CONTENTS

• My Favourites (Greg Horne from Aqua Resources Group)
• News (National Online Recruitment Audience Survey 2006 Results)
• Article (Tales of a Salesman: ABC of Closing by Marcus Cauchi)
• Don't Miss This (The Recruitment Society; Graduate Recruitment event on 29 March 2006 - Recruitment International; The Technology in Recruitment Forum on 11th May 2006 - Press Release: Digitec Systems announce the launch of 1stSelectGO! - Press Release: right4staff announce winner of Associate of the Year Competition - Discussion Board)
• Statistics (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

My Favourites

www.sfia.org.uk - This is the future for companies HR departments skills templates/frameworks thus defining and simplifying their needs as an employer to a recruiter

www.linkedIn.com - Probably the most widely used on line networking tool based on 6 degrees of separation

www.webopedia.com - A great on line dictionary and search engine for anyone involved in IT

Greg Horne is Co-Owner Director of Aqua Resources Group UK & ME 

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

Advertisement

Free resource for readers of ukrecruiter

Top-Consultant.com's annual Recruitment Channel Report reveals the latest trends in candidate application behaviour, based on extensive data collected from over 5,000 fast-track candidates. Get your free PDF copy of the report by clicking here

News: National Online Recruitment Audience Survey 2006 results

The results of NORAS 2006 show that online job seekers continue to become more experienced and more successful. The average online job seeker is now aged 34 years (up from 33 in 2005), has 13.6 years’ work experience (up from 13.2 years) and earns over £34,000 (up from £30,400). 75% of online job seekers have applied to a job that they found online. Of these, 68% have obtained an interview and 52% got the job.

NORAS 2006 also provides new insights into candidates’ preferred methods of applying for jobs and shows that applying online is most popular. 43% applied for the last job they found online by attaching their CV to an email, 28% completed an online application form and 7% were contacted by a consultant or employer after they uploaded their CV to an online database. Only 12% of online job seekers submitted a hard copy application form or a CV through the post.

The 2006 results also analyse the type of employment that online candidates are seeking for the first time. 64% stated that they were looking for a full time permanent position, 18% for a full time contract or interim position, 9% for a full time temporary or seasonal role and 21% stated that they were looking for some kind of part time position. This data shows that although there is some flexibility among job seekers when considering the type of role they want; most are committed to finding a particular type (ie full time or part time) role.

The National Online Recruitment Audience Survey is the UK’s largest online recruitment research project. It was established in 2002 and to date has analysed information from over 67,000 online job seekers. NORAS 2006 uses the largest sample of online job seekers to date – 18,724.

Recruiters can use the NORAS results to gain a better understanding of the users of 22 of the UK’s leading job boards. In addition to a detailed demographic profile of each site’s users, the results booklet includes ABC ELECTRONIC audited Unique User figures for each site. The 22 sites included in the NORAS 2006 results booklet are AccountancyAgeJobs, Brand Republic Jobs, eFinancialCareers.com, exec-appointments.com, fish4jobs, GAAPweb, Grocerjobs, InPharm Jobs, jobs.ac.uk, jobs.scotsman.com, jobs.telegraph, jobsgopublic, JobsGroup.net, The Lawyer.com, mad.co.uk, ManchesterOnline.co.uk, Prospects.ac.uk, s1jobs, Scotcareers, thecareerengineer.com, tesjobs and Times Online – Jobs.

In order to try and provide recruiters with as comprehensive a picture of the market as possible, the NORAS 2006 results booklet also includes some data on seven sites that did not participate in the research – Guardian Jobs, Jobsite, Job Centre Plus, Jobserve, Monster, Reed and Total Jobs (this data was gathered using a different methodology to the methodology used to provide data on the participating sites and the inclusion of data about non-participating sites should not be taken as any indication that they in any way endorse or agreed to take part in NORAS).

The NORAS results booklet contains over fifty results tables and includes a full explanation of all methodologies used. It can be downloaded free of charge by registering at www.noras.co.uk. Registered users can also use NORAS interactive – the online tool that easily allows recruiters to compare the audiences of different job boards – for free. For more information contact Tim Elkington at Enhance Media Limited (Enhance Media initiated and manage NORAS). www.noras.co.uk or www.enhancemedia.co.uk

Advertisement

If you're reading this just think how many others of the 15,000 newsletter readers will also be... so why not advertise here?"

For information email louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk

Article:  Tales of a Salesman: ABC of Closing by Marcus Cauchi

This is the first of new series in which Marcus shares with you his sales experience and the lessons he learnt.

When I first started in sales nearly 20 years ago, I bought a book by Tom Hopkins. I'm a little older now so forgive me if my memory isn't quite up to speed, I recall it was called "The Art of Closing" or the "The Art of Closing Sales". I read it with all the eagerness of youth and the naivity that went with it.

I discovered the arcane Porcupine Close, Sharp Angle Close, Ben Franklin Close and at least 120 others. I was on top of the world. I was equipped and had become a trained killer. Watch out world!

It was in my first "proper" job out of university selling phone based advertising (this was the precursor to Talking Pages) for a small start up called Key Connect (0800 101102 was their number - they were right, the very expensive number was memorable). Sadly it was doomed to failure with the management team, the sales team and especially me. I bought the training guff I received (2 days of learning closes and the presentation by rote), I had my Tommy Hopkins closing skills honed to near perfection and I was naturally talented on the phone so I could get in front of (some) decision makers.

