In a fantasy world, when you approach a new company with your staffing agency sales pitch, they would say “Where have you been? We have been waiting for you!” and solid job orders for recruiters will start flowing in.
In the real world, you are one of several recruiters trying to get the same job orders from the same companies. So how do recruitment agencies find clients in today’s market? After meeting with “no less than 100 staffing agencies” over the past several years, Matt Lowney, EVP Talent & Operations for the Buntin Group, offers some tips to help recruiters differentiate themselves to potential clients in his recent Fordyce Letter article, “Staffing Agency Pitch: “We’re Different.” Employer: Yawn.” In the article, Lowney talks about the staffing agency sales pitch he’s heard from recruiters over and over again.
How to Differentiate Your Staffing Agency Sales Pitch
If you think you are going to wow potential clients with your claim to be “different,” your promise to “build relationships,” or by bragging about your proprietary database, think again. Instead, Lowney offers the following suggestions:
- Talk about your recruiting process IN-DEPTH. Lowney says he “will absolutely select a staffing vendor based on the depth of their recruiting process.”
- Explain what really makes you different. You need to be able to tell potential clients in 15 seconds why they would be “insane NOT to work with you as a staffing partner” without regurgitating the same elevator speech they’ve heard a million times, Lowney said. We would suggest that, in this uncertain economy, another way to differentiate yourself is to become a sole-source provider that can handle all of a company’s staffing needs. Can you provide contractors in addition to direct-hires? Can you offer a contract-to-direct option? Better yet, do you know when to suggest contract staffing in response to a particular staffing challenge a client may have?
- Don’t over-promise. If you don’t think you can fill the position, say so. Lowney says he respects honesty, and your potential clients most likely will as well. They may come back to you with job orders you really can fill.
- Provide one point of contact. Lowney likes dealing with the same person every time he calls his staffing partner. If your firm has retention issues, take care of them because clients don’t like having to “retrain” their reps every few months.
If you follow the above steps, getting job orders for recruiters will become easier and easier.
