If you have not read our first post about the importance of identifying great sales people and why £100k billers are losing you money; you can access it here.

By now you will know why: 

  • It is so important to get your billers productive. 
  • Poor billers cost you money before they turn a profit. 
  • Moreover, why attracting the ideal fee generating recruiter is crucial to hit your revenue goals. 

In our last post, I mentioned a comment a friend of mine often quotes. It is about minnow versus whale bait. In other words, if you want to attract the best BD people to your agency you need to have a plan and an offer that resonates with them. 

Imagine trying to attract a top biller and then telling her at interview that she only gets 20 days holiday a year, no headset and must keep her own spreadsheet of contacts! 

Yes, some M.Ds are still that naïve! 

 

Vital First Steps 

 

Before you call your favourite rec2rec or stalk people on LinkedIn, you need to do a few things. 

In the words of the legendary Stephen Covey; start with the end in mind.  What specifically are you looking for to add to your current recruiting team? 

Do you have a 360 model (not ideal today) or do you have BD stars who then work with a resourcer supporting them? 

What is your model?  

A few posts ago we shared the value of a business X Ray. Your personal X Ray will help you identify where the money is in your business and importantly which of your consultants is making it. 

This information is gold because it provides valuable data which leads me to the next step. 

 

The Advantage Of An Avatar 

In one part of our RockIt programme, we train our clients how to develop a marketing plan and focus on identifying the traits of their ideal clients and candidates. A strategy like this enables a laser focus on which clients are the best to cultivate and which candidate’s clients crave.  

If it works in this context, which it does by the way, then what about using a similar process to create a talent avatar for the ideal BD star you want to attract? 

A few weeks ago, I was chatting to Adam a client of ours, and he was talking about Serena a fantastic biller in their team…. ‘if only we could find another dozen Serena’s we would be home and dry!’ 

Good idea Adam! Then set up a plan to do just that…… 

Knowing everything about your client or candidate helps you sell to them.  

 

 

Knowing everything about the biller you want to attract enables you to create a recruiting strategy for your organisation that works. You do it for your clients so why not your team? 

Part of building this strategy comes down to the critical next point the impact of your brand. 

 

Build Your Employer Brand 

Employer branding is a today’s top buzzword, and it is crucial for ambitious companies that want to scale. 

Recruitment companies do not always have a fantastic reputation when it comes to treating their staff well or providing a career path. 

Therefore it is imperative to do all that you can to make sure you stand out, and your employer brand is one guaranteed way to do this. 

If you have never heard of an employer brand before, now’s the time to expand your education.  

According to the CIPD, a brand is the way organisations differentiate themselves from competitors in the career market. With the right reputation, you can recruit, retain, and engage a great team of recruiting top performers.  

Now that the world is more “connected” than ever, with social media, review websites and online forums leading the way for digital communication, people have endless ways to talk about your company. With the right branding strategy, you can get involved in the conversation and begin to influence this positively. 

 

 

Otherwise known as an “Employer Value Proposition”, your brand can help you to attract talent to your organisation while ensuring that you fill your team full of people who share the same values. Defining your identity as an employer means thinking about the following things: 

  • People: What kind of talent do you want in your organisation?  
  • Company culture: What’s the ethos that drives your business?  
  • Employer value proposition: What benefits can you offer candidates?
  • Experience: How do you improve the recruiting and onboarding process?   

Talking on the phone to a client of ours he was chatting about how he had attracted a great new recruiter to their team and one with experience too. 

She had decided to join them because they had a strong presence online and had a specific page on their website all about what was on offer regarding her development and opportunities, should she choose to join our client’s team; she did!  

 

Rec 2 Rec or Go It Alone The Choice Is Yours 

I have a soft spot for rec2recs as you probably know. They do a fabulous job, the good ones anyway, and are well worth talking too. They will know the key players in the market, and if your employer brand is up to scratch, you do stand a chance of getting into a conversation with a top performer. 

Can going it alone work? Yes, of course it can though it will take time, and you will undoubtedly need to hone your offer and advertise using all the criteria you have identified relating to your ideal hire. 

 

What next?  

The interview process. Let’s dive into that next in our third and final part, you can find it here.