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Don’t Take “No” for an Answer

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Don’t Take “No” for an Answer

25 Tips and Suggestions to Maximize Your Revenue

This isn’t an article about sales technique. Or client negotiations. It’s about overcoming one of the biggest problems you’re likely to face post-pandemic: an expanding economy.

No doubt, you’re going to be busy this year…and highly successful. The phones will ring, more job orders will come in – and then BAM, all of a sudden, it happens. Seemingly in an instant, there’s no time. No time for prospecting. No time to reconnect with old clients. No time to market.

If you’re committed to maximizing your revenue in 2021 (and beyond), don’t take “NO” for an answer. Don’t let “no time” become an excuse. Make the commitment now to a consistent marketing effort, and develop a game plan for tactics you will execute regardless of how busy you get. To help you get started planning your activities, here’s a list of 25 marketing ideas:

  1. Commit to staying in touch with current prospects and clients at least once a month. This can be through calls, virtual or face to face meetings, direct mail, email or social.
  2. Aggressively collect email addresses from clients and candidates. Do it now, and this prospect list can save you a ton of time and make you a ton of money down the road.
  3. If it’s not already in one, get your data into a robust CRM – one that allows you to quickly and easily export mailing lists and send targeted emails.
  4. Set conservative monthly (or weekly) goals for prospecting activities. Make a commitment to a specific number of “touches” (i.e., contacts with prospects via mail, email, direct mail or social).
  5. Become a source of expertise within the community or industry you serve. You know a great deal about the hiring process – information that could help your clients improve their hiring procedures. Share your wisdom by distributing articles, doing presentations or posting tips (blogs or video) on your website. Nurture relationships with the editors of business and trade publications.
  6. Formalize your referral network:
    • Create an incentive plan to reward people for providing qualified referrals.
    • Write or email current and former candidates and other people of influence in your community / target industry to be part of your network.
    • Follow-up on the phone to get them to formally “opt-in” to your network.
    • Nurture your network with regular email, direct mail and/or messaging via social platforms.
    • Send alerts whenever you have a recruiting need (one of our clients in recently used this technique to fill 20 positions in a single afternoon).
  7. Reconnect with people you’ve placed in the last 5 years.
  8. Keep yourself top-of-mind with clients, prospects and referral sources:
    • Use direct mail, email, social media or calls to keep in – touch once every 4 to 6 weeks.
    • Focus on nurturing relationships by sharing useful and interesting ideas.
  9. To improve the effectiveness of direct marketing, segment your market into audiences with common concerns, and address their problems directly in your marketing communications.
  10. Take advantage of gaps in your calendar to plan future marketing promotions.
  11. Repeatedly mail the same mail package to the same people. Repetition works.
  12. Form marketing partnerships with other search or staffing firms that offer complimentary services.
  13. Form strategic alliances with HR consulting firms, PEOs and businesses that already have access to the people you want to reach. Ideally, if you have complimentary services, you can share marketing expenses and cross promote.
  14. Get out and speak. Every Rotary Club and local Chamber of Commerce needs speakers with your expertise. Better yet, consider a more personal lunch-and-learn training seminar for a specific client or prospect.
  15. Set aside 30 minutes at the start of every day to nurture 10 client, prospect or candidate relationships. Share a personal note, a personal email or place a brief call to catch-up.
  16. Refer business to your clients. Because you work with many different businesses, you have the ability to act as a matchmaker, helping your clients and prospects find new business opportunities.
  17. Maximize the value of your website:
    • Put information on your website that will help your clients and prospects to find solutions to their hiring challenges. As you add new content, use email and social media to promote it and keep people coming back to your site.
    • Become a source of career guidance for people in your target industry.
    • Share tips and advice on your blog and turn those posts into an email newsletter.
    • Use video to record a short training session on interviewing and put it on your website. Share it on social and/or email it to all your clients and prospects.
    • Offer an “Ask the Expert” form on your website.
    • Create a channel on Slack (or a similar app). Invite clients and prospects to join, and use it to discuss the hot issues in the industry you serve.
  18. Hire an intern to conduct a survey of your existing clients – get objective feedback to determine what they like about your services and where you have opportunities for improvement.
  19. Use that same intern to develop a list of target companies that match the demographic criteria of your best clients.
  20. Develop compelling offers that give people reasons to want to call you. These can include “hard offers,” which are direct promotions for your services and “soft offers,” which offer items of value and are designed to open conversations. (If you want specific ideas for offers, drop me an e-mail – [email protected] – and I’ll send you a complimentary copy of our Guide to Irresistible Staffing Offers).
  21. Schedule a planning session with existing clients to discuss annual hiring or workforce needs. If appropriate, pre-spec likely recruiting needs.
  22. Send thank you cards for appointments and referrals. Be unique, send cards for even minor occasions like thanking people for initial phone conversations.
  23. Improve the response rate to your direct mail by creating a process that integrates calls and mailings. We’ve found a process of pre-call, mail, and follow-up call to be very effective.
  24. Send a fax to a prospect announcing the specific time you’ll be calling and include a teaser about the reason for the call. Creating curiosity will improve your connect rates.
  25. Get help. If you can’t find the time to keep up with consistent marketing, bring in an intern, temp, assistant or marketing firm that can make sure prospecting becomes a regular part of your business strategy.
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