I remember pitching this grumpy man with a beard, I think his name was Jim Somethingorother. Anyway he had a reputation for being a tough nut. Was I phased? Not one bit. I had a great service to sell. I BELIEVED, and I knew how to close. The pitch had gone well, I did a few trial closes ("If I could show you a way......", "So what I'm hearing you ask me is.....", "Well Jim, if I could do that you'd sign up today?" and it was time to move in for the kill.

I could see his defences cracking and so I whipped out a blank sheet of A4 paper, drew a T-bar across and down it. I wrote "Pros" on the left and "Cons" on the right above the line, and asked him to tell me all the things he liked about the concept. He started to speak and then smiled, which turned to a frown and stopped. The pregnant pause made me think he was about to give in, when he hit me. He hit me with "Marcus, are you doing the Ben Franklin close on me?"

I was. I blushed. Deep red. And I stammered "Y...y...y...you know it? Er? Um? I find it very useful whenever I'm making important decisions. Don't you?" 

To which he replied, "No, get out of my office. This stuff is so old Noah used it." It may have been old hat to him, but to me it was the latest thing in closing. I'd only bought the book a week before.

A few lessons learned in this and subsequent calls with a bruised ego......

1. Buyers have been hit with almost every close known to man, so they've developed a system to beat your system
2. Buyers hate to be sold, they prefer to buy
3. Whoever has the stronger system wins
4. The close needs to happen at the beginning of the sales process not at the end
5. Positive "buying signals" from a positive prospect are generally worthless since they are the hardest prospects to get to buy anything
6. Pitting my green gills against savvy buyers, no clever sales trickery would get them to buy
7. Most sales techniques are so old they are obvious and seen from a mile away
8. Enthusiasm and blind faith in you and your product is no match for a powerful, repeatable system that works

It took me 16 years to realise this. Please don't take as long as I did. It costs you money and time, weekends and self-respect. These lessons can be learned quickly, but for me, doing something about it was the problem. Since then I've learned how to close without closing, turn negative prospects into major, profitable buyers and how to use the power of negative selling to disarm and get prospects to close themselves.

The ABC of closing is AVOID BLATANT CLOSING. I have a client who produced a 140 page booklet on closes and how to handle stalls and objections. The section I teach on that is about 5 lines long and my close rate is in the 90%+ range. Find or develop your own system that avoids tired closes and puts the buyer in a position where they feel they're being sold, let them discover they want your service and make them buy.

My guess is few of you can relate to this story because you aren't as slow or dense as me. But for those of you who try so hard (and I know you're out there), ease up, back off and retreat a little when you smell the blood of a sale. Learn how to let the prospect close themselves.

Happy selling!

© Sandler Sales Institute 2006. All Rights Reserved. 180◦ From Traditional Sales Training. Learn More to Earn More. Marcus Cauchi is the Managing Director of S.A.L.T. (Europe) Ltd, London’s First Licensed Sandler Sales Institute. 0845 458 1237. Marcus is a seller who trains not a trainer who teaches selling. 20 years in sales, 10 in recruitment, he’s made almost every mistake possible. He helps recruiters who are frustrated by downward fee-pressures, prospects who won’t commit, refuse to pay retainers or take too long making hiring decisions.

Don't Miss This

The Recruitment Society; Graduate Recruitment event - 29 March 2006, London
Alison Hodgson, Chair of AGR (Association of Graduate Recruiters) and European HR & Resourcing Manager, Expedia, and Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive of AGR will be discussing the latest topical updates on the challenges facing UK graduate recruitment. The event is free for "Gold and Silver" Recruitment Society members, £10 for ordinary members and £20 for guests. It takes place at 1, Embankment Place, London WC2N 6RH. For more information call Richard Taylor on 0207 917 1728, visit http://www.recruitmentsociety.org.uk or email admin@recruitmentsociety.org.uk 

Recruitment International; The Technology in Recruitment Forum, 11th May 2006, London
What are the latest developments in the world of computerisation? Why should you know more about HR-XML? If you are looking at a new computer software package, or even updating your existing one this is the event for you. Entry is free and you can come in either the morning or afternoon. As well as presentations from top IT exponents you can meet and get demonstrations from around 24 of the industry's leading software providers. Taking place at Le Meridien, Piccadilly, London. For more information or to attend email davidhead@dial.pipex.com  

Press Release: Digitec Systems announce the launch of 1stSelectGO! 
The 1stSelectGO! package includes a FREE licence of their well established 1stSelectPro Enterprise database, free training and two weeks free support for the first user and the option to add an additional user for a small cost.  You can request your free 1stSelectGO! package at www.digitec.co.uk/1stselectgo.asp or contact Digitec Systems Ltd on 0870 6060580 email: sales@digitec.co.uk 

Press Release: right4staff announce winner of Associate of the Year Competition
Recruitment specialist right4staff has announced the winner of its Associate of the Year competition 2006. Samantha Goodall, aged 29 from Baildon, West Yorkshire has beaten off stiff competition from around the country to win the accolade. The competition was open to all associates working on right4staff’s contract with Unisys, the global information technology and service company, and MSB International PLC. Samantha was presented with a cheque for £250, a bottle of Champagne and a certificate. Carly Wilden, aged 23 from Southbourne near Bournemouth and Danny Johns, aged 18 from Hackleton, Northampton were named as runners–up.  http://www.right4staff.co.uk/

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 "Jobboard salespeople commission", "Advice please re terms of biz" and "client disputing fees". 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

Statistics

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 4th March 2006
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were Jobcentreplus.gov.uk, Totaljobs.co.uk, Jobsite.co.uk, Monster.co.uk, Reed.co.uk,  jobs.nhs.uk, TESjobs.co.uk, Jobsgopublic.com, jobs.guardian.co.uk and sijobs.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.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) 2006, UK Recruiter Ltd