Welcome to issue 232 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.
back to top
Advertisement
Professional Online Solutions for the
Recruitment and Staffing sector
HotLizard is the premier supplier to the recruitment industry
for online recruitment software and excellence in recruitment web
site design, development and marketing.
For more information, please contact Adele Poole,
on 01635 527900 or email adele.poole@hotlizard.net.
You can also view further information on
HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net
|
Article
One: How To Develop A Proactive Sales Team by Gavin Ingham
A 5 Step Strategy For Increasing Sales Without Increasing Costs!
1) Focus on the individual
Concentrate on helping your sales people to understand their own motivators better. What’s important to them about their work? What do they want to achieve? Why do they want to achieve this? What will happen if they achieve it? What will happen if they don’t? What importance does winning new business play in the achievement of those goals?
Identify areas where they can gain quick wins. Working mostly on their own and with your support you are looking to open their minds to a new way of thinking. Why not create a questionnaire or an audit of where they are now? What about creating a coaching form or process? This need only take a few minutes per team member per day.
2) Training on key attitudes and skills
Decide what the key attitudes and skills are that your team need to be successful in winning new business. Create a simple, repeatable training programme and bring the delegates up to speed as fast as possible. Learning is associated with professionalism in the minds of many sales people so when you are looking to change beliefs, attitudes and skills you cannot skimp on this crucial part.
Start your training right now. You don’t need to be a great trainer or an expert to do this. You can always call in an expert later on! For the moment, what you’re trying to do is help your team to feel valued, get focused on what’s important to them and improve fundamental areas of the sales process.
3) Personal responsibility
Once you have the "buy-in" of the team, empower them to take control of the development programme for themselves. Creating a personal action plan for the duration of the programme helps to consolidate their thoughts, hones their personal skills and enforces the key attitudes and behaviours necessary for success.
4) Reinforcement
Create simple ongoing and measurable support tools which ensure that the new behaviours happen. I follow the management-coaching-autonomy model. Initially I “manage” people in their actions, gradually I step back into a more reflective “coaching” model and finally I grant them “autonomy”, allowing them to be responsible for their own actions.
It always amazes me when staff who are seriously under-performing are sent on training and come back and say they know it all. If they do then why aren’t they top performers? Don’t let the wool be pulled over your eyes! Make sure that on the management side you create simple repeatable tools that ensure new behaviours and that help to create a fun and energised environment which is supportive of change.
5) Celebrating success
Achievement must be recognised and as your team puts the work in you need to create ways to recognise their success. Directors are often internally orientated when it comes to motivation – we know when we’ve done a good job and don’t necessarily need telling. Sales staff, on the other hand, often need that recognition. When I’m consulting with businesses the number of staff who say things like, “I don’t feel appreciated” or “I just wish that someone would say “Well done” is phenomenal.
Exercise: Get a sheet of paper and write down as many ways of celebrating success that you can. Start now with a simple “thank you”, competitions, games, wall-charts and email congratulations.
Most of all, remember that taking action in developing a proactive, new-business sales team is not only essential, it’s also fun!
For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to improve their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action.
To download Gavin’s free 9-part objection handling course or to find out more about Gavin visit
www.gaviningham.net.
|
back to top
Advertisement
CV-Library - SmartMatch 260,000 (700+ daily)
fresh CVs for just £99 per month (no minimum contract).
Still not convinced? Then test search our CV database instantly at http://www.cv-library.co.uk/sm7
For just £99 per month you will have full access
to the CV Database, watchdog filters, company profile, unlimited
vacancies with logo, which can then be SmartMatched against CVs.
SmartMatch is an intelligent time saving search engine unique to
CV-Library.
For more information visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/cvdb
or contact us directly on 01252 810992 or sales@cv-library.co.uk
|
Article
Two: Creating a great candidate base by Gaynor Lowndes
In this market, quality candidates are like gold. Find one and you can place him/her very easily. The trick is to get the candidate before your competitor does. Ask yourself what you can offer that your competitor doesn’t. Big billers understand the importance of candidates returning.
I have always held the philosophy no matter how busy I am that I treat people how I would wish to be treated. I am sure you have either experienced or heard about recruitment agencies that treat candidates like cattle – herding them in, registering them and then NOTHING! Maybe that used to work when we had loads of candidates and no jobs, but times have changed. Worse still there are those that don’t return calls and as a candidate you are left wondering why these recruiters won’t help you. I have experienced all of these scenarios, which is why I am so adamant about treating people properly. In addition, you can never be sure whom an individual knows. Consider the bad experience at a restaurant - you tell everyone you know. A bad experience at a recruitment agency is the same! It always amazes me why recruiters haven’t worked this one out yet. My advice is see less people and work them properly.
In a competitive industry such as ours, first impressions are extremely important. I believe the relationship with your candidate starts at the initial call and is cemented when they walk into your office to meet you for the first time. If they are a quality candidate, then you need to get them in quickly – remember that if active, it is quite likely you are one of a few agencies he/she will be calling today. Sound like you want to talk to him/her rather than just going through the process. Actively listen to what you are being told rather than thinking about what you will be doing next. Pre-screen properly and you will spend less time interviewing inappropriate candidates who believe that you have wasted their time.
