LinkedIn was the winner, by a landslide, with 92 percent of respondents reporting they had successfully placed candidates found there. LinkedIn was also the most productive in terms of time spent: 97 percent of IT recruiters report using it; and 92 percent report finding strong candidates there. Other channels, like Facebook and Twitter, weren’t nearly as productive for finding candidates – though of course there are other reasons to use them.

What has your experience been? Have you had good luck finding strong candidates via Twitter, Facebook or Google+? Please share!

Clearly, our focus now should be on helping neighbors and other communities recover. But as I helplessly watched floods sweep away the businesses of friends in Vermont I wondered, might the widespread adoption of software-as-a-service ease recovery from this and future disasters?

Anyone running their business with cloud-based software like Bullhorn, Google Apps, or NetSuite can get back to their business information exactly where they left off once power and Internet access return. Or even sooner now that SaaS apps can be accessed via smartphones. Employees on the road or working from other offices remain fully productive regardless of the situation at headquarters. In contrast, customer lists, order information, accounting data and any other business information managed via servers on the premises may be lost for good.

The same holds true for consumers. Treasured family pictures stored with Snapfish and personal financial information with Mint will still be there. Of course these things represent just a fraction of what is lost, but are still no doubt meaningful.

Some might counter that we’ve just concentrated the business continuity risk into a few huge data centers so that if a disaster hits one of them then thousands of businesses will be taken out at one time. But last week’s events, which hammered data centers up and down the East Coast, proved that they are well-prepaired. For instance, Bullhorn’s data center has multiple, redundant internet and power connections as well as several stand-by diesel generators with thousands of gallons of fuel for on-site back-up power. Not to mention back-up routines and an ops staff larger than even our biggest customers could support on their own.

So while macroeconomic uncertainty still tops business leaders’ list of worries, recent disasters remind us that the age-old perils still exist. Hopefully Matt gets power back soon and can move operations back inside. That is, until it starts raining frogs and the plague of locusts hits.

For those of you who could not make the #truBoston event, we collected video, Twitter, and blog content that captures many of the great recruiting and staffing discussions.

VIDEO from the event

#truBoston – Future For Recruiting Part 1 | Top Trends for Candidates, Companies, & Tools	#truBoston – Future For Recruiting Part 2 | Creating Social Content to Attract Job Candidates	#truBoston – Future For Recruiting Part 3 | Correlation Between Social Recruiting & Candidates	#truBoston – Future For Recruiting Part 4 | What Gets Good Job Candidates in the Door?

#truBoston – Social Candidate Sourcing Using Twitter, Foursquare, & Empire Avenue	#truBoston – UPS Social Media Recruiting Case Study Part 1 – TMP Worldwide	#truBoston – UPS Social Media Recruiting Case Study Part 2 – TMP Worldwide

TWEETS from the event

Bill Boorman, Mike Vangel, Steve Levy, Max Heywood, Johnny Campbell, Melissa Kaplan, Kerry Noone, Jeff Moore, Geoff Webb, Meghan M. Biro, Bullhorn Live, Bullhorn Reach, Art Papas and Steven Duque on Twitter.

BLOGS from the event

Max Heywood on #truBoston
Bill Boorman – The Recruiting Unblog on #truBoston
Geoff Webb on #truBoston
Leanne Chase on #truBoston
Tom Bolt on #truBoston
Martin Couzins on #truBoston
Photos from #truBoston

Excerpt from Steven Duque’s blog entry:
“Recruiters often forget the “social” part of social media. During his session on UPS’ social recruiting efforts, TMP Worldwide’s Mike Vangel agreed: “Respect for dignity as a person is often lost in the automation of social recruiting.” In a similar vein, recruiting veteran Steve Levy, an endless fount of funny but poignant sayings at #TRUBoston, added, “The best unused social media tools are the phone call and the handshake.” We at Bullhorn agree.”    Read more here.

