Not every recruiting or marketing call gets the level of success I experienced yesterday but it reminded me that if you know what you are trying to acheive from a telephone conversation and consistently look to maximise the call you will enjoy a higher level of success - but its also just as important to recognise when to bow out, politely, knowing that continuing the converstion is just that, a conversation without a return or value.

Many recruiters enjoy their busy day having lots of good contacts with candidates and clients but when you break it down they find it difficult to quantify the success from the calls they made. I think it is important that a recruiter understands that there should be a broad structure to each and every conversation, afterall we are in the business of gathering useful information that will lead to a placement, a Job Order, a qualified candidate etc etc. You need to know how to "work the call" to your best advantage if you "Want to be a Big Biller?"

Here's what I mean... and by no means the full conversation!

The primary aim was to attract a candidate

I put in a recruiting call to an individual who's name I had gatrhered the day before. He worked at a company who my client had identified as a competitor. Making my presentation of the challenging role on offer with a dynamic organisation, the target told me he had recently been promoted and was not on the market. Pushing a little harder he indicated that he could be open minded for the right opportunity in the future, but on a scale of 1-5 he was in the middle. So this guy was not moving!

Now I could at this point just walk away. But we all know that that is not the Big Biller response... so I moved into referal mode, looking for him to tell me who I should be speaking to in the market. A name was forthcoming immediately. Time to move on to my next call? No!

By now I had built rapport and credibility with the individual. He was talking to me openly, almost as a friend. But I was looking for more from the call. This was not the time to exit!

I led him down the route of talking about his company and where he saw the market going. Valuable information for my search assignment but allowing me to build in a subtle sales pitch around how search could attract the top 10% of employees in his market, the Top Talent beneficial to his business.

At this point it was time to turn the tables

Positively, I moved into sales mode and introduced an MPC (most presentable candidate) and their unique skills and achievements who I felt confident could spark a response from him... the candidate had been resourced from my current search, but geographically would not be suitable for my current assignment. (I believe in using your full toolkit). My new target client was impressed with the calibre of individuals I represented. Even more so when I told him I had taken a verbal reference which was exceptional!

He then asked me if I could help him recruit for a challenging role that he now knew would benefit search. Its always better to get the client to ask you to work with them than touting for business!

So, we moved on to discussing the Job Order, agreeing fees and scheduling interview dates..... pretty much a perfect call - all in the space of an hour.

Now this doesn't happen every time, of course, but recruiters need to recognise that if they engage well with anyone on the phone, don't give up the call when you primary objective is covered. Remember, the person on the other end of the phone improve your income in other way. Maximise the call on every occassion!