If 2019 has already been a blur and you've not had a chance to plan for the year ahead, it's time to take a moment. After all, if you fail to plan then you plan to fail. So, read on and discover what you need to do to have your best sales year yet!
1. Review your strategy
To look forwards, sometimes you need to look back first. Sit down and review your sales strategy from last year and figure out what you did well and what could be improved.
Once you've assessed your previous year's performance and the number of placements you've made, you can then work backwards to figure out what you need to do month to month to achieve your annual goals for this year.
We've got a great eBook that guides you in how to create personal KPIs for the year based on your own unique recruiting processes - download it here.
2. Buddy up
Determine any skills you need to develop to improve upon last year's performance. If you're struggling with a particular area of your job, identify the person within your agency who seems to have the most success in that area and try to learn from them.
Are they doing something that you aren't that seems to make this part of their job easier? Do they know something that you don't? Ensure that you learn from the best by 'buddying' up with the person who's excelling at what you are struggling with.
3. Review your digital footprint
The start of a year is a perfect time to review your online presence. Check your social channels: Does your LinkedIn profile need a refresh? What about your bio on the 'meet the team' page on your agency's website?
We live in a digital age where both clients and candidates will check you out online. Don't think they will just look at your LinkedIn profile, because that's definitely not the case. Make sure all your profiles reflect the professional traits you want to promote. If you've done a great job with a client or candidate, reach out to them and ask them to write a recommendation for you. You're only as credible as your last job!
To see if your profiles need a refresh, perform a five-second test: If a stranger landed on your profile, could they tell what you do within five seconds? If not, you need to make some changes!
As recruiters, your profiles should describe the challenges you help your clients and candidates overcome - it shouldn't read like a CV with a list of past accomplishments. Make it easy for them to buy into you and tell them exactly what you're good at.
4. Personal development
Often recruiters feel they don't have the time or resource to work on their personal development striving to continuously learn and improve your knowledge at work is the key to staying motivated.
In this game, you can always be learning more to help you perform even better. So, take some time out to identify how you want to improve on your existing knowledge this year. Maybe you want to start reading more, listening to more podcasts and industry Crowdcasts (I know a great one for recruiters - not that I'm biased!) or attending training days or courses.
For me, I've been trying to read more this year. In the evening, I've replaced my smartphone and social media time with reading time and I'm loving it (and finding it relaxing too)!
5. Confirm your differentiators
And finally, make sure you're clear on what makes you different from your competitors. Talk to some of your clients and find out why they chose to work with you (and what would make them switch and use someone else too!).
To improve, you first need to want to get better. Once you've committed to this and developed a personal development plan for the year ahead, sit down and discuss your goals with your manager. How do these goals tie into your agency's sales strategy? How can your manager work with you to make sure you achieve them, alongside achieving your agency's goals? It should be a collaborative approach and one that helps you to develop as a recruiter, whilst hitting your agency's targets too.
Download the eBook below to begin planning out your personal recruitment goals for the year ahead!