Assuming you established your sales goal….here is what you need to be thinking about to ensure you will be celebrating your sales goal on December 31, 2011.

1. What is your current run rate?  How much GP (gross profit) are you generating today on a weekly basis?  When do those contracts come up for renewal or end?  You should know if a contract is going to end at least 30 days prior in order to have an accurate sales forecast and so you can understand when and how your personal book of business will be impacted.  The point here is you need to determine how much of your current book of business is going to get you to your 2011 goal.  Will your current run rate make up  10% or 30% of your 2011 goal? Once you determine the delta (how much new business you need to develop in 2011 to make up the difference from your run rate) you can move on to step two.
2. What is your average deal size?  This is easy to figure out.  Count up the number of consultants you have on billing and look at the hourly GP margins for each.  Add them all up and divide by the total.  This is your average hourly GP margin. Next, determine the average number of hours in a contract. Multiply that number by your average hourly GP number.  This is your average deal size in Gross Profit dollars.
3. What is your closure rate?  Look at the total number of job orders put into your system in 2010 and divide by the number of job orders you filled.  This is your sales closure rate.  Industry average is around 30% or 3 fills out of 10 job orders.

Let me stop for a second.  Let’s assume my goal is to generate $500K in GP-All from New Business Development.  My average deal size is $28,650 in GP dollars. And I close 1 out of every 6 job orders. What this means is I will need to close 17.5 deals in 2011 in order to reach my goal.

Sales Activity Planning

Remember the delta I mentioned above…the difference between your current run rate (book of business) and the amount you of business you will need to generate from new business?  Determine your delta and apply the following

Determine how much sales activity you will need to generate in 2011 in order to make up that delta.  The good news is I have done the work for you.

Here is what I have found from my 15 years of selling in this industry.

1. For every 35 phone calls (cold calls) we make, we reach one hiring manager who we speak with for at least 5 minutes and properly qualify and add to our CRM system(this is important, so be honest with yourself)
2. For every 6 new prospects we add to our CRM system, we receive 1 new job order (if you do better than this, great.  But again, be honest with yourself)

Back to My Fictional Scenario.

Based on my sales closure rate (1 out of 6), I need 100 new job orders in order to close 17.5 new deals.  Based on my averages above this means I will need to add 600 new prospects to my CRM system.  And in order to add three new qualified prospects to my CRM system (600 for the year) each day that means I will have to make 105 calls per day (1 qualified manager for every 35 dials).

Here’s the kicker…..I need the $500K in GP to be RECOGNIZED REVENUE in 2011.  This means I need my consultants billing ASAP, in order for their billings to hit the books.  And don’t forget to factor in the length of your average sales cycle which probably in the neighborhood of 10-23 business days.

Know Your Ratios

Your ratios (closure rate, call-to-connect rate, etc) may differ from what I have outlined here. The point is that you need to know your ratios.  I can assure you that Tiger Woods knows how many greens he hits in regulation and that A-Rod knows his on base % and slugging %.  Sales professionals are no different. Know your ratios!
If you are anything like me, you will find that doing this work and figuring this stuff out is actually liberating.  It feels good to know exactly what you need to do on a daily basis in order to reach your goal. Going through this exercise actually allows you to hold yourself accountable.  That is a powerful thing.  And if you don’t think this exercise -figuring out your goals and having a plan to hit your goal- is worth the time than you might need to consider whether sales is the right profession for you.

Best of luck in 2011!

Dan Fisher is Founder and Managing Director of Menemsha Group, a Boston sales training and consulting organization.  To learn more visit http://www.menemshagroup.com/ or email dan at menemshagroup dot com.

