Earlier this week, I shared with you three key principles to establishing a strong marketing foundation. Of course, it all starts with obtaining high quality searches.
After that though, you need to know how to have an appropriate conversation with potential new clients, and the best way to do this is by having a pre-written script to help you. Today, I bring you the first 5 of the top 10 marketing approaches that rock the recruiting world today.
As discussed, the quickest way to bring in new assignments is with existing accounts. To get high and wide in those accounts, the first step is to ask your existing contact for a reference. It may sound like this:
“Joe, It’s Jon Bartos with JSI. How are you?… Good to hear. Joe I have a question for you. How have I done in providing your team with the talent you have been looking for over the last few years?” (You may have to remind your client of whom you placed with them.) “I’m glad you’re satisfied with how we are doing. Based on our success with your business unit, I would like to be able to help the other teams in your organization as well. Here is where I need your help. Who else in your organization is looking to hire talent in the next 3 to 6 months?… Tim Brown… in Engineering is bringing on engineers? Great. As a favor, would you mind giving Tim a quick call or dropping him an email to let him know I will be reaching out to him to introduce myself. If you could share with him how your experience has been with my organization that would be fantastic and I certainly would owe you one.”
Once you have an internal reference, with or without a written or verbal testimonial, your marketing approach gets pretty simple.
“Hi Tim, this is Jon Bartos from JSI. I have worked with your organization, specifically with Joe in Marketing over the last few years. He suggested I might want to reach out to you to see if you need help finding talented engineers. I have helped Joe to successfully build his team and I would like to discuss the critical needs you are trying to fill on your team in the next 3 to 6 months…”
Selling to the C Suite (CEO, CIO, CFO, COO) can be intimidating to some. A great book to read about selling to this level is Selling to VITO by Anthony Parinello. In his book, Parinello talks about the language you need to use for the C Suite is different than that of a rank-and-file manager or director. The C Suite is interested in: increased revenue, decreased costs, increased profits, and their critical metric — increased shareholder value. Here is how the script goes:
Existing Client: “Hi, Mr. President, this is Jon Bartos with JSI. We haven’t spoken before, but my organization has helped your company save over $300 million last year. We did this by finding the best talent in the market place for your VP of Supply Chain position in Rick Ball. I wanted to reach out to you today to see if there are other places on your executive team or in your organization that you could use another superstar like Rick Ball.”
New Client: “Hi, Mr. President, this is Jon Bartos with JSI. We haven’t spoken before, but my organization has helped one of your largest competitors save over $300 million last year. This gave them the opportunity to reach a record profit year and achieve their best year in over 25 years. I don’t know if we can do the same for your organization, but I would love to share the details with you and thought it may be worth a five minute conversation.”
By knowing the successes and impact your placed candidates have had with their organizations, you can use that data to create additional business.
The vertical market approach is one that adds value based on your experience in the market place that you work in. This works well and applies if you have a specific market or a specific position that you focus on.
“Hi, Mr. Prospect, this is Jon Bartos from JSI. Have you heard of us before? We work with many of your competitors in the industry, focusing specifically on the Mobility Software Marketplace. We have helped organizations such as Syclo and Dexterra grow over 30% per year in revenue and increase profits by over 40% by finding the critical talent they needed to achieve their goals. We have done this because we are niche focused and are in touch with the “A” players in your market place on a daily basis. We have relationships with the individuals who are blind to job boards due to performing at high levels for your competitors and not looking for other positions. I don’t know if we could help your organization or not, but thought it may be worth a five minute conversation.”
The MPC or “A” player approach has been used successfully for over 40 years. The simple reason — it works. The reason it works is because it’s a “Proof Statement” of your work. It’s proof that you know your market and know what you are doing – going to the market with a true “A” player. The marketing approach sounds like this:
Intro: “Hi, Mr. Prospect, this is Jon Bartos with JSI, we are a firm specializing in finding “A” players for the Mobile Computing Software market place. The reason for the call: I was doing a search for one of your competitors (name) and came across one of the top sales reps in your industry, and thought of you.”
Feature – This killer was the top sales professional at one of your top Mobility Software competitors – producing over $5 million in revenue per year.
Achievement – He has personally brought in their top four largest accounts they have today.
Benefit – Which means that his next employer will not only get a big producer, a true producer that only knocks down???, but also understands the value of what major accounts bring to an organization.
Close: Does it make sense for you and this individual to sit down to explore the possibilities? Does Monday or Tuesday work better for you next week?
The combination approach is a combination of the Vertical Market Approach and the “A” player approach. This is probably the most effective approach in the market place. It shares with the prospective client not only your insight into the vertical market you are in, but also backs it up with a proof statement – the “A” player you have. There is something significant about actually having the ability to “SHOW” a client your capabilities.
“Hi, Mr. Prospect, this is Jon Bartos from JSI. Two reasons for the call. First, have you heard of us before? We work with many of your competitors in the industry focusing on the Mobility Software Marketplace. We have helped organizations such as Syclo and Dexterra grow over 30% per year in revenue and increase profits by over 40% by finding the critical talent they needed to achieve their goals. We have done this because we are in touch with the “A” players in your market place on a daily basis. Those are the individuals who are blind to job boards due to performing at high levels for your competitors and not looking for other positions.
Which leads to my second reason for the call…
I was doing a search for one of your competitors (name) and came across one of the top sales reps in the mobility software market, and thought of you.”
Feature – this killer was the top sales professional at one of your top Mobility Software competitors – producing over 5 million in revenue per year.
Achievement – He has personally brought in their top four largest accounts they have today.
Benefit – Which means that his next employer will not only get a big producer, a true producer that only knocks down, but also understands the value of what major accounts bring to an organization.
Close: Does it make sense for you and this individual to sit down to explore the possibilities? Does Monday or Tuesday work better for you next week?
Implement the three key principles in to your marketing approach and give these scripts a try based on what is applicable to your situation. You may be surprised at the positive results they yield.
But as you, know it’s really not about how great your script is or how good you sound on the phone. The key is making the calls!! Just pick an approach, pick up the phone and make the calls! Make twenty a day minimum – but make them every day. Most people who are unsuccessful in obtaining enough assignments to see the quantity/quality principle work fail simply because they do not make the calls. Don’t let that happen to you. Start with closest to money marketing calls — existing customers first. The reality is that “Quantity” solves all your quality Job Order problems. As a matter of fact, it will most likely solve all of your money problems too!
Stay tuned for Part 3 next week, which will include the last five marketing scripts that are hot in today’s environment.
