Even with the best will in the world if you don’t have clients, you don’t have a recruitment agency. But how do you go about obtaining new clients without making the dreaded cold call? Clients are getting savvier at avoiding cold calls and even if you do get through, the chances of that cold call turning into your best client are low.
If you’re a new recruitment agency, lead sourcing is incredibly important. While established agencies often find that the leads come to them, this isn’t the case for new agencies. Your first instinct might be to start dialling – and this should definitely part of your overall approach – but there are other avenues you can take to get new clients, without ever having to pick up the phone to a person you’ve never spoken to before.
In recruitment it’s all about building relationships with employers and using the methods below can help you to build the foundations to a long and successful partnership.
Social media is a goldmine
If you’re not already (who isn’t nowadays?!), get yourself on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and any other relevant social media platforms for the industry you are recruiting in. Social media is a great tool for building strong relationships with employers and positioning yourself as an authority figure within the sectors you recruit for.
Reaching out to an employer on social media, even just a retweet or starting a meaningful conversation about things that actually matter to them, can go a long way in positioning yourself as a trusted source of information. While this method doesn’t produce results immediately it does mean that when an engaged employer needs to hire staff you’re amongst the first people they think of.
Social media is all about helping people, having conversations, engaging with them – something that doesn’t normally have a direct or quick return attributable to it. But the recruiters who understand this are the ones who continually build strong relationships with employers because they know it’s all about investing in their brand.
Dedicate time to your shop front
Attracting traffic to your website organically is proven to be one of the most effective ways to generate leads. As a recruitment agency don’t neglect your website in favour of online job boards – investing time in your website and dedicating time to SEO and regularly updating your blog can attract more than just candidates.
Don’t ignore SEO (search engine optimisation). By making small changes to your website you can improve your agency’s ranking in Google, which will drive organic (free) traffic to it. One crucial factor in this is content.
According to HubSpot, B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those that don’t.
By building a blog that’s regularly updated with informative, engaging posts about the industry you recruit in will attract potential clients that are interested in what you have to offer, and as with social media relationships when they need to make hires you’ll be amongst the first they think of.
We live in a world now where transaction processes don’t happen impulsively – customers Google, research and ask questions, so a sales pitch out of the blue just doesn’t cut it any more. Obviously, don’t neglect picking up the phone and speaking to an actual human being. But before you start dialling, do you know and understand this employer? Are you offering a solution to a problem? If yes, dial away.
We’re literally scratching the surface here with this initial blog post as there are clearly many more ways in which leads can be generated. We’d argue that some activities are more essential than others though. The things we’ve covered above should probably be considered essential foundation elements of building your brand, developing a presence and voice, and preparing the way for your lead generation machine to get up to speed.
So, if you are thinking about launching your own recruitment company but worry about having to juggle your daily job of recruiting with all the tasks like optimising your website, creating blogs and updating your social media profiles – then Talk to us about how we can help. We can provide you with all the necessary funding and investment as well as support in marketing, IT, HR, legal and finance so you can concentrate on your clients and candidates.
