Biggest Mistake You're Making When Contacting Employers
Throughout my years training and coaching employment practitioners in Reverse Marketing, one of the biggest mistakes I see them making is expecting a 'yes' on the first call to the employer. A bigger mistake is contacting the employer and asking this question, ''Do you have any vacancies?'' expecting that they will provide a vacancy on the very first interaction.
Now, this statement might surprise you, but an employer cold call or visit is not about getting a yes. If you’re all about that yes, you’re going to set yourself up for disappointment. Eventually you will lose confidence and motivation, and begin dreading making employer calls and visits.
Instead, what you need to focus on are these three things:
1. Creating awareness
I want you to think about all of the businesses, employers and hiring managers out there who may;
1: Not be aware that your services exist.
2: Be aware that your services exist, but have not thought about you in a very long time.
This is who you must call on immediately. Not because you want to sell something or secure a vacancy right away, but because you want to create awareness, stay top of mind, and discover potential hiring opportunities either now or in the future. At the end of the day, if they don’t know what you do, they’re not going to hire from you. The more conversations you have and the more awareness you spread about who you are and what you do, the more opportunities you will create for your job seekers.
2. Building Relationships
It’s critical to build relationships with these employers. Whether it’s to stay in touch periodically, send a ‘Happy New Year’ email once a year, or invite them for coffee or to a networking event, it’s important to build and nurture relationships. Another great way to build relationships with employers is to connect with them via LinkedIn. In the past, when I made cold calls to employers, I would connect with them on LinkedIn. Many of those connections are still on my LinkedIn today, from both Australia and the UK. I focused on building relationships, offering value, and staying in touch. Occasionally, I would reach out with a friendly message, reminding them, “Hey, I’m here and this is how we can help you with your recruitment needs.''
As a result, I was able to help many people find work through these relationships, and believe it or not, I still maintain those relationships to this day.
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3. Gathering Information
While making the cold calls, or employer visits, spend this time doing research. Who is who? How do they do their recruitment? Are they growing? Are they firing? Are they expanding? Have they worked with a disability employment provider before? Have they had a bad experience? It's great to understand where you stand when you're making those calls. Don’t make the phone call all about you, but ask good questions to find out about how you may be able to help them either now, or later.
Lastly, if the employer mentions they are hiring or planning to hire, the call should focus on scheduling an appointment. This could be for you to meet them in person or for your job-ready job seeker to attend an interview.
A cold call or visit should be that simple. Don’t put pressure on yourself for instant results. Focus on long-term gains through follow-up, building awareness, and nurturing long-term relationships.
Author's Bio
Rana Kordahi specialises in sales and reverse marketing training, coaching and strategy. For the past 10 years, she has coached and trained countless employment practitioners and their leaders to achieve remarkable success when it came to helping more people into work. Rana has been featured as a Top 15 Sales Experts to Watch in 2021 by The Australian Business Journal, as well as Top 27 Sales Influencers You Should Follow in 2024 by Salesforce.
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