Beyond Recruitment
How the best recruiters are cutting through the BD noise
Your clients don’t value recruitment enough.
This is a problem, because they’re not going to pay a premium for something they don’t value. They’re also less likely to commit their time, so you end up chasing clients who don’t come back to you.
But before all that, it’s a BD problem. If you call a prospect to talk about something they don’t value, the call is over. Same with emails and DMs.
The best recruiters are doing something different
Rather than spending time trying to convince clients that recruitment is valuable, the best recruiters are moving to what their clients value most.
One recruitment leader I worked with recently identified that his core audience were looking to grow and exit their businesses in the next 5 years. We shifted his proposition away from ‘hiring’ to selling ‘growth’. In other words, he stopped offering to solve one (undervalued) piece of the puzzle and started showing his clients how he could lead them towards achieving their overall business goal.
Of course recruitment was still part of the process, but we changed the conversation to focus on what his clients valued most. As you can imagine, this shift opened more doors to C-suite conversations and significantly increased the number of roles he was able to win.
Not all clients value the same thing
The biggest value for that audience was growth, but different types of clients value very different things. Market conditions play a part, but even within a sector you can find different types of clients who are focused on very different goals.
I worked with another recruitment leader who told me her target clients’ biggest challenge was building a culture where employees would stay and grow with the business. We created an offer that focused on ‘retention’ over ‘hiring’, and her clients invited her in to the boardroom to learn more about how her team could help.
Your unique proposition
It’s not just about identifying what your clients value most. You also have to be able to demonstrate why you are the person your clients need to work with.
The recruitment leader selling ‘growth’ had grown a previous business and could share his model for success. The agency selling ‘retention’ had multiple success stories of how they had introduced candidates who had become highly valued long term employees.
Almost every recruitment leader I speak with has something beyond recruitment they are able to offer their clients. And most of the time, this additional offer is something their clients value more than the concept of hiring.
Once you identify what your clients want, and how you are uniquely positioned to offer it to them, then your BD conversations transform from ignorable cold calls to strategic boardroom discussions.
If you want help in uncovering what your audience values most and the best way you can offer it to them, simply reply to this email with BEYOND in the subject and I’ll explain how can help.
Jon
P.S. Moving the conversation to what clients value is also a good approach for winning more retained and exclusive business.
Clients don’t value paying for things up front, and they don’t value relying on a single supplier when they could have more working with them. You can spend your time trying to persuade them otherwise… or you can shift the conversation to what your clients do value.
Once you’ve identified what your clients want, you can create an offer they are excited about. And when you’ve got something they want, you’ll find it much easier to lock in an upfront fee or exclusivity.
If you want help in uncovering what your audience values most and the best way you can offer it to them, simply reply to this email with BEYOND in the subject and I’ll explain how can help.