6 Sure-fire Ways To Make 2017 Your Highest Billing Year Ever

2016 was certainly a year for the record books, with some surprising outcomes that left a lot of people worried and fretting about the future. Yet as we go into 2017 wondering what the year might bring, the one thing that’s certain is that worrying about the possible impact of Brexit or Trump’s ascension to the White House…isn’t actually going to change a single thing.

What will change your life in 2017 is you taking action and doing things, not worrying about what you can’t change. You are the only person that can affect your performance this year- in both your professional and personal life.

We can’t pretend to know a lot about your personal life, but we do know a thing or two about recruitment, and what it takes to be a top biller.

So here are out top tips to make this year your highest billing year ever.

1. Work out what it is you do best…and DO MORE OF IT.

Sometimes, we wear ourselves out trying to be ‘jack of all trades’ when it comes to our jobs. We want to be great at every aspect, but with the recruitment industry changing so fast it can be hard to keep abreast of all the new trends, mapping systems, software, seminars and social media strategies that seem to pull us in a million different directions—and this probably stops us from doing any of them to our highest potential.

In 2017 take stock of what it is that you do best and what gets you the optimum results, and start to specialise more. Pour your efforts into it and you’ll soon be known as someone who excels at something, rather than someone who’s competent at lots of things.

Do you excel at pitching face to face? Are you a great cold-caller? Is talent mapping and reaching out to passive candidates your particular talent? Is your social media strategy paying amazing dividends? Do you have a great success recruiting students at job fairs? Focus on the thing that works for you …and do more of it. We’re not saying drop your other obligations, just prioritise what works.

2. Eat your frogs for breakfast (and other productivity techniques)

Mark Twain once wrote: ‘Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” This gnarly saying has evolved into the workplace productivity hack of ‘eating your frogs for breakfast’, which means that you should attack the thing you want to do least first thing in the morning, thereby creating a flush of pride and momentum to carry you through your day. It takes a little getting used to, but it works!

For those who love productivity tips, there’s also the Pareto Principle, which determines that 20% of your efforts deliver 80% of your results. This idea suggests that you should heavily prioritise the high payoff tasks such as pitching good leads/finding referrals/meeting with good candidates, as they will move your career forwards in significant ways that other tasks such as admin rarely do.

Of course you need to find a balance of doing both, but consider what has the highest pay-off when scheduling your day, and move low pay-off activities to your less productive times of day.

3. Tailor your pitches carefully to each client

Modern life is a barrage of marketing messages, and decision makers face an endless chorus of phone calls and emails from people asking for their time and money. So how do you break through the resistance and get yourself an audience with the hiring manager or CEO? And how do you seal the deal? You should personalise your pitch to each client.

To do this, you’ll need to research their business, their niche, and imagine some problems they might be facing. When you get an audience, you need to ask good questions about their recruitment needs, and be ready to answer objections to your offering.

Forget the idea that your service is great and everyone should recognise that immediately—even if your service is great, the client won’t see that unless you tailor your product directly to their business needs. You need to do a lot of homework, but it will pay off if you do it right.

4. Look at things differently than you have before.

A fresh perspective on your network is probably long overdue. Have you really wrung all the good leads out of your existing network? Have you asked your satisfied clients for referrals? Have you gone further and examined your clients’ network for their supplier companies and clients that might benefit from your services?

Have you checked out your candidates’ LinkedIn profiles for qualified people in their network, or have you asked candidates to recommend colleagues to you? A network never stops growing if you put effort into it.

5. Don’t waste quality time pestering reluctant leads (but don’t forget about them either!)

It’s extremely difficult as a recruiter to walk that fine tightrope between being persistent and scaring people off, particularly as we know that it takes on average 8 cold calls to reach a prospect! However, according to Marketing Sherpa, 79% of leads contacted are not ready to accept sales calls for that product. When you encounter an obviously reluctant prospect who gives you absolutely nothing after a couple of calls, you’d be much better off using your time to send them a LinkedIn invite to connect, or emailing them through an interesting blog you’ve written/found on the benefits of using a recruitment service.

Don’t forget about the lead, but instead build the relationship slowly over time while you’re using your time to follow leads that are already primed and ready to close.

6. Act quickly

When you do have a lead, be quick about it. 50% of leads go to the first salesperson to contact the prospect, and you’re 9 times more likely to convert a web lead if you contact the person within five minutes. Also, check out the best (and worst) times to cold call on the above link. Your time is finite, so use it well.

There are so many proactive steps you can take to make 2017 your highest billing year ever, so why not get started today?  Stop worrying, and start doing.

Until next time

Cheryl