When the client is talking, you are selling!

Most recruiters are good talkers.

We do it all day, right?

And most recruiters think that ‘selling’ means ‘pitching’ or ‘persuading’, or ‘spinning’. Having ‘good chat‘ is highly prized.

But there is a problem with that.

A big one.

And it raises its head at the most critical time. And it so often undermines recruiter success.

I was guilty of the same mistake for many years. I must still fight the urge every day.

What urge?

The urge to ‘tell’. The instinct to jump in and ‘preach’.

The innate belief that ‘selling’ means talking.

Most recruiters at a client meeting (remember those?) can’t wait to tell the client what they can do. How good they are. How they are different. Some even start the meetings with that.

And in minutes, you can see the clients’ eyes glaze over. And that’s when they are in right front of you! Imagine what they are doing on the phone…

It is natural to want to talk. You want to impress. Get your credentials across. Show the client you have the answers. You are passionate. You believe you can help.

But that is not selling.

Selling starts with questions and listening.

Think about it. The client says he is frustrated. Other agencies are providing ‘second tier’ candidates. Quick as a flash, you leap into a rant about how you have the best database, understand the market intimately, and start to quote your job-fill ratios!

No matter how articulate you are, this is likely to sound pushy, even cocky. And anyway, you do not really know what the client is saying yet.

So much better to explore.

“In what areas are the candidates you are seeing most deficient?”

“What categories of candidates do you see this happen most often?”

“Why do you think they are doing this?”

“What specifically are you looking for that you are not getting?”

“What is the profile of a ‘Tier One’ candidate as far as you are concerned?”

The client explains. You probe. The client elaborates. The real issue is uncovered. By the client doing the talking!

It’s precisely the same with candidates.

Except it’s never been more critical as it is in this current market.

“Be slow to understand.”

The candidate says s/he is looking for ‘career progression‘ as a reason for a job change. Plenty of recruiters will write that down and move on.

That is only the beginning!

“What does ‘career’ mean to you?”

“Have you discussed your career aspirations with your current employer?”

“What else is important to you in your next role?”

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

You are burrowing in deep!

Peel the onion and find the real motivators.

You are not showing yourself in a good light by ‘leaping in‘ at every opportunity.

People like to feel they have come to a decision themselves. They want to be heard.

Intelligent questions build trust and credibility.

And people take advice from people who they trust and find credible.

I have said it for years, and it shocks recruiters every time.

At a client meeting, the client does 70% of the talking

Not only that, for the first 30 minutes, you do even less than 30%

Talking is not selling.

Certainly, when you do talk, it needs to be spot on, that’s for sure.

But what you say will depend on what you hear.

And what you hear will depend on the questions you ask.

So never forget.

When the client is talking, you are selling.

Acknowledgement. It took me years to learn this. And I still must work on it. But the first time I heard the sentence “When the client is talking, you are selling”, it was from my brother Chris Savage. So, I stole it at once and use it all the time.

But it is not the sentence that’s important for all of us.

It’s the skill and ability, and discipline to actually do it.

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