Did you know that every great recruiter is a great salesperson, but not every great salesperson is a recruiter? To be a recruiter, you’re constantly selling. You’re selling yourself as a recruiter to candidates and clients alike. You’re also trying to sell your top candidates and their skill sets to your clients and as well as trying to sell your clients to your top candidates.
Listen
Every great salesperson knows that listening is the best way to make a sale. Recruiters are in a unique position since they have so many entities they have to continuously be selling to and each one has its own unique challenges. The most important thing to solve all of these challenges is to simply listen. Listen to what problems your prospective client (or candidate) is facing and sell them on the solution – you! Did you know that 24% of HR organizations said that staffing was a key challenge for them in 2020? As a recruiter, you can offer lots of advice, expertise, and even solutions to this problem.
Building Trust
Building trust is an important sales tactic that recruiters can utilize. In order to provide top talent to your clients to fill their open reqs, you first need to gain the trust of the client. They have to trust that you have their best interests in mind, that you really understand the role, and know exactly the type of candidate they are looking for. They trust you to remain in constant communication with feedback between all parties involved and for you to represent them in a positive light.
On the other hand, you have to gain the trust of prospective candidates. Your prospective candidates need to trust that you know them and their skill sets well and you know what role and organization they would thrive in. You also have to have the trust of consultants who are contracts. They need to trust you that you will be actively seeking a new opportunity for them when their current contract is up. There are millions of recruiters and for you to represent top talent, you need to have their trust.
Transparency and Honesty
The best salespeople don’t try to “pull one over” or use slimy gimmicks or bait-and-switch tactics. Instead, they are completely honest and transparent – even if that may mean losing the sale. As a recruiter, it is vitally important for you to be transparent and honest in all communications between all parties involved. For example, if the client said the pay range is set in stone and there’s no room for further negotiation, you can’t tell the candidate that you will get them a $5 per hour increase just so they agree to have you present them. Not only is that being anything but honest and transparent, but it also doesn’t help with building trust.
Never Stop Following Up – Ever!
The lack of follow up kills sales instantly. Always be sure to follow up with clients and candidates. Even if you don’t have any news, send them a quick email to let them know that you don’t have any feedback as of yet, but as soon as you do, you will let them know. This reassures the client/candidate that they are still near the top of your mind.
Customize Your Pitch
All great salespeople know that you can’t use the same pitch twice. That is the same for recruiting. You need to know your clients inside and out to provide the best pitch to candidates – what is their culture like? What is the hiring manager’s leadership style? What challenges is the organization facing? Conversely, why is your candidate seeking a new role? What challenges are they looking to solve? What expertise do they bring to your client? These are all good questions to ask before making your pitch to either party.
Be Human
The most important aspect of recruiting and any HR process is being human (human resources) also happens to be the most important part of the sales process. Have real conversations – don’t rely on automated emails. Consider how you would want to be treated if you were on the other side of the sale. If you make a mistake, own it quickly. Try to relate to candidates and clients on a personal, human level – it will help to build trust and accelerate the sales process.
Can We Help You?
We would love to chat with you to see if we can be of any help to you – we promise to listen, be human, be honest and transparent, as well as communicate effectively. Contact us today.
