Ask Jill: Flap Your Yap More, Type Less.

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check Dear Jill,

I’ve recently started my own, small recruiting firm. It’s just me and I’ve hung my shingle. It’s been a lot of fun, but I want to really start growing my business and create a stronger working relationship with the clients I currently have. What’s your advice for maintaining and creating more business in this crazy industry?

Sincerely, Wonderin’ in Florida

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Dear Wonderin’,

First off, I am “Wonderin'” how the weather is there? Here, well, here it’s supposed to be spring, but I still see snow banks and we have a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. I want to hear about the warmth and the sunshine — take a picture, will ya?

Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Congratulations on your recruiting business. I am happy to hear that you are looking for advice on growing stronger business relationships. As we know, that’s the key to a great recruiting business.

We’ve all been experiencing the craze of social networking and by now, we are all experts in email and text messaging. Actually, often times, this becomes our main source of communicating. Whether for work or life, we are becoming exceedingly reliant on technology rather than good old fashion telephone conversations or – gasp — meeting in person.

Let’s start with those modern day technologies and how the way we construct our emails, texts, or social networking messages is important to success. How many times have you opened an email to feel the heat rise on the back of your neck at some dreadful slight on your person or ability? Only to re-read the email and find that you had the meaning totally wrong? If you are going to send an email, think about:

  • The content
  • The message
  • The grammar
  • The spelling
  • The construction

We tend to get very lazy when sending emails, and start out with a “Hey” and finish with a “Later” and in between we have forgotten simple sentence construction, used dreadful grammar, and never bothered to use the spell check. In addition, in our fast paced worlds, we often forget to take the time to personalize our messaging. My suggestion is to alwaysstart the email message with a personalized introduction paragraph. For example:

Dear Paul,

I hope you had a wonderfully relaxing weekend. We took some time and went to the beach with the dogs. They love playing in the water and chasing their Frisbee.

My recommendation is to use email as a follow up to a conversation. This way you have it documented, but in addition, this means that you have had a business conversation first that is either on the phone, or in person.

I found a great article in our archives that talks about how communication, body language, and tone can make a great impact on how we are received.

Take a read:

Talking is a great way of communicating, but is it the only way? We actually communicate in three ways and in three quite different proportions:

Body Language 55%

Tone 38%

Words 7%

Does it surprise you that tone is such a large part of how we communicate? Ever asked a spouse or partner what the problem is only to be greeted with a “nothing”? Now this “nothing” could mean, “Get out of this house and my life and take your BeeGees CDs with you!” or it could mean, “Nothing, as life with you, my Love, is sheer poetry and joy, making my life complete.” Same word, two totally different meanings.

Body language, of course, is key. I always think this is one of the many reasons for going on client visits. You can woo them with your great body language and you get an opportunity to catch that remaining 55% of theirs that you would not have been able to see had you been speaking to them on the telephone.

But would you miss out on body language if you were chatting on Alexander Graham Bell’s wonderful communication instrument? According to the book, Beyond “Hello” by Jeannie Davis, the percentages can vary by interaction, but generally will be as follows:

Body language: 10 – 16%(yes, even though we can’t see the person we are speaking with, our body language can impact the message. Your telephone posture affects your body language. How much this percentage will decrease can depends on how your body language or posture affects your tone and the words you use.)

Tonality: approximately 70%

Actual words: between 14% – 20%

Some of us stand to make cold calls, or when we are in negotiation, or dealing with a difficult candidate or client. The position of our diaphragm helps here and in general we sound more confident. Another type of body language could be smiling. The old adage “Smile as You Dial” rings true as apparently your palate raises and you can actually “hear” the smile.

Being able to communicate well in this business is imperative, and communication enables us to:

  • Get an exact job spec which helps us find (hopefully) exact matches.
  • Have great control over the recruitment process.
  • Use wonderful win win outcome achieving assertive behavior!
  • Properly qualify candidates finding their strengths and find those little red flags flapping in the wind.
  • Question clients and get great information on their needs/pain, their company, business and competition, etc.
  • Ask for interview slots at the same time we pick up the req.
  • Ask for (and get) exclusives from clients and candidates.
  • Manage the expectations of others. Be able to work with the help desk person who is after $40 an hour by being able to educate them on what they should be expecting and the alternatives that you offer.
  • Question verbal and non-verbal objections so that they are overcome swiftly andeasily.
  • Ask for what I like to call “Mini SLAs” where you promise a certain level of service from a time in which the client will receive resumes from you to when they should get back to you with feedback, etc., thus minimizing the “Black Hole Phenomenon”. For example, “I will send resumes within xx hours. You give feedback within xx hours.”
  • Build wonderful lasting relationships with clients and candidates that will yield job orders and placements far into the years to come!

Remember this list is not exhaustive!

Of course no verbiage on communication would be complete without more verbiage on listening. We listen in two ways, one more important than the other. Passive listening is where we listen to the words, and active listening, the one in which we should be engaging, is where we not only hear the words but also the meaning. We need to listen attentively and not be afraid to ask for clarification or to speak up when we don’t understand something (especially those in IT/tech recruitment!).

Communication is the key to your success!

Good luck, Wonderin’. And, hey, send some warm temps up here!

Cheers. Jill

By Jill Sullivan Grueter