If you didn’t generate the sales opportunity through your own prospecting, relationship building and qualifying efforts on your own than you have a slim to zero chance of actually winning the opportunity.  Have you ever received an RFP from a prospective company where you (and your company) didn’t have much or any relationship with the prospective client but they still included you in the RFP process?  Sure you have.  We all have!  Did it ever dawn on you to question it…”gee, why are they including us, we don’t have a relationship with them.”  These are the opportunities I’m talking about.  99% of them are a waste of time.  IBM actually did a study on this and discovered that if you didn’t “create the opportunity and set the buying criteria,” than you have less than a 10% chance of winning it.  The reason is some other sales person out there has been working their tail off creating and cultivating the opportunity.  They set the buying criteria and vision of the ideal solution with the customer and in many cases even wrote or contributed to the RFP themselves.  Don’t waste your time on these, instead invest your time on creating your own opportunities.  Of course it is more work, that is what sales is.  Focus your time and energy on creating your own opportunities and you will significantly increase your close rate.  And you will have much healthier pipeline.

Rule #2

If you simply can’t resist responding because the RFP opportunity is ” too good” pass then……You must find out who is on the decision making committee and what each member’s role is on the committee.  I know the procurement person who sent you the RFP will clearly tell you “If we find that you have contacted anyone in our company regarding this opportunity, your company will no longer be considered.”  Whippidy do!!  We already have a 90% chance of losing!   Instead, go around this person (their job is to keep you at bay so don’t even bother asking for their help) and  uncover who the decision makers are and push for a face to face meeting (our training teaches you how to get and run these meetings) to interview each decision maker and uncover the business drivers for the initiative and what their ideal solution is to solve the problem(s) they seek to fix.  Without this information how can you expect to pitch a solution that will meet their needs?  Now I know some of you reading this disagree with me and might be saying “I won the ABC account off of an RFP bid like this and we now do $5M in business with the customer.”  If that is the case that is great.   But how many RFP’s just like that one have you had to bid on before you actually won that one account?  Let’s not forgot about the most valuable asset of all and the one we have the least of.  TIME.  It takes a ton of time to gather the information requested in these RFP’s.  So let’s be sure we qualify the heck out of the opportunity before making the decision to invest the time.  Deciding when to compete and what strategy to deploy are critical to your success.

In my next post I will some ideas on how to write winning proposals.  Because at the end of the day, we should really be presenting proposals, not responding to RFP’s.  There is a difference between the two.   Specifically I’ll share with you the most important part of the proposal  including the key ingredients that go into a successful proposal.

Thanks and Happy Selling!

Dan Fisher is Founder and Managing Director of Menemsha Group, a Boston sales training and consulting organization.  To learn more visit http://www.menemshagroup.com/ or email dan at menemshagroup dot com.

As we all know, the employment market is currently very challenging and many or most organizations do not have budget to hire consultants.  But rather than hoping our prospect or client doesn’t bring up the “no budget/not hiring” objection, we need to do the opposite.  We need to bring it up.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We as sales people need to bring up that objection and address it head-on.  If we don’t address it head on and wait for our prospect or customer to bring it up (which we know they will), then we’re stuck in objection handling mode.  And coming up with a rebuttal for this objection is much more difficult to overcome than if we address this objection on our terms.  Here is an abbreviated sample conversation:

Recruiter/Sales Rep: “John, can I assume you’re business circumstances are similar to most of my other customers in that you’re not hiring and don’t have budget to hire any additional help now or in the near future?

Customer: “Yes Dan that is the case. I wish I could but the funding is locked down.  We are currently not spending any money on new hires.  Try me back in 6 months.”

Recruiter/Sales Rep:  Show empathy for his current situation “Gosh John, how are you and your team coping with that?”

Customer: “Well Dan we are swamped but we are getting by”

Recruiter/Sales Rep:  “John, now that we understand that and expectations are clear that you don’t have budget to hire, let’s change gears and talk about your current projects and all this work that is keeping you so busy.”

Customer: “Uh, ok Dan, what specifically would you like to discuss?”
From here we steer the conversation to learn more about the specific details of their projects and more specifically the challenges and issues the customer currently faces.

