Effective Follow Up Strategies
EFFECTIVE FOLLOW UP STRATEGIES
Your follow-up process must be consistently implemented. I have listed eight strategy tips to effectively follow up:
Tip One: Follow Up Letters
When writing follow up letters or emails, implement the following:
- Include something personal you remember from your conversation or meeting
- Add a compliment that your target will appreciate
- Focus on the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) of your target, restate their hot buttons and the benefits your services will provide
- Use a personal close
Tip Two: Follow Up Call
The best follow up calls are ones that are education based. Your goals are to:
- Set yourself up as an expert, a consultant, a trusted advisor
- Become part of your client’s and candidate’s decision making process
- Be the person they call for advice on workforce | workplace issues
Experts obtain more business and referrals than salespeople.
Tip Three: Share Something Fun Or Personal
You want to be likeable and making your clients or candidates smile is one way to accomplish that goal. Often when you are following up you are not attempting to sell something, you are just attempting to develop rapport, trust and an enjoyable working relationship.
Tip Four: Share A Meal
You are trying to ease into the lives of the people you represent. Sharing lunch or dinner is a great way to bond quickly. You can use an education based approach to arrange this meal, “I conducted research about your industry and learned some very interesting things. If we can get together for breakfast or lunch, I’d like to take you through some of this information.”
Tip Five: Use All Means Of Communication
With a strong follow up strategy you will never lose a client or candidate to one of your competitors. This will continue to develop TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) about you and the services you offer. Never underestimate the effectiveness of snail mail or sending correspondence in a tube or bubble envelope vs. an envelope.
Learn from the pharmaceutical industry and realize the power of sending food items to your clients or candidates. We send a fruit basket of the month to individuals who provided referrals to us in our training company and realized how powerful this was in creating TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) for one solid year.
Tip Six: Offer Something To Help Them Or Their Business
Great recruiters always find ways to help their clients and candidates succeed. You could connect two of your clients who could benefit each other. You could offer contacts or resources to your candidates. You could offer a Happy Candidates career portal to all the candidates you will not place www.happycandidates.com
You need to put your client and candidates above all else. Perhaps you sell more services in the process or obtain valuable referrals.
Tip Seven: Invite Them To Attend Events
It is very effective to interact with your clients and candidates at events either sponsored by your company, local Chamber of Commerce or trade associations. There is nothing more effective than personal contact.
Invite individuals to attend as your guest and introduce them to your contacts as often as possible.
Tip Eight: Invite Them To Your Home Or Personal Events
If you invite your clients or candidates to your home for dinner, you know you have developed rapport and trust and have done an outstanding job following up.
If you take clients or candidates to a sporting event or personal event, they realize the value of your personal as well as professional relationship. Everyone’s favorite topic is themselves. You need to know as much as you can about the personal life of every person you represent. The more they talk about themselves, the more they like you.
Review these tips and determine which ones fit in with your company culture, core values and the vision you have for your business. With people on both sides of our sale, there are many times when you have the opportunity to follow up with both candidates and clients.
Showing people you care enough to develop a referral and follow up strategy will result in increased profits and growth for your business. If you enjoyed this training, give us your name and email address to get a whitepaper that will show you how to get started in your own recruiting business!