How to create a BD culture

Hi!

And welcome to the second edition of my Newsletter, thanks for joining the conversation. In this edition, I want to talk to you about how to create a BD culture. This is top of many business’s “to-do” lists and it can feel like a struggle to know where to start.

As a Director of Ops in my last role before starting “The Recruitment Trainer”, this was something that myself and the MD’s also had to work on. The business was growing but not fast enough and recruiters were not doing enough of the development needed for the business to reach its potential. I will be sharing with you what we did to help foster a BD environment as well as what I see working now with my clients.

As someone who learnt recruitment on the phone (6 hours a day 4.5 days a week for nearly 5 years), I saw first-hand the power that picking up the phone can have. All my pipeline came from cold calling and the relationships I developed off the back of those calls and the follow-ups over time. ?According to a report by Barclay Jones, – phone calls convert to revenue 10-15x more than web leads. Not only that, but 75% of clients are willing to make an appointment or attend an event based on a cold call. So just by making that first introductory call, you can convert 75% of your outreach to a meeting or a follow-up event. When you see stats like this – it makes sense to build BD Culture.

All the businesses I work with know the power of speaking to people on the phone. We can use email, we can use messaging etc we have all this new tech that helps us attract and engage but this tool i.e. picking up the phone, I strongly believe, is the right tool for building relationships. And not just because I was using it 20 years ago! I have clients I work with who use the phone as part of their Business development strategy - and it works.

Let me tell you a story…

In a study, participants imagined having a conversation with a friend they hadn’t been in touch with for at least two years. They predicted how awkward or enjoyable it would be and how close they’d feel if they connected by phone versus email. They also said which medium they’d prefer to use.

Then, participants were randomly assigned to connect with their old friend via phone or email and to report back on the experience. Though most people anticipated talking by phone would be more uncomfortable for them, those who spoke on the phone were happier with the exchange, felt closer to the other person, and felt no more uncomfortable than those who’d emailed—even if they’d said they preferred to email, not call.

This finding also held true for people conversing with someone they didn’t know at all, according to another part of the study. Participants were told they’d be using voice chat, video chat, or text chat to get to know a stranger. As in the previous experiment, they were asked to predict what the experience would be like and how close they might become to the person. Then, they were paired with a stranger to do a “fast friends” exercise, asking and answering a series of increasingly personal questions, like “What would constitute the ‘perfect’ day for you?” and “What is one of the more embarrassing moments in your life?”

Overall, those assigned to voice chat or video chat expected conversations to be more awkward and not bring any more closeness than those assigned to text chat. But they were wrong: Being able to hear people’s voices made them feel significantly closer to the stranger and was no more awkward than text chatting.

“We think it’s going to be awkward to talk to somebody, but that just turns out not to be the case,” says lead author Amit Kumar. “Instead . . . people form significantly stronger bonds when they’re talking on the phone than when communicating over email.”

We feel it's going to be awkward and this is what stops us. For me it is this forming of bonds, feeling closer - ?that jumped out at me. Isn't this, when it boils down to it, recruitment?

You can read the full study here: Should You Call or Text? Science Weighs In (berkeley.edu)

Now some of you may have some examples of client relationships that are conducted purely over email. But I suspect there will have still been some phone conversations at some point.

What is the goal of using the phone for BD?

To form bonds, find commonality, and the need to create momentum in that relationship.? To create trust, and liking and make agreements. All of which are very difficult to do over email. We have the opportunity to educate and excite! To leave a lasting memory, to create a positive impression that lasts into the following days and weeks.

I think we need to reframe what we do and why. Not for the sake of a KPI. If we think of BD as benefitting our clients, rather than ourselves – this could be the viewpoint we need for you to take into your businesses and to help you create a BD culture.

To make it more interesting, exciting and meaningful, for everyone.

Also thinking of potential clients as peers, rather than prospects can help recruiters have more meaningful conversations.

If you have new recruits this can feel daunting, can't it? It can feel awkward - you have to make money and the way to do it is through talking to these people.

So let's reframe it for your business and recruiters - you are building up relationships by providing help and advice, asking interesting questions, being memorable and showing your personality.

Engaging with them on a personal and professional level. As human beings.

So why start now?

