Dear Barb:
It seems more difficult than ever to break in to new accounts. I place engineers and we have eight primary competitors in our city. How do I convince a client to use us when we don’t have an established track record with them and they are already using five or six of our competitors? We’ve actually been told they don’t want to “break in” another recruiter.
Julia C. Dallas, TXDear Julie:
If your clients are using five or six other recruiters, no one is really doing a great job for them, which is something you should bring to their attention. I would also state the following:
That is the exact thing my current best clients said to me when I first called them. I earned my way to become their #1 provider of top talent. I would welcome the opportunity to provide you with those same results.
Suggest they provide you with one of their hardest to fill positions, as a back-up to their current resources, and judge you on the results you provide. The greatest differentiator between you and your competitors is you. Provide them with expectations, what they can expect from you and what you need from them to attract top talent they will hire.
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Differentiate yourself when you write an order by requesting interview times, an exact target date to fill, and send a copy of your order to everyone in the interview process to review. (Over 50% of the time our clients make revisions.)
Provide candidates they are not getting through other recruiters who may only be using job boards as opposed to making recruiting calls. When you provide this “hidden market” of talent, you will soon develop rapport and earn the respect of this prospective client.
Barbara J. Bruno, CPC, CTS
