All client relationships are based on trust.
In order to establish trust and be effective as a sales marketing person, you need to connect with people. Here are 3 helpful hints that I believe will help you connect with prospective clients and make you successful.
1. Be respectful while presenting your methodologies.
That includes listening to your clients’ needs and being considerate of their time. Staffing for resources although important is not always high on their daily agenda. It is critical that you guide them through the hiring process and present them with ideas as to how you can save them time while lining up the best candidates at reasonable rates. It is most important that your recruiters have performed their due diligence while screening potential candidates in order to drill down to the best 2 or 3 individuals. They need to qualify that the candidates have the right skill sets and are available immediately. As much as the account manager gets the process rolling, the recruiters are really the key players. One effective suggestion the account manager can make is to propose to the client that they set up a block of time (maybe 2-3 hours) one morning or afternoon in order to meet the 2 or 3 final candidates. Clients do not have time to sort through 20-30 resumes and interview 10 people.
In this “mini job fair” scenario, the client has the advantage of comparing the individuals’ skills and personalities against one another and should be able to select the resource that fits their needs best.
2. Be polite, Be friendly.
As the account manager, you will be coordinating schedules for phone conversations and meetings. Remember, people’s situations change. We all have busy lives. As the middle man, it is important that you don’t become frustrated. You must remain patient and be flexible when working with both the client and candidate in order to bring the process to a “point of decision”
3. Lastly and most important. Be Yourself.
Stay away from canned rhetoric. If your style is conservative and straightforward and that’s who you are, then present yourself and your company in that manner.
If your style is a “little crazy” and that is what works for you when communicating with people, then don’t change!
People will either work with you for who you are once they get to know you or not. Either way, it’s ok. Any style can be effective as long as you “keep it real” and are honest with everybody.