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David Searns
(CEO, Haley Marketing) When it comes to marketing a staffing firm, few people know the industry like David. He literally grew up in the business (his Mom and Dad ran a very successful staffing and executive recruiting firm in Upstate New York). Mix in a degree in information systems from Clarkson University, an MBA from The Wharton School, and more than 20 years of marketing and consulting in the staffing industry, and you have someone with the rare ability to combine high-level strategic thinking with real entrepreneurial ingenuity.

Level Up Your Sales Results: Practical Strategies for Today’s Economy

  By David Searns  |    Wednesday September 13, 2023



Struggling to generate job orders you can fill?

You’re not alone. In our current market, effective selling requires an even greater degree of dedication and hard work.

Couple this with the persistent challenges in recruitment (the national unemployment rate is 3.8% at the time I’m writing this), and it can feel like you're pushing a heavy cart uphill – having to double your efforts just to achieve half the anticipated results.

 

Makes it hard to stay motivated, right?

If you’re looking for better ways to garner prospects’ interest, generate more sales inquiries and ultimately close more business, you need strategies that work in today’s economy. Where should you begin? Let's talk about enhancing your sales methodology.

 

REVAMP YOUR SALES STRATEGY

If you want to boost your staffing sales, break away from conventional selling techniques!

So, what's your go-to sales strategy? Is it cold calling? Maybe relying on referrals?

Well, as you probably know, these are two of the primary methods most staffing professionals use to sell. If you look at this from an employer’s perspective, it’s easy to see why these sales techniques aren’t enough to drive business right now. Staffing buyers are being bombarded by dozens of phone calls from your competitors on a weekly basis... so what makes you stand out?

Remember, in the staffing world, getting an appointment is the first “sale” you have to make. To clinch this deal, you need to master the AIDA model!

 

What’s AIDA?

AIDA is an acronym for a fundamental marketing model for sales success:

  • Capture Attention
  • Pique Interest
  • Create Desire
  • Drive Action

 

It makes sense: For a lead to act, you must first draw their attention, instill interest in a problem you can solve or a benefit you can provide, and establish a desire to work with you.

Garnering attention, interest, and desire may seem too big an ask from a single cold call. Unless your brand is already well-established (or you're fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time), securing an appointment through a cold call remains a tough battle.

And I’m not suggesting that salespeople stop making calls. Salespeople need to make calls. And cold calling can work, but it has a meager 2.5% success rate. 

 

So, unless you want your salespeople wasting 97.5% of their time, you need a smarter strategy. 

 

To improve your team’s effectiveness (and keep them from burning out), try Integrated Direct Marketing (IDM).

IDM integrates sales and marketing with a structured process that leverages multiple forms of outreach (mail, email, LinkedIn messaging, phone) across multiple touchpoints to capture attention and get prospects interested in the problems you can solve and value you can offer. 

 

Why should IDM campaigns be part of your sales strategy?

  • They outline a systematic approach for reaching out to potential leads.
  • They spark engaging discussions during sales calls.
  • They tackle key issues that worry employers.
  • They showcase your expertise and value.
  • They establish your firm as a credible resource.
  • They warm prospects for initial calls (i.e., lower sales resistance).
  • They nurture relationships.
  • They give your leaders an efficient way of assessing and tracking the team's sales performance.

 

Deploying IDM campaigns seamlessly fits the AIDA model into your sales approach. We’ve seen IDM campaigns boost the ratio of sales calls leading to appointments by 100% and reduce months-long sales processes to just weeks.

 

Need help LEVELING UP your sales and marketing?

Here are three free ways we can help:

  1. Download the LEVEL UP eBook for more strategies to stand out, stay top-of-mind and sell more.
  2. Sign up for the Big Ideas Newsletter for our latest marketing insights, delivered to your inbox monthly.
  3. Let us create a free list of marketing ideas just for your staffing or recruiting firm.

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