Lost Art of Relationships
I recently got a call from a salesperson who was selling staffing services. This person checked their boxes with impressive diligence…
Repeat my name as much as possible? (check).
Repeat my company name and position titles they had the "perfect" candidates for? (check).
Push for the immediate close? (check).
"Social" Selling
I don't begrudge this person – I'm someone who listens through the first wave. I have lived in their world – they're just doing a job in the best way that they've been taught to do it & they're trying to make a buck… the same as everyone else what this got me thinking about was how, in the talent acquisition field, we go about building our relationships. Most people, both sales and recruiters, will inherently start on the social platforms, and that in-and-of-itself has its own set of nuances.
Reviewed in isolation, social media is an interesting beast. It creates a flow of information that can satiate an ever-shortening attention span; it brings smiles, it conveys information… and dis-information. I guess, like everything else, it has its positives and negatives. However, I think the most significant function of social media is that it creates a platform for us to shout to the world, "HERE'S WHAT I THINK!!" maybe someone listens, perhaps they don't. Still, dammit - we got the opportunity to say what we meant to as many people who are in our space.
I'm doing that now. The irony isn't lost on me.
When that type of exposure is available, I think it's a natural inclination to showcase intelligence, talent, and capability at the highest stage possible. We want to position ourselves as...stop me if you've heard this... "industry experts." We believe that by showing how up to speed we are in all things relevant to our audience, we'll build credibility and thus an entrance into a new relationship that can create benefits. Even as I'm typing this, I find myself nodding my head... "yeah, that's how this works. That's the norm." But what if we're wrong?
"REAL"-ationships
What if the fastest path to building trust is providing the end recipient with radical candor? Think about it - how many times do we start conversations with, "I have no idea what you do." I think that is a statement that most people fearful of making the front end of a conversation. It makes you vulnerable. But that's just the thing – OF COURSE, you don't know what "they" do. You're not one of them. Your expertise lies in the service that you're providing and how that service can align to their specialty and ultimately solve problems and position you as a trusted advisor.
Here's the thing – this is an approach that focuses on the long game. By exposing your vulnerability early on, you're opening the door to building a relationship. But that relationship will take time, effort, and energy to develop. You've bought yourself time to understand their world and all the beauty and ugliness that goes with it. But, if you truly under your own processes, the people you work with (and their strengths and weaknesses), and how your services can be modified to solve problems (not just make money), you will be able to not only win business but to become that long term and trusted partner.
If you've made it this far, maybe you're thinking, "yeah, yeah – OK sure...that sounds fine IN THEORY." Well, if you believe that, I will respond...let me end this with an example.
A Different Approach
I have been in Engineering / Technical Services & Staffing for more than 20 years. I'm not technical. AT ALL. However, I know (and have known) my company. I know what we do, how we do it & why it's different. I know all of the people who make the proverbial magic happen and can tell you the seven behavioral traits we look for in all of our hires and why those traits empower our teams. I can talk about how all of this fits into economic scenarios and how those scenarios could affect various industries. I'm not afraid to work on relationships for a long time because as people learn about the things I just listed, they learn to trust not only me but the name of the company I'm representing. Every person that works on my team can do this. This process just played out for us, as we have been following it with a rapidly growing EV company. We took our time, and the result was applying our company's methodologies to help this EV company solve a massive problem – how to build a 35-person engineering team responsible for the interior, exterior, and structural design & development.
We had built trust with the client and gave the client a fully onboarded, day-1 productive team in less than 60 days. As a result, our client can now focus on developing cars, and at the same time, save over $120,000 in TA/Onboarding/Training costs. Oh, one more thing, we did this in 2021. During the year you might refer to as the "talent drought." But, see, this process applies to more than just a sales process...the more you take your time and REALLY get to know the people you interact with, the more you can accomplish and overcome.