Recruitment is a competitive game, so once you’ve won a client over, you most definitely don’t want to lose them. Equally, if you find your competition approaching your existing clients, it’s time to step up and improve engagement.
So, here are a few tips to help you have a better relationship with your clients and become their preferred recruiter...
1. Be attentive, not annoying
Staying in regular contact with your clients is important, especially when you’re working on a live job.
That said, 'regular contact’ shouldn't be harassment. If you don't have any urgent news, a weekly email or call to check in should suffice.
If you find yourself leaving voicemails daily, please stop! Constantly hounding your client is not helpful or productive for either of you – you're just wasting time and irritating your client in the process.
2. Be informative and concise
Finding the perfect candidate for your client's role is exciting. And it can be tempting to send your client a massive list explaining why you think this person is perfect for the job. But honestly, your client doesn't have time to read it. So send them an informative and concise profiling paragraph instead.
Your profiling paragraph should be about 300-350 words, no matter how long your candidate's career history is. If you feel you can't fit everything into this short paragraph, remember your client can look at the CV to get more details.
You paragraph should just highlight your candidate's top skills, pique your client's interest, and ideally, increase your candidate's chance of getting an interview.
3. Make your client’s life easy
A great recruiter anticipates their clients needs before they arise. So when you're recruiting a role for a client, give them all the information you would like if you were them (e.g. interview availability, notice period and salary expectations) right at the start.
Add these detail to your candidate's CV so they're obvious to your client at a glance and easy to find later in the recruitment process. That way, your client will always know the essential information about your candidate and rate you as a recruiter who helps, not hassles.
Winning retained business is one of the best ways to build a strong relationship with your client. If you're curious about how to start working on a retained contract, our eBook will tell you everything you need to know.
