An obsessive focus on marketing and sales is a key route to grow your recruitment organisation. However, how you promote your recruitment brand, get in front of candidates and clients is only one part of the equation; why?
Because it will all amount to nothing unless you have an obsessive focus on the f……… word.
Yes, you guessed it……… follow up.
Over 80% Of Sales Happen During The Follow Up
Still unsure? Here is the data from the National Association of Sales Professionals in the US; the data is identical in the UK. Be prepared to have your brain fried at the amount of revenue your consultants are potentially leaving on the table.
Did you know?
- 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
- 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
- 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
Not a great start; is it, especially when you understand human behaviour and the buyer’s cycle which confirms that.
- 2% of sales are made on the first contact
- 3% of sales are made on the second contact
- 5% of sales are made on the third contact
- 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
- 80% sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
Considering that it’s common for recruiters to make a couple of follow ups and then stop, you can see how placements and profits aren’t happening.
What Successful Recruitment Companies Do When It Comes To Follow Up
What can you do to follow up?
Plenty of things!
Here are several suggestions that our successful clients are using.
They Create a System
First, you need a consistent tracking system in place that your consultants follow consistently when it comes to your follow up the process. Remember consistency is one of the key laws of influence and persuasion.
One of our clients uses our tested client converter tool.
Every month the consultants use a simple traffic light system that works like gangbusters when it comes to ensuring follow up happens at the right time. At the beginning of the month, each consultant has their target client list added into the converter tool. All follow up actions are marked in red.
By the end of the month in their monthly review meeting, the consultant must make sure that they have all been turned to green; this can only happen by completing a follow-up action with the client Such a straightforward way to ensure a system is acted on.
Monthly Sales Days
The power of a group creates fantastic buzz and results. Many our clients use a sales day to ‘get it done’; peer pressure is a wonderful thing when used in a fun, active day like this.
Here is how one client uses this.
During the day, everyone in the team goes through 4 power sessions of 90 minutes of follow up and contacting clients.
It’s based on specific research by Tony Schwartz who wrote the best-selling business book on productivity. He tested the optimum work periods for focus. It revealed that working in 90-minute batches optimised productivity and results.
The results from these days can be outstanding, especially for a competitive group of recruiters.
When it comes to sales decisions it is well recognised that it’s rare for any of us to buy on the first contact; especially when it comes to high-value purchases, which is exactly what recruitment is.
Here is the thing, if your recruiters make only a couple of calls or send only one email and give up you will NEVER hit your revenue goals.
Fact: If your recruiters aren’t following up contacts and connections using a consistent process, someone else’s recruiters will.
What next?
Download our Complimentary Conversion Tool
Having a process to ensure follow up takes place will be vital as you scale and grow. That is why Katy Green and I created this special white paper that shares our tested client converter tool.
