5 Things Recruiters Can Learn From Top Salespeople

When you look closely at top-performing salespeople, they all tend to share similar habits and behaviours that helped them get to the top.

If you’re on a mission to increase your billings, bringing some of these learnings into your daily recruitment activities will help you along that road to becoming a top biller at your agency.

Here are some things all the best salespeople have in common – and what you can learn from them as a recruiter.

1. They give great aftersales service

Great salespeople know that selling isn’t just about winning one placement, it’s about building a relationship with a client that feeds their sales pipeline time and time again.

To win repeat business from your current clients, you need to provide a great aftersales service that shows them that you’re not just trying to make a fee, but also care about the success of the placement.

So don’t disappear as soon as you make a placement – book check in calls and follow up with both client and candidate to see how your candidate is settling in. This is the perfect opportunity to strengthen your relationship, keeping you front of your client’s mind when new jobs come up.

2. They watch their competition like a hawk

If you don’t know what your competitors are offering, how do you know what you’re up against? The best salespeople win pitches against their competitors because they know exactly what they’re selling and how they’re pitching it.

Knowing what your competitors offer makes handling objections like ‘we already have a PSL’ easy because you’ll know exactly how to differentiate yourself from other agencies in your market.

For example, if you’re recruiting temps, keep a ‘Temp Traitors’ list that tracks candidates who are currently working with other agencies. Proactively target these candidates for your jobs so you can pull them out of their current contract early and then backfill your competitor’s role. This tactic ensures you win more business and keeps candidates loyal to you.

3. They sell a story, not just a service

The sales industry has long moved on from just telling prospects what you offer. Instead, the best sales pitches tell a story that creates a narrative around why your prospect should buy.

There are three steps to telling a great sales story:

1. Identify a problem in your client’s market (e.g. a shortage of certain candidates)
2. Talk about how you offer a solution to your client’s problems
3. Explain how this will make their business better.

This tactic means you’re always relating your service back to your client’s needs instead of just listing why your recruitment services are great.

4. They know when to walk away

Salespeople who rack up commission every month are able to do this because they’re ruthless with their time – they don’t waste energy chasing business that’s not going to convert.

One of the biggest tricks to good sales practice is knowing when a lead is likely to convert and (more importantly!) when a deal is dead in the water.

With this in mind, don’t be afraid of walking away from recruitment business that’s never going to land.

5. They use technology to their advantage

Technology is always advancing in the business world and in the recruitment industry, it’s evolving fast.

Therefore, it’s hard to be a top biller these days if you’re a recruitment dinosaur relying on manual processes when your competitors are working ten times your pace thanks to advanced recruitment tech.

The best salespeople use everything at their disposal to working leaner, reach the candidates and prospects no one else is finding to smash their targets every quarter.

So try out tech that will automate your time-consuming admin - it’s innovative thinking like this that will get you to the top.

Top salespeople warm up all their prospects before trying to sell to them. This eBook has everything you need to start warm calling prospects and winning more business.