Start to build relationships - the KLTs take time. KLT is a marketing technique that you now hear a lot when it comes to recruitment and I think it makes total sense.

Know – they need to know you and the product to buy

Like ?- they need to like you to buy

Trust – they need to trust you to buy

Create Influence – this is easier on the phone as you get instant reactions. Within a recruitment process, we know how important this is - the ability to influence is also a skill that I feel is dwindling because there isn't the opportunity to practise. Or we are not creating the opportunity for our consultants.

Your competition may not be doing this, so this is another way to stand out, this is a surefire way to get into their heads, be memorable and create memories, show that we are real human beings, with feelings. Show that we care! How do we show we want to do business? How will they know that we care? They need to hear it in our voices.

Creates momentum - email and texts are good for reconfirming a process, but phone calls create action and emotion, and emotion creates motion. We can probably all think of a time when we were able to turn things around, and influence by having a conversation - our client who didn't want to meet any of our SC candidates because of spelling mistakes on their CV’s eventually relented and agreed to see them because I had the conversation with him. I couldn't have done that by email!

Human-centred - we crave it, we need it! There was a piece online I read over Christmas where a shop had got rid of its automated checkouts as they were creating frustration. Shoppers wanted to speak to a human being. In lockdowns, we did Zoom, quizzes and Xmas present opening over Skype. It is human to crave that person-to-person connection and as recruiters, we can tap into this to create a more client and candidate-centric way of working.

The problem? - none of us use the phone in the same way. Certainly for personal use. And so that creates another barrier - why would your consultant pick up the phone when they message everyone when they need to? Each generation uses their phone slightly differently now so this creates another barrier. I am conscious of this when I am training, and I don’t think there is a magic answer to this – which is why creating opportunities to use the phone and creating a positive BD culture is key.

Here are my suggestions and what I have observed, both within a business but also with my current clients:

Quality over quantity - this will always get you to where you want to be. Focussing on quality calls is the KEY. Get this right – and the quantity will follow. For those of you starting or who want to get into better BD habits – aim for one quality BD call a day. The following week – do two. And so on and so on. And within 8 weeks you will have built up to doing 5 quality BD calls a day – which is enough to add to your pipeline, whilst being manageable however busy your desk happens to be that week.

Call sessions - not call hours - you don’t need to spend hours on the phone. Really cut this expectation down. Do call half hours, or 20 minutes. Doing it in small chunks is manageable, less daunting and will mean that the quality is not lost. Spending hours listening to people's voicemails is not productive or motivational so don’t do it! Get that one quality call in the bag and move on to something else productive.

BD Ambassadors - who is great at doing BD in the business? Can you record their calls for training? Can you replay them back and discuss as a team what worked and why? Finding the BD Ambassadors in your business shows? - it's doable, it's rewarding and your team can hear first-hand from the people that are doing it well. Share the knowledge and learning will come.

Working Groups - get your teams together to form working groups – in these, they share what has worked, and what challenges they are facing and they solve those problems together. Enabling recruiters to talk about their mistakes and what they are finding challenges fosters a learning culture – and guess what? They will learn more from their peers rather than you (or I!) telling them.

Competitions - make it fun, creative and aligned with your culture. Silly word bingo, ring the bell, get on the bike, whatever that looks like for you – use it. And rinse and repeat. Ask your team for ideas for prizes and make sure they are motivational – not what you THINK is motivational.

Aligned to your culture - all your BD activity needs to be aligned with the culture and beliefs of the business. Without these – BD can feel empty and a bit MEH. So why are you getting on the phone? Why do you Want to speak to these clients? Why are you proud to work at x? Why would they want to work with you? Being proud of what you can offer as a recruiter will make you sound confident and assertive on the phone.

Target your targets - 30 not 30 - again quality over quantity to start with. Yes, we would all love a book of 300 clients but that takes time. So start small – research and identify the top 30 you want to work with. Approach them and build up a rapport. Three months later start on another 30 (whilst still building up those relationships with the first 30 contacts)

Want the above tips as a PDF? Check out my useful guide: How to create a BD culture

I hope you found this edition of my newsletter useful - feel free to DM me with your thoughts and questions!

Sign up your team for my BD Essentials course here:

Business Development - Essentials for Success

Speak soon,

Ali