Research
Before taking the time and going to the expense of visiting prospective customers, you need to establish certain details that would confirm that they are indeed prospective customers. Using the 180 (or more, or less, depending on your product, targets, and customer need) names of companies you have identified, draft a short questionnaire you will use in an initial telephone contact call to obtain the following information:-
- Their product and how long they’ve been in business
- Number of staff employed
- Preferred method of employment of staff
- Important contact names (attached to positions held) – and receptionist’s name! You need the receptionist to become an ‘ally’ as many managers want their calls screened.
If the company appears to be a prospective customer, then you use the contact names you have already established and make an appointment with the most senior or most likely contact, i.e. the person responsible for recruitment.
Initial Contact
To make the appointment, always do the following:
- Set a clear objective for the call - i.e. to make an appointment, to introduce yourself and your company, to gain information, etc.
- Say where you are from and why you are calling.
- ALWAYS have questions prepared
- ONLY be interested in the customer at this stage.
Know that you will encounter NEGATIVITY. No one is ‘waiting’ for your telephone call! You are interrupting their day! Be patient. Make sure that your interest is truly in the customer’s need and make that clear. Reaffirm your interest and ask for an appointment
Sunday
Monday
Identifying prospective customers
Identifying Prospective Customers
Before you can sell anything you have to understand 2 things:
- what you are selling
- and why a customer needs it, i.e. why a customer will buy your product.
Define your product. In the Labour Recruitment Market, recruitment consultants sell the following:-
- SKILLS in the temporary and labour outsource contract business
- STAFF in the permanent placement division
- CONSULTING in the staff development, industrial relations and training
Labour Recruitment is a service to customers because of the following factors:-
- Customers can concentrate on their core business and not waste time on recruitment
- Recruitment is conducted by trained personnel using professional selection methods
- Customers are able to access skills without the added cost of carrying permanent staff which necessarily carry hidden costs
- Customers have access to the best person for the job, and not only the best of a small selection (own advert)
Once you have defined your product, then you can begin to identify WHO in the market will need your product / service.
To identify who will need/use your product, you first have to look at the corporate and industrial companies operating in your area, and then make a subjective judgement call on who could need what you have to offer. The actual list of prospective customers is drafted from a combination of the following activities:-
- Use a local business directory
- Use the Yellow Pages following industry type
- Conduct a Visual Survey (a physical look) throughout all local business blocks, and look around local corporate and industrial areas recording what names of companies you see and which of them appear to be likely prospects.
- Search the Internet to identify companies within your area, specific area of expertise and to obtain their background and product range from their website.
Target yourself to identify a set number i.e. 180 names of prospective companies.
Log on next week for more. In the meantime here is an activity to get you started.
ACTIVITY
1. Describe a particular corporate or industrial target market i.e. who needs the product you are selling?
2 Identify 180 prospective customers using all resources available and compile a client list. Select the customers according to your preferred specialist or generalist ‘desk’.
Introduction
Greetings fellow recruiters. You are in an awesome industry. Worldwide, the only industries that are consistently showing growth is in services. The trend to outsource non-core functions will continue as companies are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of focusing on their core business.
The recruitment industry brings with it another major growth opportunity. The opportunity to grow yourself! Human interaction and the sheer fact that you are matching talent with opportunity requires that you look beyond just the job specification. A deep understanding of the individuals attitude, motivating factors and ability to deal with adversity, for example, are just some of the aspects of the human self that needs to be explored. The organizations culture, leadership styles, methods of rewarding people and stimulating projects on hand become non-negotiables in determining who you send forward for the interview.
Only if you can understand yourself can you understand others. It is through this interaction with both candidates and clients that you learn to take a look inside yourself , identify your core values and with compassion and a deeper understanding you move to make the decision of who will be the right fit for the company.
Compassion is the key element to understanding. The opposite would be judgement. Yes, we do need to assess a candidates competencies and the clients needs, but we do not need to judge. If we judge, we generally have closed the door on potential. If we assess, we open the door for further exploration on living to one’s further potential and ultimately purpose in life.
Remember, people come to you, from all walks of life, sharing their experiences, good or bad. They place their trust in your hands. They look to you as a professional who can assist them in not only finding a job, but in finding an opportunity that allows them to grow and be stimulated. More and more the reward does not necessarily lie only in the amount of money they receive at the end of the month , but also in recognition, projects, fellow employees, further training and career advancement.
