Four steps to make the perfect BD call (Part 1)
For newcomers in the headhunting industry, BD (Business Development) is a skill that must be mastered. However, many new entrants often find BD to be extremely challenging and feel that they are not doing well. Today, I will break down and thoroughly explain the entire process of headhunting BD.
This is the previous post, the next one can be found here
I. Overcoming the mental barrier
Many headhunting consultants have a fear of making BD calls due to several common reasons:
Fear of POOR Performing
- Worrying that you don’t have a good handle on BD calls and that you’re making a bad impression on potential clients;
- Worried about being scolded by your superiors if you don’t play well；
- Think all those senior consultants don’t have the experience of a mature BD call and it’s impossible to hit it right as a newbie.
These are normal mindsets for consultants who have not participated in systematic BD training.
Fear of rejection
They fear hearing HR say, “We don’t need headhunters,” “We already have a headhunting partner, we don’t need yours,” “We don’t have any positions,” “We don’t have a budget.” Simply put, it’s because the consultant has a “thin skin” and, more deeply, they have not received training on how to handle “rejection.”
Fear of embarrassment
Consultants who have not undergone systematic BD call training often only know how to say, “I’m from XX company, calling to ask if you need headhunting services recently?” When HR replies, “No,” there is no follow-up.
In fact, for headhunting newcomers who want to break through the fear of making BD calls, paying attention to the following four aspects can help you overcome these three mental barriers:
- Introducing oneself and the purpose of the call;
- Skillfully handling HR’s “rejection”;
- Efficiently communicating with HR or direct managers;
- Introducing the selling points of your company’s brand.
II. How to introduce yourself in a BD call
Based on my experience, the first step is to clarify your identity:
“I am XXX, calling from XX company. I specialize in recruiting for XX industry and XX level positions. May I ask if you/you are available to talk now?”
If the contact person is not available, the handling method is self-explanatory. If they are available, what should you say next? This is where headhunting consultants often get stuck.
For the subsequent BD script, I have simply listed 4 points for reference:
1. Continuing cooperation
“Hello, our company (my previous XX company) has had XX cooperation with you. Now (I am now at this company), I hope we can also cooperate in recruitment.”
2. Recommending excellent candidates
“The main purpose of my call today is to introduce a candidate from XX. He/She XXXX (briefly describe strengths and selling points). I have learned that you may need talent in this area soon, so I called to communicate and see if you might be interested. If so, I can later send you his/her Blind CV (with name, contact information, and the most recent company redacted).”
3. Event invitation
“Our company will be holding some XX events recently and would like to invite you to participate later. May I have your contact method? At the same time, I would also like to explore any potential cooperation opportunities.”
4. Providing materials
“We have recently published a salary report/industry analysis and would like to know if you are interested. Also, I would like to understand if there are any other areas where we can cooperate.”
These are just some suggestions.
In summary, we can use anything that the contact person is interested in as a starting point.
It is important to note that HR and direct managers have different focuses.For example, a salary report can attract HR, but it is more difficult to impress direct managers. For direct managers, what is needed may be industry analysis or competitor analysis, etc.
III. What to say in response to a client's rejection
The first BD call is made, and being “rejected” is the norm, but this is also the most headache-inducing thing for novice headhunting consultants.
Below, I provide some common examples and phrases that consultants can learn from:
HR: ‘Not available right now.’
Consultant: ‘OK, when is convenient for you, please leave a mobile phone or a direct line, I can find you directly.’ (It’s best to identify to a specific point in time, week X, week X of X month, XX:XX.)
HR: “We don’t use headhunting firms for recruitment.”
Consultant: “No problem, I just wanted to establish a connection and see if there’s any way we can assist you. In the future, if your company needs headhunting services, so you can find me, may I leave you my email and send you my contact information? How often do you think it would be appropriate to communicate with you again?”
(Check if the contact person’s work/personal email is already in the system; confirm the next communication time. If the contact person says the next communication time is more than 2 months, regardless of 6 months or 1 year, call back in 2 months.)
HR: “We already have a company we work with, we won’t be adding a headhunting provider for a while.”
Consultant: “That’s okay, I’m calling to establish a connection; and also to find out what aspects of the headhunter you’re currently using make you more satisfied? Also if you are considering using a new headhunter in the future, what are the criteria? When is your Vendor Review? How soon would it be better to contact you?”
Take care to confirm the timing of the Vendor Review; and judge the client’s true level of satisfaction with this headhunter through the merits of the Vendor and decide when the next contact will be made.
HR: “I’m not in charge of liaising with headhunting firms.”
Consultant: “I see, could you please give me the contact information of the colleague responsible for recruitment? This way, we can directly connect with them and avoid troubling you in the future.”
(Make the contact person understand that providing the correct contact information is helping him/her.)
HR: “I know of you, your prices are too high, we won’t consider it.”
Consultant: “I understand, may I ask which colleague communicated with you before? What was the commission rate at the time? What is the headhunting commission rate your company usually accepts? What services are included in the headhunting services you currently use?”
Clarify the client’s acceptable range for headhunting service rates. Find services that other companies lack, such as background checks, salary surveys, regular industry salary reports, etc.
HR: “We don’t have any recruitment needs at the moment.”
Consultant: “No problem, I just wanted to make preliminary communication and would like to understand when there might be recruitment needs? If your company has new recruitment needs in the future, so you can find me, may I leave you my email and send you my contact information? Also, when do you think it would be appropriate to contact you again for changes in your recruitment needs?”
(Always propose a specific time. If the HR says they don’t know, the default setting is 2-4 weeks is best.)
HR: “We have cooperated before, it was not pleasant, so we won’t use you now.”
Consultant: “I’m sorry to hear that, may I ask what happened at the time? We take all negative feedback seriously. Also, what can we do to make up for these shortcomings? And ensure that this does not happen again?”
Consider inviting your Leader to make a callback after your call, showing the contact person the sincerity of change and allowing the Leader to continue BD.
HR: “How can you not understand this, how can I trust you to help us with these positions?”
Consultant: “I apologize, although I specialize in this area as a headhunting consultant, I hope you, as an insider, can explain the specific recruitment needs to me, so that I can better understand the position and promptly recommend outstanding candidates.”
(Listen intently to the client’s real voice.)
I hope the above cases can provide some reference for everyone and help some headhunting consultants to have a deeper understanding of rejection.
In fact, rejection is not a bad thing. It’s just not as good as directly giving you a position to work on. Prepare yourself for inevitable rejection when making BD calls, and think about how to effectively respond after rejection, in order to maintain contact and pave the way for future communication.