The False Economy of Email Reliance

How many of you CyberSleuths out there rely on email scrapers? Connectifier. Prophet. Rapportive. Hikido (if you’re a tech recruiter). FindThatLead…? I could go on. Some generate decent returns, averaging at best about a 40% hit rate. Others are terrible, and don’t remotely justify their cost. Some capture emails that others don’t. Some require unfettered access to your network <yowza>! If you’re one of those recruiters whose browser toolbar is starting to look like a magnet-laden refrigerator and you keep running from one business email to another exhausting free trials, I have a question for you:

Why aren’t you getting on the PHONE?

Yes, I’m talking about that oblong contraption that’s (hopefully) on your desk, adjacent to your computer. If using the phone in the course of sourcing and recruiting has become alien to you — you’re not alone. I myself fell prey to what I call Automation Based Recruiting. It was as easy as 1-2-3. I sourced emails utilizing my email scraper du jour, performed outreach, got replies and delivered qualified leads into the hiring manager’s ATS. Only problem was… even with the most delicately personalized emails, my response rate was always strangely lower than expected, and an inordinate number of qualified candidates went ghost somewhere between my initial outreach and final packaging. And of course I would catch flak from the hiring manager.

The reason is simple.  Email will NEVER replace telephonic outreach.  Beyond the fact that speaking to someone on the telephone will always be more personable than email, it also gives you the opportunity to find out more about the roles you’re sourcing for!  Even if the prospect you called isn’t interested in the role, if you have a pleasant phone demeanor, you can get them to open up as to WHY they think they aren’t a fit, which will help you find prospects that are.  If, despite your most targeted efforts, there’s still a dissonance between the job description and the quality of prospects sourced, talking with those prospects can help you figure out where the disconnect(s) lie, which will help you further calibrate the job description and/or sourcing strategy with the hiring manager.  Further probing (done tactfully) could get you all sorts of useful information, such as the name of a competitor that’s about to engage in a round of layoffs, or who knows what else. Information that is gathered over the phone via speaking with a prospect will be always enlightening in some unexpected way and oftentimes will alter the course of future searches. Call it an X-factor.  Call it competitive intelligence.  Whatever you want to call it… it cannot be done over email.  If a cold-sourced prospect reached via email isn’t interested in your role, the most you’re ever going to get is a referral.  People just happen to appreciate the personal touch that phone conversations provide.  Software developers in particular receive so many recruiting emails that a pleasant phone call from a genuinely interested recruiter often comes as a relief.  I even had one developer tell me she thought telephonic recruiting had become a “lost art,” and that she was genuinely touched that I reached out via phone.

I can already hear you saying, “But, but… Patrick! If I’m automating email outreach, I’ll have more time for sourcing, which means that I’ll bring in a greater volume of candidates to submit to the hiring manager, which will result in faster hires!” Eh. Maybe.  But I’ll wager that the time invested to make phone calls, while it may result in less leads, always results in higher caliber ones.  And despite what every hiring manager says about wanting more volume, aren't better leads what they really want?  And of course there’s the objection,“I don’t like calling people because I feel like a telemarketer.”  I’ll put it out there right now that you are NOT a telemarketer for the simple reason that you are not trying to sell anything.  You are a businessperson, making a legitimate business-to-business call to to inform another businessperson about an opportunity that may just be better for them than what they’re doing now.  Infuse your calling demeanor that with that kind of altruistic spirit, and you’re off to the races...

I know.  Getting on the phone takes courage.  It’s much easier to press the ol’ “merge” button on that Google Sheets extension and let the script do all the heavy lifting.  But I’ll tell you what.  You call three people with no agenda whatsoever before you start dialing leads, your anxiety will disappear, and you’ll come across as even-keeled and pleasant.  Oh, and don’t forget to smile and get up out of your chair.  I don’t know why that works, but it does.  Look.  I understand that cold calling can seem daunting at first.  So can anything new.  But with practice, it will become second nature.  And no matter what happens in the recruiting world, you’ll come away with a viable skill that will help you in countless other areas of business and life.  Voila.  A multi-headed hydra of WIN 

Am I saying you should ditch email altogether?  Certainly not.  It has its place in sourcing cold leads.  Like I mentioned above, there was a time in my career when I relied on email far too much.  I integrated phone calls and got better results.  It wasn’t until I put into practice what I learned at The Sourcing Institute however, that I finally learned the power of harmonizing phone, email, texting and social messaging.

Patrick Christell is a gainfully employed Sourcer and Recruiter who has nearly four years of professional experience under his belt.  He is a graduate of The Sourcing Institute, trained and mentored by industry architect Shally Steckerl.  If you’d like more information about The Sourcing Institute, or would like a personal consultation, please call 1-888-804-7950.