It’s frustrating for your billing team; isn’t it? It feels like they have ‘done’ all the hard work and yet still that dream client or perfect candidate says no.

It’s common place to have objections during any sales process, and there are various strategies to handle this. Though one of the huge issues in the recruiting process is your consultant’s inability to communicate the value of your service.

The perception of value is one of the most important elements of setting your fee.  If your clients don’t think they are getting value for money, you have no pricing power.

However, if they believe they are getting value for money, they will remain loyal in spite of price increases.

Value is not just a single element (price); it encompasses a range of attributes of your recruiting service for which clients are willing to pay.

Clients make a decision on value based on what the various features of a service mean for them.
This often relates to how it will save them time, how it simplifies what actions they need to take, how it removes challenges that they have been dealing with and a multitude of other benefits that will be personal to each individual client.

They will then compare the value of what they will gain from your service compared to an alternative way of recruiting whether that is another agency or an internal team.

When it comes to demonstrating value  as  a recruitment organisation, it can be separated into a number of components.

 

1. Service Level And Your Product

 

 

The truth? Few organisations appreciate what recruitment companies do. On the surface, it looks easy ? I want to fill a project manager role, and you Mr or Mrs Recruiter need to ‘surf’ around a little and send me a bunch of highly qualified candidates.

Of course recruiting involves hours and hours of time; we all now that, though our clients rarely do.

One of our Centredexcellence clients who attended  a recent event mapped out the 26 step process her consultants used. She gulped when I asked how they communicated this information to the client as a benefit of the value of their service. The silence was deafening.

She admitted that it was at a surface level and there was plenty of scope to communicate what the 26 steps meant for clients.

Your recruiting service is a product and as such your recruiting ‘offer’, backed up by sales and marketing messages will transform your results.

 

2. Industry Knowledge

 

 

We live in the knowledge age where people love experts and the knowledge they bring. The good news is they will pay more for it too. You know it’s true, don’t you ?

Think about your own purchases recently; especially the expensive ones. I suspect your buying decision was based on the expertise associated with the brand or person in question.

Think about it ? We all know that people grow organisations not their products or the service they deliver.

Considering this, how you ‘sell’ the value of recruiting that amazing sales manager that will lead an organisations sales team to double digit growth, will make a huge difference to your results.

I was talking to a delegate on our last Billing Manager Programme about his companies success. They were renowned in their local city as being THE recruitment company that knew everything there was to know.

Consequently, they had a steady stream of clients knocking at their door. They also communicated their local knowledge on all their social channels and their blog; it obviously worked. He mentioned that their standard fee was 20%.

 

3. Quality Counts

 

The quality of your service and the candidates you deliver is imperative. The well-known saying of you get what you pay for is a universal truth, and your clients know that too.

If you have data that backs up your ability to deliver alongside, testimonials and case studies people will sit up and listen.

Let’s say you know that for every 4 CVs you send over they will always recruit one person this needs to be part of your sales and marketing material and communicated as a key feature of your product.

Get specific. Trying to communicate value by saying you offer a “quality” product won’t be enough. In most cases, that’s assumed. You have to take it further.

Ready to get going?

 

Warm regards

Nicky

 

P.S.  The inability to communicate value is one of the 5 biggest mistakes recruitment organisations make that stop’s their growth. If you want to find out what else  you need to change then download our new free guide here.