to think “oh I’ve got that client on-board now, I’ll hand over the resourcing of it and most of the client contact and I’ll focus on getting more business in”. No, No No! What kind of impact might that be having on your existing clients? And how might that be affecting their attitude when another recruiter calls them? Another worrying trend over the last year or so is where the consultants treat their candidates like they’re dirt and their only concern is filling their client’s vacancy and earning their fee. Now while these are important, think about the impression the “don’t care” attitude has on the candidate? As the market gets tougher and becomes more “candidate short” over the next year or so, existing candidates should be a great source of repeat or referral business. How many of you have even spoken to your old candidates since you last placed them? My experience would say “not many!” Remember, looking after your existing clients and candidates should be the easy part of your role, leading to enough repeat and referral business to hit your targets. Add to that an element of new business and you’re laughing! Follow the tips above and watch your sales figures and billings soar! I look forward to hearing about how you’ve implemented them and made them work for you!
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Article Two: Carrot Management by James Osborne, Innergy In this article James Osbourne discusses how to get salaries and incentive schemes right. A few years ago while working in the distribution industry, a London based regional competitor went into liquidation on the Friday before a bank holiday weekend. We knew that if we could set up by the Tuesday after the bank holiday and attract their customers we could establish a distribution centre in London - which we didn’t have - far faster that we would have been able to do otherwise. The problem was that this process would normally take months and we had 3 days! Extraordinary performance was required. We planned it in detail, threw bodies at the opportunity and by Tuesday morning we had found a centre, set it up and engaged enough people - call centre and operations - to enable us to have crack at picking up the customer base from the competitor. We didn’t sleep much and we had to be innovative to say the least in order to make it happen, but we delivered. Many of us have experienced highly pressured experiences at work, such as the example above, where we have achieved more than we would have thought possible. But how do we create an environment where performance is sustained and individuals deliver, and what part do salary and incentive schemes play? Before sharing our thoughts, ask yourself the following 2 questions: • At what time in your career were you performing at your very best? Whenever we ask these questions of individuals and teams, we continuously hear the following answers:
• “There was clear leadership and direction” Not once when we have asked these questions has anyone mentioned their salary or an incentive scheme being behind their performance. That said, we know we have to get pay and incentive schemes right, if we are to make sure they don’t have a negative impact on motivation and therefore performance. So here are some thoughts on how to avoid the pitfalls and make the remuneration package work for the individual and for the organisation: Salaries Salaries won’t stimulate extraordinary performance but they can demotivate. If your people are undervalued in comparison to their colleagues and the market place, you are at risk. So: • Be aware of what market value is for the various roles. Incentive schemes How much money is spent on incentive schemes that don’t deliver? Every bit of money spent on employees should be viewed as an investment and you need to be clear on the return that you are getting. Here are my top tips for getting it right: • Link incentives with performance and results in the areas that matter to your business (if service is important, and your only incentive is sales revenue, service will suffer) Incentive schemes and salaries don’t deliver the extraordinary performance that we know we can all achieve, but they can focus the team and contribute to results being achieved. Make sure your carrots are working! James Osborne is the director of the award-winning training and consultancy organisation, Innergy, who have worked with over 300 recruitment companies in the past 18 months, enabling them to increase their productivity, improve their performance and embrace positive change.
http://www.innergy-uk.com |
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Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk
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