By leading with the objection we take away the prospect’s excuse for not talking with us.  Now that we have eliminated their objection from their “bag of objections,” we are able to move forward with the conversation and discuss their projects and challenges.  Now you may be asking yourself, “Why would I want to talk with a manager who has no budget and can’t hire?”  Because in a down economy you have to actually sell in order to generate job orders and make placements.   And by selling I mean creating sales opportunities where no pre-defined, budget approved job order exists.  More specifically, you have to identify the customer’s pain points or critical business issues and then convert that into a job order.  And right now, in this tough economy, your prospects and customers have a ton of “pain.”  You just have to identify it and convert it into a sales opportunity. 

The difference between a down economy and a good economy is that in a good economy your customers have these very same issues and challenges but you never know about them because you never have to ask.  They just give you a job order. But now, in a down economy, you have to uncover what those issues are and sell to them.  You have to offer a solution to their problem.  In a good economy they do that for you by developing a pre-defined job order.

In a tough economy you need to stop seeking out pre-defined job orders and instead seek out customer problems.  It’s only when you find a customer problem that you have an opportunity to make a sale.

By Dan Fisher
Menemsha Group
Dan can be reached by email at dan at menemsha group dot com.

The sales process continues to be plagued by delay after delay and moves at a snails pace.  I figure the timing couldn’t be better between this revelation and the fact that I hosted a sales training workshop on this very topic at last week’s Staffing World hosted by the American Staffing Association in Las Vegas.;  How To Manage The Sales Cycle and Close More Deals Quickly & Efficiently

What I have come to realize in our industry is that our sales process can be described as a random sequence of events.  We get a job order from a customer-either over the phone, via email or in a client meeting-post it to our internal CRM system and the job boards and write it up on our white board in our office for all to stare at -and then we simply focus on finding and submitting candidates.  Beyond that we have no clue as to what needs to happen in order for our deals to close.  We just hope we submitted the most qualified candidate for the job.  Many of the common sales bottlenecks and major points of frustration occur when we try to get feedback from our client’s on the candidate resumes, when we try to schedule interviews or when we try to get feedback after an interview and/or attempt to get the client to make a final decision.   It’s one delay after the other.   And we all know time kills all deals.   So what is one to do?   How can we prevent these delays and keep the process moving forward? 

Understanding the Problem

First we must understand the problem.  The problem is twofold.   Our first problem is that we focus exclusively on the tasks that we have to complete and far too often fail to recognize, understand and appreciate the tasks that our client has to complete in order to hire our consultant or temporary employee.  This is why I typify our sales process as a “random sequence of events.”  After we complete all of our tasks (take job order, screen candidates, interview candidates, reference checks, etc..) we stop selling.  We go into “wait and see mode” and hope to hear back from the client because we think once our candidate completes the face-to-face client interview that we are now at the end of the sales cycle.   We’re not. 

And that leads me to the second problem.  We stop selling.  We stop selling because we have completed all of our tasks in the sales process but we fail to understand and recognize where our customer is in their purchasing process. 

Selling Beyond the Submittal & Interview Process

In my workshop last  week I shared  with the group how and why we need to continue to sell well beyond the submittal and interview process.  We explored all of the steps or tasks that a typical client has to complete in order to hire a consultant or temporary employee and why it is critically important that we understand these steps.   I also shared how to lead your customer through their purchasing process by applying project management principles. Lastly,  I shared strategies on how to eliminate these bottlenecks. In the end, the group was able to discover that the sales process is your customer’s purchasing process and that you earn commissions based on what your client does. 

If you’re interested in putting an end to the frustrating bottlenecks in your sales opportunities and would like to close more deals quickly and more efficiently, give me a call at (617) 506-1186 or simply email me at dan at menemshagroup dot com

Dan Fisher

Managing Director

Menemsha Group

“Sales Best Practices” Monthly Newsletter

First, we must be certain we are doing an effective job of disarming our prospects and making them feel comfortable in speaking with us.  Ultimately, if our prospects don’t “let us into their world,” we will never learn about their business issues and thus be able to offer ideas and solutions to those business issues.  If a prospect is afraid to make themselves vulnerable to you than you have not effectively disarmed them.  Think of the movie Goodwill Hunting and how Robin Williams (the psychologist) had to make Matt Damon (patient) feel comfortable before he would open up and talk.  For tips on how to do this check out my white paper, Cold Calling Tips & Techniques.  Now back to that objection.