As far as possible, ensure that your reception area is inviting and don’t leave candidates waiting unnecessarily. I am not and never have been an advocate of a candidate filling in an application form and then being tested (which can take up to one hour) before seeing a consultant. First impressions count!
The way your candidates are treated initially really makes a difference, especially when you will be asking for referrals at the end of the interview. If you must test a candidate before you interview them, at least come out to reception to let them know the process so that at least there has been some contact.
The interview is about gaining information in order for you to be able to assist the person sitting in front of you as well as finding the right person for your client. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep just because it’s what you believe your candidate wants to hear. Always consider how you would feel if it were you in your candidate’s shoes. If you are going to ask for exclusivity, make sure that you make a commitment as well. Set a time line of when you will come back to your candidate. Big billers are not frightened of feedback. Ask your candidates how your process compared with your competitors. Ask your candidates which consultants they have met whom they particularly liked. Find out why – it will help you continuously improve.
Regular follow up is very important, whether your candidates are active or not. It may be that you don’t necessarily telephone them; maybe you follow up with a regular e-newsletter or personalized e-mail. Technology has made it much easier to keep in touch with your candidates.
Long before we had the benefits of e-mail, during my years as a permanent accounting recruiter, my regular routine included taking 3-5 candidate files home a day and calling the candidates between 7.30-8.30pm for a catch up. This helped my time management immensely. It was also on the whole a positive experience for the candidates as it was not expected and added to the service that I provided. They gave mountains of useful information like where they had been on interview; what other agencies (my competitors) were saying and how they generally felt about the process of looking for a job. It enabled me to build a rapport with them that I don’t believe I could have built given the incredible time pressures we are under in our job during the day.
In summary, tips to create a great candidate base include:
-
Taking candidate calls and returning them in a timely manner
-
Pre-screen properly so that you only interview those individuals you can help
-
Have an inviting reception area and introduce yourself early in the registration process
-
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver to your candidates
-
Ask for exclusivity only if you can deliver an interview in the next 48 hours
-
Follow up regularly – even with those candidates that you didn’t place as they will come back to you when they are ready for another job change. They will also refer their friends!
Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company, has over 18 years recruitment experience, gained in both Australia and the UK. She has recently had her first book published called “the Art of Recruitment” which is selling well in both the UK and Australia. For more information visit
www.trtc.com.au
|
back to top
Advertisement
Recruitment Jobs in Australia
Are you looking for an opportunity to start fresh in a new job in
Australia?
Freespirit can assist you to secure an exciting
job in a booming recruitment industry. We help you secure the role
and apply for a sponsorship visa which gives you four years working
rights. Once qualified, we will also assist your residency
application. Our experience is in ensuring you are placed with the
right client in the right job for the right money! We have numerous
vacancies for Recruitment Consultants, Account Managers, Business
Development Managers and Senior Managers in all industries.
If you are interested, email us at sarahp@freespirit.com.au
or log onto the web page and complete the sponsorship assessment –
www.freespirit.com.au.
|
Don't
Miss This
Discount on Strategies For Finding Qualified, Passive Candidates workshops
from AIRS, London
On November 8th and 9th, AIRS will be coming to London with two days of
recruitment training. AIRS Search Lab 3.0 and two sessions of Googling For
Candidates workshops are "packed with tactics and strategies that will
take your recruiting and candidate sourcing skills to the next level".
Email Roger Gillies at rgillies@airsmail.com
and save 20 percent off of the price of each course. Quote ukrec.
UK Recruiter Discussion Forum
- Are you using it?
Don't forget to visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum. Current topics on the site
include "A
hypothetical question", "Recruitment
Software" and "MRI
Worldwide Network & Franchisees".
It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to
register to view messages. Visit the site; ask questions and
share your knowledge
|
back to top
Statistics
Hitwise top 10 Recruitment
Sites, week ending 17th September 2005
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the
most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk,
www.jobsite.co.uk, www.totaljobs.com,
www.reed.co.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk,
www.monster.co.uk, jobs.guardian.co.uk,
www.eteach.com, www.tesjobs.co.uk
and www.s1jobs.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk
|
back to top
Please forward this newsletter on to any colleagues or recruitment friends who you think might like to receive the newsletter. It's free for them to sign up - all they need do is
complete the form below.
Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk
Subscribe
Don't forget to let your colleagues know about this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe - it's completely free of charge - all they need to do to receive their own copy of the ukrecruiter newsletter is complete
our simple form
Unsubscribe
To unsubscribe from the ukrecruiter
newsletter please reply to this message with the subject line
"unsubscribe". |
Feedback
Please feel free to email
me your comments on the newsletter: the sort of articles you like,
the sort you don't read, new features you'd like to see, etc.
Feedback from everyone is always welcome!
|
Advertising
If you are interested in advertising a product, service or internet site in the newsletter please contact me by email
|
|
If you want see back issues of
the newsletter visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/recnet
NOTE: This newsletter may be copied and distributed free of charge in its entirety. Individual sections may
NOT be copied or distributed without the prior written agreement of louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk.
Copyright (c)
2005, UK Recruiter Ltd |
|