Let's say you're cold calling passive candidates, and you ultimately run into the dark side – the candidate who has no time for you and interrupts your initial stage banter with the following:
"What's the job, company and pay? Just tell me that because I don't have time to talk to you…"
If you recruit for a living, you know that's a pretty tame version, because I can't accurately depict the
LOATHING that some folks who pick up the phone (the potential candidate) will have for you (the unwashed heathen, otherwise known as the cold calling recruiter).
So, how do you handle it when you're 7 seconds into your opening, and the candidate interrupts you and says "dude, tell me the pay and I'll tell you if you can afford me…"? After all, you've worked hard to make your stage banter early in the call sound like a cross between Kid Rock and Tony Robbins. How could they NOT want to talk to you?
Lou Adler sees it this way over at ERE:
"What’s the compensation?" When someone asks, don’t tell! Say, “Before I tell you that, I’d like you to think about the best jobs you’ve ever held, those that gave you the most personal satisfaction. Were the reasons they were the best due to the amount of money you were making or due to the work you were doing?” (PAUSE and wait for an answer.) “Now, if the job I’m representing offered you a chance to maximize your personal satisfaction plus offered a competitive compensation, wouldn’t it make sense to at least discuss it for 5-10 minutes?” …
"First, tell me about the job." You must never tell the person about the job, even the actual title, until you have conducted a quick work history review. Start the conversation by asking your prospect if she’d be open to discuss an opportunity if it were clearly superior to what she’s doing now. Most people will say yes, then immediately say “Great. Could you please give me a quick overview of your background, and I’ll then give you a quick overview of the job.”
As you might expect, many readers think that sounds like a sleazy telemarketing pitch. Ask a Manager reacts to that like a lot of candidates would:
"I don't know about you, but if a recruiter called me out of the blue and subjected me to this sort of game-playing, I'd be off the phone in seconds. I'm happy to talk to recruiters who respect my time and don't try to manipulate their way past "no," but make me feel like you're an aggressive salesman and we're done. And to demand that I recite my job history for you, when you called me? That just tells me you didn't do your homework."
Me? I think Lou's got the right idea, but I think each recruiter has to live within the construct of who they are. Be genuine, and the candidate will sense that and be more open. If you've got the moxie and stage banter to pull off Lou's advice, maybe you've got the ability to be successful with that approach over 100 calls. You just have to accept that a lot of people are going to think you're a telemarketer. If you close 2X the business of the other recruiters, you've won at the end of the day.
That being said, Lou's advice in this scenario can't be a one size fits all. My style would be to give them the information they want, then follow closely with a reason that I thought they would be a good fit, based on the resume I had in my hand, then try to get them talking about what they might be looking for so I can figure out their pain points. If your style can't handle the Adler machismo, you've got to blend your personality with the hooks that Lou is providing to maximize yourself over 100 calls.
The last thing I'll say? When you are cold calling, sometimes you have to get jacked up and take on an alter ego that is not your own, to get through the candidate cynicism and rejection. I'm reminded of the following scene from Boiler Room (email subscribers, click through for the video – WARNING – language alert). I'm thinking this is a young Lou Adler eating a bowl of cereal when he gets a telemarketing call.
Sometimes you have to stand up to get in character. Be genuine, but don't be afraid to push and sell it, my FOT brothers and sisters….
Good post. I especially like the video. Personally, I feel that if you ever get to this stage you are screwed. We all know that passive candidates are terribly difficult to work with and ultimately close. I approach these situations differently.
Call them with a quick detail on the opportunity and ask who he/she would recommend. If they throw themselves in the hat, close them there. “That wasn’t the purpose of my call, but are you interested?” Then the candidate will never feel like they are driving.
There are so many potential candidates out there, is one passive person really that important? If they don’t want in, there are dozens just like them.
Once again, great post.
I think that’s an entirely reasonable take on it, Kris!
The only reason a “passive” candidate would give you the finger in the first 5 seconds is if you are selling before you know they are buying. Too many recruiters approach cold calls with the selling mentality instead of the investigative mentality. Why would you start off pitching a role to someone on a cold call? The art of cold calling is rapport building. The more time you spend on building rapport, the fewer fingers you’ll get.
Approaching each call as if the person on the other end is not looking nor interested in a job today takes all the pressure off of YOU and THEM and allows you to get the information you need and perhaps create curiosity in them. This is the art of the “no finger” cold call!
Good post. I use the Adler bit in such situations. I’ve actually written out my personalized responses to all of the common objections/quips/jabs, etc… I rehearse them (tone, inflection, pauses) and always update them so I don’t get stale. When I get the “just give me the basics” and I sense big ego or limited time or “dude, you’re the fifth recruiter today..” I ask “Is my call is untimely?” I always hear the same thing, “ah…uh..what? No, hang on…(sound of door closing) Ok, how can I help you?” The control game is key. I try not to fully legitimize the frame of reference which puts the candidate in control, right from the beginning. I just try to be really nice and professional about it.
I find it interesting — almost funny (in a horrifying way) — that people would be so nasty when a recruiter calls them. Even when I’ve been working at jobs that I was completely in love with an in no way interested in leaving, the last thing I’d ever want to do is alienate someone whose job it is to match candidates with jobs. If I do that, what happens when I’m ready to make a change? Of course, having said that, I do get annoyed when a recruiter calls, asks for me, and then doesn’t appear to know anything about my job history (esp. since my resume is online in enough places for them to find if they really looked). And when that is the case, I do usher them off the phone fairly quickly. But the best jobs I’ve ever had are because I was contacted by a recruiter when I was NOT looking for a job, and they had something that made a good match. It would never occur to me to shoot the messenger.
I personally prefer the soft and gentle takeaway. I never tried to sell someone something unless I knew they needed it. Here is how I handled those questions.
“Hey those are great questions, but we’ve only know each other for 10 seconds. You sound busy and to the point. This search is important to me, my client and who ever ultimatly gets this opportunity. How about I leave you my name and number? When you have time for us to get to know each other,you can call me back. This way, I won’t waste your time.”
A third of the time, the person would slow down and talk with me, a third of the time they would call me back and a third of the time they didn’t, saving me time and effort.
My motto: Take it away early, take it away often!
Brad Attig
http://www.myretailcareer.net