Your supercharged walk-away strategy

Warning: not for the faint-hearted

You can only have a serious negotiation when you’re willing to walk away from the deal.

Once you’ve got the hang of walking away from bad business, here’s a strategy that will supercharge your walk-aways and position yourself on a higher level to your competition.

In order to elevate yourself to this level, you’re going to do something that a lot of recruiters will find shocking.

Are you sitting down? 

Here it is:

Recommend that your client works with your competitor.

Now I’m aware this isn’t a strategy that is taught in the big agencies. After all, the important thing is the number of roles you have on the board, right?

And you may be thinking it would be commercial suicide to send potential business to your competitors.

But if you’re serious about positioning yourself as the go-to expert in your niche, this can be the power move that gets you the best roles and the highest fees.

Think of it this way: if you went to a Porsche showroom and you asked if they had a cheap family hatchback with good fuel economy, you’d be surprised if they tried to win you over.

The answer you’ll get in that situation is, ‘We sell Porsches. You might want to try the Ford garage down the road.’

Similarly, if a client expects you to do a fairly transactional piece of recruitment for an average fee then the best way of showing your value is to explain that you don’t do that kind of recruitment. 

Follow that up by suggesting they talk to another recruitment agency and you’ve instantly proven that you are different to the rest.

Now clients often think that all recruiters are the same. In fact, a decent number of recruiters believe that too [face palm emoji].

By recommending a competitor, you explode this myth. Why would you recommend another recruiter if they do the same thing you do? 

You must be different. And a certain type of client (the type you want to work with) will begin asking you why you said that, and what you do that’s so different.

This is where you can explain that transactional recruitment doesn’t get the best results, that the best recruiters don’t work at the same rates as everyone else, and talk about the added value you create as the expert in your niche.

Of course you’ve tried to explain this before to clients. The difference this time is that the client is asking you to tell them why you’re so good. And they’re listening!

Yes, some clients will take your advice and talk to that other recruiter. They’ll demand low fees and treat the recruiter pretty badly. Their loss, your gain. 

You’ll be left with clients who want a higher calibre recruiter to partner with them, to support them as they grow their business. And they’ll be willing to pay fees that reflect that.

If you’re looking to stand out from the competition and win the right kind of clients, simply reply to this email and I’ll talk you through the next steps.

Jon

P.S. Now that your client is asking you why you’re so good, you’d better have a good answer. 

The more I work with recruitment leaders, the more confident I am that every agency has their own USP. You just have to know where to look.

If you’re looking to stand out from the competition and win the right kind of clients, simply reply to this email and I’ll talk you through the next steps.