When I first got into sales and I started hearing the “I’m happy with my current vendor” objection, I use to always respond by asking “if you could change one thing about your vendor, what would it be?”  My hope was that that the prospect would tell me something about their vendor that they were not happy with and thus give me an opening.  But I almost always got a “nothing, our vendor is great” response.  And in those rare occasions when the prospect did have something negative to say about their vendor they always counter balanced it by saying “but I don’t expect my vendor to be perfect,” or “but that doesn’t mean I’m looking for a new vendor.”  In the end, I never got through the objection.  Until one day, and on accident I finally broke through.  Here is what happened.

Client: “Dan, were happy with our current suppliers, but you’re more than welcome to stay in touch.  Try me back in 6-9 months.”

Dan: “Thanks for the feedback Mr. customer.  Despite how much I really want your business, I’m sincerely happy for you and your company and how well your vendor has performed.  Let  me ask you, what is their secret?  It’s as if they are perfect.”

Client: Goes on to tell me about all these great things their vendor does and what they love about them.

The client just went on and on about how great his vendor his, what am I suppose to do?  I had nothing to say in response because I was stuck.  I didn’t know how to respond.  So we have a long uncomfortable pause that seemed to last forever.  While I’m thinking of how to respond the customer finally speaks up (after a long pause) and says “You know Dan, I guess the one area that has been a concern is…..”

First, I was relieved that the customer said something, because I had no idea where to take the conversation.  He sort of let me off the hook because nothing was coming to mind.  Second, and more importantly, he opened up the door for me to ask further clarifying and qualifying questions to understand this concern in further detail.  We went ahead and had a conversation about that concern and how I thought I might be able to address it.  Long story short, that prospect became a customer.  So what is the lesson learned?

When a prospect gives you the “I’m happy with my current vendor” objection ask them the following question:  “What do you like best about working with ABC Company?”  No matter what they say in response, wait 7-10 seconds even if it seems like an eternity and becomes an uncomfortable moment of silence (which it will).  See if the prospect offers up a negative comment or concern about their current supplier. Not always, but often they will.  And as my example above shows, a prospective typically will not share with you what they don’t like about their current supplier when blatantly ask them. But you can pull it out of them if you are patient and tactful.   Remember, the key to this is to shut your mouth and not say a word no matter how unnerving it is.  Try it next time you hear the objection and see how the conversation goes.  Once you get the prospect to share their point of dissatisfaction with their supplier it is up to you to turn that “pain point” into a sales opportunity. Keep asking questions. 

Dan Fisher
Managing Director, Menemsha Group 

Do you realize what starts with the Big Boys trickles down the food chain? I hope so, because we have seen that happen with VOP, Prime Vendor, Vendor Management, etc. 

Are you aware that some larger recruiting firms are now getting more than half heir revenue by providing services vs. earning placement fees?

 
Perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming freight train! YIKES
How do you plan to adjust to this new reality?

Shall we jump for joy? Perhaps this time it will be different for the Temp Staffing Industry and for Direct Placement. Educated clients are squeezing their labor budgets. They want more services and want to pay less. They are consolidating suppliers to cut internal costs and they are outsourcing many non core functions.

Will you want to shave your margins to retain clients? Do you to fight pricing with the big public companies?  Or should you start right now looking at how you do business?  Can you cut costs by using technology or by outsourcing some functions? Should you merge or partner with another firm to shave overhead costs? Until the economy gets overheated again it is a bit of a buyers market for talent.

Stay alert in 2010 because this time, it is different for our industry.
 

Jim Volpe