This blog is to help the new recruiter to become a professional in the recruitment industry and should be viewed as a toolbox for success. The checklists serve as guidelines in the recruitment process. Too often experienced recruiters take short-cuts and wonder why their perfect candidate quits the job after only a few months or why the client is dissatisfied with the performance of the individual. In a production environment short-cuts spell disastrous results in quality of product. In a human resource environment, short-cuts affects the lives of others and their families and can have serious repercussions. Can you afford not to be a professional?
It has been said that every individual should have had 12 mentors in their lives. Mentors are individuals that are either assigned to us, enter our lives by divine intervention or people we approach to assist us in our careers and personal development. They could be mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues, leaders etc. Don’t be afraid to approach people and ask them to be a mentor. Most will be honored to serve in this role. There is enormous knowledge and experience present in these individuals. I like to refer to it as “oldie power”! I would like to thank my mentors. They know who they are. It is they that released within me the energy to propel myself to great heights.
The blog is aligned to unit standards in the National Certificate Labour Recruitment Consultant NQF4. Any information over and above the minimum standards are the collection of knowledge and experience that I have gained during my years of recruiting. The assignments are voluntary. Should you wish to do them, build yourself a Portfolio of Evidence and have them assessed by an accredited assessor in the Labour Recruitment industry. It could gain you credits towards obtaining the National Certificate.
You will be getting weekly chunks of learning. Every Monday a new lesson will be posted and last post will be your check list.
Lastly, I would like to add the wise words of Socrates:
“I cannot teach anybody anything,I can only make them think.”
The recruitment industry brings with it another major growth opportunity. The opportunity to grow yourself! Human interaction and the sheer fact that you are matching talent with opportunity requires that you look beyond just the job specification. A deep understanding of the individuals attitude, motivating factors and ability to deal with adversity, for example, are just some of the aspects of the human self that needs to be explored. The organizations culture, leadership styles, methods of rewarding people and stimulating projects on hand become non-negotiables in determining who you send forward for the interview.
Only if you can understand yourself can you understand others. It is through this interaction with both candidates and clients that you learn to take a look inside yourself , identify your core values and with compassion and a deeper understanding you move to make the decision of who will be the right fit for the company.
Compassion is the key element to understanding. The opposite would be judgement. Yes, we do need to assess a candidates competencies and the clients needs, but we do not need to judge. If we judge, we generally have closed the door on potential. If we assess, we open the door for further exploration on living to one’s further potential and ultimately purpose in life.
Remember, people come to you, from all walks of life, sharing their experiences, good or bad. They place their trust in your hands. They look to you as a professional who can assist them in not only finding a job, but in finding an opportunity that allows them to grow and be stimulated. More and more the reward does not necessarily lie only in the amount of money they receive at the end of the month , but also in recognition, projects, fellow employees, further training and career advancement.
This blog is to help the new recruiter to become a professional in the recruitment industry and should be viewed as a toolbox for success. The checklists serve as guidelines in the recruitment process. Too often experienced recruiters take short-cuts and wonder why their perfect candidate quits the job after only a few months or why the client is dissatisfied with the performance of the individual. In a production environment short-cuts spell disastrous results in quality of product. In a human resource environment, short-cuts affects the lives of others and their families and can have serious repercussions. Can you afford not to be a professional?
It has been said that every individual should have had 12 mentors in their lives. Mentors are individuals that are either assigned to us, enter our lives by divine intervention or people we approach to assist us in our careers and personal development. They could be mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues, leaders etc. Don’t be afraid to approach people and ask them to be a mentor. Most will be honored to serve in this role. There is enormous knowledge and experience present in these individuals. I like to refer to it as “oldie power”! I would like to thank my mentors. They know who they are. It is they that released within me the energy to propel myself to great heights.
The blog is aligned to unit standards in the National Certificate Labour Recruitment Consultant NQF4. Any information over and above the minimum standards are the collection of knowledge and experience that I have gained during my years of recruiting. The assignments are voluntary. Should you wish to do them, build yourself a Portfolio of Evidence and have them assessed by an accredited assessor in the Labour Recruitment industry. It could gain you credits towards obtaining the National Certificate.
You will be getting weekly chunks of learning. Every Monday a new lesson will be posted and last post will be your check list.
Lastly, I would like to add the wise words of Socrates:
“I cannot teach anybody anything,I can only make them think.”
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