According to a recent survey we conducted with over 500 recruiters, the biggest challenge they face is getting in front of qualified prospects.
Is it possible for recruiters to generate and speak to more leads without spending a fortune on advertising?
Yes! If...
…They're Direct
Modern marketing tends to focus on soft targets, such as growing an audience, developing authority status and the ever-popular metric, engagement.
The weakness in these targets is that it's almost impossible to directly connect these activities to sales. Maybe it's working. Maybe it's not.
This is good for marketers and the social platforms they favour because it generates huge volumes of activity without the accountability of needing to show an end result.
But not so good for the business owner who wants to see a calculable return on his marketing investment.
Social media marketing has its place, but recruiters should always have an element of direct marketing where you put time and money into something that can directly be tied to results.
This includes, but is not limited to, paid ads, joint ventures, sales webinars and sales events.
…They're Eccentric
Relax. I'm not about to suggest that you channel the dottiness of your favourite great-aunt. Eccentric simply means to deviate from the recognised.
In other words, it's fine to do something a little silly, if it means you gain more attention.
This doesn't have to be expensive or elaborate. Just think outside of the box.
We saw a job advert the other day where someone had created and shared a Spotify playlist in which the titles of the songs spelled out information about the role.
A while back, someone sent us a pitch through the post in which keywords of the message had been replaced with actual chocolate bars.
Creative? Check. Tasty? Check. Memorable and attention-grabbing? Check and check.
Lately we have been having some success direct messaging a simple pitch delivered in the form of a rap verse.
It's a little goofy, but the response, even from those who declined our offer has been warm and appreciative.
Get everyone in your team involved, brainstorm some ideas and see what you can come up with.
…They're Referred
The best thing about being referred to a prospect, aside from the fact that it costs you nothing, is that it's just about as warm a lead as you can get.
When you're competing for a role with other recruiters, you have to push hard to show why you're the superior choice. But when you're referred, you're usually pitching without competition to someone who already sees you as a friend of a friend.
If you don't already have a system for asking candidates and clients to refer you, get on that.
If you haven't already done so recently, you should contact your entire list and ask them if they know of anyone who might have use of your services.
Be specific. Tell your list exactly what you're looking for in a client. And, for good measure, tell them that you'll offer any referral a "friend of a friend" discount.
You should also tap into existing referral networks, particularly those that offer regular meetings.
Networking events have some utility, but you can't beat working long-term with a networking group that gets to know you and your business and that collectively has a reach way beyond that which you could find on your own.
BNI (Business Network International), while not for everyone, is a popular choice. But if you google "local networking group", you'll find plenty of opportunities to explore.
…They're Indirect
We're big fans of the direct marketing route (see above). But there's also a way to be indirect with your directness.
This involves marketing an offer directly, but pitching a free or low-cost service that is tangentially connected to your core offering.
This is especially effective for services that are expensive, only required during specific windows of need, or both.
Recruitment, for instance.
The trick is to come up with a service that will be of interest to your prospects, that links to your core offer and that is inexpensive to produce.
For example, we enjoy a lot of success offering free consultations to recruiters. This is a genuine consultation through which we help recruiters identify routes to business growth, as well as tackling specific challenges, such as getting in front of more prospects.
And then, at the end of the consultation, if appropriate, we introduce our recruitment training services (Click here to see how this works).
It's an indirect approach that also affords us an opportunity to be direct.
As a recruiter, you can offer something similar in the form of a free recruitment audit. Offer your prospects a free consultation to review their hiring practices, with a focus on how they might be able to save time and money.
This will establish you as an expert in your field, and increase your chances of landing that prospect's next role.
We even have a tool that helps recruiters perform this consultation, called the Bad Hire Calculator.
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You may have noticed that, aside from the "paid ads" suggestion, all of the above are about exploring creative ideas, rather than sinking money into something that may or not work.
That's not an accident.
Getting in front of prospects doesn't have to be complex or expensive. It simply requires putting in more endeavour than your competitors are willing to apply.
For more recruitment guidance, such as improving your pitches or winning retained roles, you can book a free consultation here.