Service Offer or Sales Harassment?

Service Offering or Sales Harassment?

 

I have received numerous communications from people who receive a lot of calls from individuals within Recruitment Sales. The single biggest complaint I hear from these individuals is that they feel that they are being harassed by people calling selling the services of their Recruitment Company and asking what they can do to stop this from happening.

 

I think before we look at possible solutions to this problem we need to understand the ethos behind these calls and the psychology behind them. After all, whatever problems we seek to resolve, it is unlikely to succeed unless we first understand the problem in its entirety.

 

Recruitment Sales is in no-way different to any other Sales function in any business in any sector. This plays a critical role within any business and without its practice a business of almost any kind will undoubtedly fail very quickly. We do therefore need to understand that those making these calls are crucial to any business and someone within your business will be conducting the same process for your business. However, there are unspoken rules of etiquette in relation to sales ensuring that those within this role conduct themselves with the professional and ethical standards which not deemed or perceived as unbecoming.

 

This said, there are of course a number of difficulties involved in this process. The first hurdle is that there tens of thousands of companies fighting for the business within this sector, secondly over the last 15-years we have seen the elimination of geographical boundary’s within this sector. Over this period we have therefore seen a natural increase in the number of sales calls being received by end-users of the Recruitment Industry which has in turn resulted in a “closed-Shop” attitude towards those making the sales calls.  This can be in the form of using “we have a PSL in place”, all the way through to simply hanging-up when they realise who they are speaking with. The psychology is that by implementing such a policy the calls will stop and the business will be left alone.

 

This in itself has generated a change in attitude by those making these calls or at least by the managers of these teams which adopts a policy of individuals being targeted with making 80+ calls per day to businesses and to never accept “No” as an answer. In fact, I have known some Sales Managers to instruct their staff to “plague the life out of them, until they give in”. This type of policy is seen to be adapted by the frustrated and the desperate by some but this practise is very common within the Recruitment Industry. The psychology is that it is perceived to operate such policies will eventually gain the company new business, but why would they conduct such a risky policy? Perhaps this is more out of frustration because the majority find it almost impossible to actually interact and professionally introduce their company to businesses because they are being cut off or told to post in their information or to send over some prospect CV’s etc.

 

Does this mean that the End User is at fault? Not at all, I believe through a number of factors such as geographical boundaries, the increase in the number of companies, the lack of communication skills, the decline in training, the unwillingness of end users to communicate with them, the number of end users looking to significantly reduce rates without increasing volumes and the lack of Professional Training and Education (academically backed) available to those within the industry will all have an effect and collectively cause the issues which end users find themselves subject to today.

 

So, what can be done and how can this particular problem be resolved in a way which will be robust enough to last? The answer, as I am sure you will appreciate is not a simple one and one which will require input from both the end user and those managing the teams who make these calls. I know some within this field will be sat there shouting “ROT” however I would say to you questioning this, it is better to be considered a Sales Professional than a Sales Harasser! Besides, the figures don’t lie and trust me when I say this is a proven tactical process which brings results.

 

Where the Recruitment Companies are concerned, it is important for them to re-evaluate their sales process and the way in which they conduct their new business calls. To do so will attract new business by adopting a “longer-term strategy” rather than a quick one off win. More than 82% of sales calls conducted through the policies outlined above do not result in repeat business or referred business. Unbelievably but true, the majority of so called sales wins using these types of sales techniques only result in a one placement order. So short lived and rarely repeated.

 

By adopting a more strategic sales policy, this will result in repeat business and increase the number of clients referring your company to others within their network. Sales strategy is not an easy process to put together or least not so when you wish to maximise sales potentials which includes repeat business. Take your time, research your strategy and ensure that you have ensured its robustness for the future. High volume calls will only ever win you short term gains, this is not productive to your business, will demoralise staff, increase attrition and therefore increase recruitment costs and training costs.

 

End users can help protect their business from high call volumes from recruitment sales people simply by adopting a robust recruitment strategy and process and not by ignoring or “fobbing-off” those making the calls. To fob-off these people will only ever increase the time spent dealing with these calls as they will not stop. More and more time will be spent on this and therefore reduce your own productivity levels on YOUR work and/or business. Adopting a policy of implementing a Recruitment Strategy and Process will heavily reduce the number of calls you will have to deal with and increase the effectiveness of those you do use whilst also increasing your own productivity levels because you will have more free time.

 

Designing and implementing a Recruitment Strategy and Process is not necessarily easy or a quick-fix answer and will require an initial time commitment and input but the benefits of doing so will far outreach what you have put in to do so. The Recruitment Strategy should be clear, robust and adoptive to your changing business needs. Design a tender style document which will capture all data from the Recruitment Companies which you need so that it will be easier to identify those which may be of use to you and those which will never be of use to you. Perhaps this may be due to their specialism within the industry or perhaps their inability to provide the additional services which your business needs or requires? Ensure that you are realistic in the rates which you expect your suppliers to work to, after all cheaper is not always better sometimes it is more productive to pay a little more to gain the quality of service?

 

Above all, ensure you give feedback to the company either electronically or physically as to whether you will be or will not be utilising their services. Ensure that you give full and honest feedback including details as to why you will not be utilising their services or that you will be and when this might take place. If you choose to utilise their services always, always ensure that you make time to talk with them in-depth about your business, culture, team fit, typical positions etc. preferably in person or at least over the telephone and in-depth enough for them to know your business and your needs sufficiently so that they can provide you with the professional service you need and deserve. After all, professional service levels will only ever be achieved if you put the time and effort in to ensure that they have the information to meet your expectations.

 

Finally, it is not enough to ensure that the Recruitment Company you deal with are members of a Professional Body such as the Institute Of Recruiters. Many people believe that because a company is a member of a Professional or Trade Body, this is indicative that their staffs are fully trained professionals. This is NOT the case, so please ensure that the INDIVIDUAL Recruiter or Resourser are also members of a Professional Body and are at least completing academically backed training and education programmes. This will help to guarantee the professional level of service which you will receive.