Hey Recruiter! Want To Know How To Nail Your Sales Calls This Year?

A recruiter who has significant weaknesses in their sales call process, style, or delivery will struggle to achieve greatness as a recruiter. It is that simple.

Most recruitment consultants do have these development areas, In fact; we would go so far as to say nearly everybody does have specific weaknesses in their phone manner or phone pitch. Nobody is perfect—and that is ok, as each sales call you make is an opportunity to learn and get better.

Here are some of our top tips for nailing your sales calls this year.

1. Adapt your style to your different audiences.

A recruiter who speaks the same way to clients as they do to a candidate may well end up losing both. Moreover, passive candidates often take another approach altogether! A good recruiter must be a chameleon, building rapport based on the situation of the person they are talking to.

2. Nailing Sales calls with active candidates

A talented recruiter understands that when they pick up the phone to a candidate, it is about winning hearts and minds. You want them to like you, to trust you. You want to make them feel like you are taking them into confidence when telling them about plum roles, that you genuinely care about their career aspirations, and that you alone are the recruiter that will work tirelessly to find them the right opportunity.

This relationship is about a candidate’s career dreams and your ability to fulfil them.

3. Nailing Sales calls with leads and clients

When it comes talking to clients on the phone, you should remember that this relationship is about business outcomes. It is much more transactional, and you need to quickly prove how your services fulfil a business need for them while confirming that you have the necessary expertise in their sector to outperform other recruiters.

4. Nailing Sales calls with passive candidates

Passive candidates are different again. They are often cautious and even looking for an opportunity to shut the conversation down, mainly if they are quite content in their current role. Here, your phone pitch must lead with an exceptional hook that you have tailored to their specific situation.

‘There’s an EA role at a blue-chip IT company offering an exceptional package, and your impressive tech sector background made me think of you immediately. You were recommended to me by X, who worked with you at… (You may have found this candidate on LinkedIn, but you have done your extra homework and made contact with one of their connections to create a link between you.)

With the passive candidate, you need to have something very attractive to offer them on the very first call.

5. Getting over your fear of phones!

It is many recruiters’ dirty little secret: you actually really don’t like cold calling, and will often spend extra time social selling or managing your database rather than picking up the phone. Yet how good you are at this one skill will reflect in your billing numbers, and every single time you get on the phone, you get better at it.

We have written an entire blog post on why cold calling still really, really matters in today’s recruitment landscape, with plenty of tips on how to be good at.

6. Don’t try so hard.

By this, we do not mean put your feet up on the desk and take the afternoon off. We suggest that you need to stop radiating desperation down the phone.

This often takes one of two forms: either you talk nineteen to the dozen about all the services you offer (forgetting to tailor your pitch to the customer’s specific needs), or you spend the five minutes telling the lead about your amazing success as a recruiter, in the hope that they’ll be so dazzled by your accomplishments that they’ll take you on as their recruiter immediately.

Both of these approaches are common and understandable—you want to hook them and prove your worth before they hang up. However, both forget the first rule of sales calls…

7. Remember, it is all about them.

Sales call success in recruitment comes from the simple understanding that:

1. Every company has business needs to be filled, and

2. People like to talk about themselves.

As a recruiter, you need to do your research before you call so that you understand their position and can speculate that they may have business needs they need filling, or what kind of jobs a candidate might be interested in. Moreover, then you have some searching questions ready!

‘I have seen that you have just moved to new premises. Are you expanding your team?’

‘I notice that you have had a couple of vacancies advertised for some time, are you interested in a new recruitment approach? I have some suitable candidates ready for interview.’

I see from LinkedIn that you have powerful experience in the retail sector. We have multiple exciting opportunities, such as…’

Additionally, rapport is created when you ask people questions about themselves not necessarily related to recruitment. If there’s just been a bank holiday, you can ask them if they had a good one, or if you are calling a repeat client, ask them about their family. This stuff matters, particularly in a world where the actual human conversation is being superseded by social media and AI!

8. Use your industry knowledge to impress the (or get some, quick)

Peppering your pitch with interesting information tailored to the client or candidate’s sector or position is a powerful way to advertise your expertise.

What do you know about recruitment trends in the UK that might be relevant to them, or what have you read about the economy that might lead to a boom in a specific sector? You should always be reading recruitment news and current affairs with an eye to how you can use this information to help your candidates and clients.

9. Be yourself.

Have you noticed your ‘phone voice’ is quite different to your real voice? Do you find your voice rises an octave when you get on the phone, your heart starts beating faster, and you start to talk very rapidly?

If so, you have not quite nailed talking on the phone just yet. No doubt you have also noticed that when you do have a sales call where you are feeling comfortable and relaxed, things are so much more enjoyable and smooth!

It is a great idea to get relaxed before phone calls you are nervous about. Take a walk round the block, do some deep breathing, and run through a mock phone call with a friend a few times. Practice does make perfect—as long as you are noting what you do each time differently, and see what works.

Remember, even top billers (perhaps especially top billers) work to improve their sales calls. It is an ongoing process that you will become better and better at throughout your career, as long as you are willing to adapt your approaches and never stop trying.

Until next time,

Cheryl