I find it funny that in a week that sees the headlines about Hays’ dismal performance so far this year, that I also see some (who I don’t give much time to) sharing quick steps to solving the perceived BD crisis.
Firstly you don’t solve sales with a simple playbook (you’re being played for engagement and to be sold something overpriced and with as much depth as a puddle). You have to be scraping the bottle to believe a hand guide to BD will see you out the proverbial hole.
Yet on one of these said posts, the number of people (of Managerial / Director level) scrambling to reply “YES” to a post, with a solution that AI could mock up, is both sad and funny in equal measure.
There’s a multitude of reasons for the demise of some larger businesses in recruitment;
– Tough volatile market to breed the next-gen of recruiters.
– Lack of perceived time to immerse the new batch in their designated sector / niche.
– Wholly different comms style – not just a phone aversion, but style of writing and engaging.
– Too much of a hierarchy – too many hands-off managers harking back to a bygone era where they faxed CVs and got folks a job after one interview.
– Too many that got stuck in recruitment, hate the hands-off people management and should have exitted recruitment ten years ago. They did well in their prime but not well enough to exit or were on a cash drip that meant setting up solo would be too much of a hit or a gamble.
– Bunch of Farmers / not Hunters. Accounts so big and so bloated that why even bother doing BD. Been there myself…. It does for some become a little boring after a while. A slow creep in to the bureaucracy that riddles the end client and now you.
So what to do about it? Are Hays the Man Utd of recruitment. Lots of titles but a dying entity in a world of punchy up and comers. The Brightons and Brentfords of the world. Not the heady ambitions of title winners but bloody smart small businesses that do everything well but in budget.
– You’re no longer going to take a grad or an entry level and have them smashing the phones on day one.
– They need educating and immersing. Events, Meetups, Video Calls, Coffees. Let them read in to a topic and close the learning loop – let them explain what depth of knowledge they’ve acquired.
– Tweak don’t alter their style – the new generation are shamelessly up front in some instances, let them be marketeers but a/b test it. See what sticks.
– Does it resonate with the audience, is it even the right audience. I say that here on Linkedin but arguably there’s much better forums to chat on and not have to “sell”
– Get rid of the tired…. Brutal I know. But if your leadership didn’t do a deal in the last 12m. What are they doing beyond people management and wining and dining Snr TAs.
– Bake in BD outreach to the every day…. Can be phone, email, linkedin etc. Front foot mindset where you have a commodity and need to know where to put it. That’s not a Automation Spray and Prey, it’s a find a commodity of value and know your market.
– Not only what are your ICPs what is the candidates ICP and do you have stories (not made up ones) you can discuss when presenting a CV or an idea. Context is key – hence why so damn tough for those new to the industry or stuck servicing the enterprise black hole recruitment portals. (Yuck!)
– Hire for the curious, you can’t be hiring those not interested in diving deeper – done it before and works out horribly – budget can go to a managers head / so too can being told you need to hire asap. Rushed decisions bite you in the ass!
Caveat, I don’t proclaim to be an oracle – after all I’m a one man band, doing reasonably well and with plans to grow and conscious this might be something I need to reconsult in the future.
(also good old GPT for illustrating my prompts – who doesn’t like to see one tricky ponies saving an oil tanker).
