Slow Sales? Blame the Recruiters!
In the sales/recruiter split model there is this small misconception in the departments of many recruiting companies that the recruiters are meant to get sales leads for the sales people. This misconception stems directly and irrefutably from the mind numbing incompetence of the sales departments and the complicit indifference of the recruiting management.
Popular Model:
• Recruiter: Generate Leads, Prospect, Cold Call, Source, Qualify, Submit, Sell, Skill Market, Close and do all the paperwork
• Sales: Warm Call into recruiter lead, take req, forward candidate, get paid, complain that recruiter is not generating leads, come in late and leave early.
Is there a disparity here? You bet.
So, I spoke about this to a Sales Manager at Philips Medical Systems who sells about $15 million worth of medical devices per year. I asked what do you think of the sales guy who won’t prospect? He said ”He doesn’t want to do his job.” Amen.
Let’s break it down:
• Recruiter: Research, Source, Qualify, Sell candidate on job, Submit, Skill Market, Close the CANDIDATE
• Sales: Research, Generate Leads, Qualify, Cold Call Client, Skill Market, Sell candidate on job, Sell Candidate to client, Close The CLIENT
Solution:
Make your sales people do their job. It is their job to prospect, research, and cold call. If they don’t do these three things every day, you ought to fire them.
If your recruiters don’t generate leads, don’t coerce them into it. Find a way to motivate them.
Suggestions for motivating recruiters:
• Give them a referral bonus for new clients (don’t be cheap, $100 for a client that brings you $1 million in revenue is cheap).
• Create a contest where the recruiter with the most leads in a week get’s a house hit.
• Recognize your people for their efforts, even somethign as small as a card or taking them out to lunch will work wonders.
Conclusion:
If you have enabled the work ethic degradation of your sales force by requiring your recruiters to do the sales jobs you need to do something before your recruiters find greener pastures.
