In business, as in everyday life, people are more likely to respond to communication from those they know and trust. For recruiters aiming to engage with new prospects and build their business in a competitive environment, social media platforms are opening up new possibilities in the way they initiate these relationships and new business opportunities. Known as “Social selling”, these are techniques which enable you to get to know your potential new customers – even before you pick up the phone – and target the right information, at the right time, to help grow your business’s profile. This is a guest post for us by Peter Connell of CallPro CRM talking about building better business opportunities through social selling .
Here we’ll outline the benefits for recruiters in engaging with customers across different platforms as well as key tips in building business using these techniques. From finding and qualifying leads to delivering the right information at the right time and, ultimately, turning leads into business relationships.
The ground rules
To build new business recruiters need to be ready to engage with prospects on a multitude of platforms – from LinkedIn to Google+, from email to their own company website. With 347 million global LinkedIn users and 288 million on Twitter there’s a vast sea of potential customers using social media just waiting to be found.
It also means you can build a real understanding of the individual or organisation with whom you’re looking to engage. You’ll be equipped with information on a specific subject matter, such as whether the organisation is undertaking a new round of recruitment, re-locating, expanding or promoting internally or if there are any changes in structure, new events, or marketing drives which could impact on the kind of conversation that you can then have.
It makes logical sense, then, to utilise every tool at your disposal, however, in our own recent survey with Recruiters, it’s evident that not all Agencies have yet switched on to the benefits of LinkedIn as part of their sales and marketing activities. Encouragingly the vast majority, 88%, reported they already utilise the business network for leads – however for the remaining 12% there could be real opportunities that are being overlooked.
Equally, when it comes to following up from enquiries on their own website, agencies could be missing out on opportunities to maximise leads. Nearly two-thirds of agencies (64%) responding to a recent survey didn’t know their response time for an incoming enquiry – a lapse which could easily cost recruiters the new business they’ve been targeting. Just 1% reported that they were able to respond within half an hour.
So how do you get started and what does an effective “social selling” strategy look like?
Top Tips for “Social Selling”
• Research your contact first: use tools to really understand your customer, their business and challenges.
• Offer your contact useful content that shows that you understand their challenges. For example, are they launching a graduate recruitment campaign, or are there changes in flexible working practices or hiring legislation that could impact them? Can you offer some advice on best practice to help them succeed with this?
• Stay connected and make this part of your everyday activities. The days of the quick hit cold call telesales approach are being replaced by what’s known as tele-nurturing. This is a longer term approach to building and qualifying leads.
• Look for ways to automate the process of responding to incoming enquiries from your own website if you’re not already doing so. Time is of the essence – so waiting a day before responding could mean that the prospect has already gone elsewhere.
• Integrate social media and CRM. It’s time to create a 360° view of your prospects: this can be done by reviewing potential customers’ social media feeds to find out what their business needs are and how you can deliver them. So, before you make a call you can see updates from a personal Twitter feed or Google news helping you gain a better understanding of their business.
• One final point to note is not to forget the ‘social’ part of social media. These sites (and their users) thrive on interaction – whether it’s commenting on a recently uploaded blog link or ‘@reply’-ing a tweet. Making sure your presence on these sites is consistent and friendly can help to build a strong relationship with your connections and followers. Using these sites can not only help you find new customers, but also perpetuate and strengthen relationships with existing clients.
Peter Connell is MD at CallPro CRM, provider of on-demand integrated e-marketing and CRM systems, you can follow on Twitter at @callprocrm
