Blog Content
Recruitment CRM should be the FIRST system used to drive sales, source candidates, convert leads... but often, it's a dumb system, a data dump, "just another bit of recruitment kit" preventing phone and face time. Our clients agree with our mantra "CRMFirst" and want to ensure that their recruitment software is implemented to deliver the 4Cs - candidates, client, colleagues, and cash.
Recruitment CRM - AKA the Sales-Prevention Software
Maybe you’ve had your Recruitment CRM for longer than you’ve had most of your employees and you’re hearing lots of the same moans and groans:
it’s not working
it’s always crashing
I can’t find any candidates in it
my 1980’s Atari felt more up to date
there is no management info because no one’s using it!
The decision has been made to replace your recruitment CRM. You’ve spent 6 months sourcing a new one, another 6 months implementing it and would you believe it, 6 months later and you’re still hearing the same old moans and groans.
How can you give BAU (business as usual) the best chance of success?
Business as Usual Starts Before BAU
It may sound obvious, but many Recruitment CRM projects struggle at the embedding phase due to inadequate post go live planning. It’s not surprising. There is a HUGE amount to do during implementation and the project team are normally spread thin focusing on getting the new system in a fit state for go live.
There are many strategies to planning and managing BAU (business as usual). My favourite is having a BAU project team involved mid-way through implementation. Their responsibility is to plan, support and manage the embedding of the CRM into business over the next 12 months. Their job is to make sure that your investment returns! (ROI)
“That’s a big investment“, I hear you say. However, what is the cost of a disgruntled workforce being negative or the disruption of losing many people or the lost opportunities of your current and future clients? And with 2/3 of job leavers quitting due to lack of training, and the average 10 person recruiters wasting £100,000 per year on replacing leavers, something has to change.
Investing in the BAU is almost more important that the implementation process itself; underestimate the BAU support requirements at your peril.
Management are THE Key to Success CRM Change
Management don’t need to know how to use the CRM, right? WRONG!
Management / Directors / Team Leaders all need to know exactly how everyone should be using the system so they can support and train their teams at go live and beyond.
All too often, “Super Users” are trained to deliver this message but they tend to be sales administrators, busy consultants or new recruits. They don’t have the status within the business to try to invoke change or persuade the biggest billers why they should change their habits and behaviours!
The adage of “Coming from the Top” really is true when you’re managing CRM Implementation Projects. These are not technology projects, they are Change Management Projects and the only people who can change the business are the leaders and managers of that business.
It’s All About Communicating Expectations
When a recruiter hears the following “We are going to change the CRM”, what they really hear is “Yippee, a new CRM. It’s just like upgrading my car; it will be shiny and faster and way better than what I had, oh and I know how to drive so it will be easy to adapt!”
This can lead to my personal favourite user statement “The previous system was so much better/easier!”. No, the previous system which was built on highly suspect 1980’s technology that continuously failed and you always complained about, was more FAMILIAR. As a project team, you have to prepare users for change and this starts not at Go Live, but much earlier during the implementation phase.
Key Rules when Implementing a New Recruitment CRM
Ensure you tell everyone that CHANGE is coming and everyone needs to get on-board!
The system will not be perfect from day 1, everyone needs to prepare to communicate issues and be ready for CHANGE!
There will be BUGS (potentially a lot and for a lot longer that you’d like!) Live with them whilst the project team sorts them out!
Get SLAs (service level agreements) in place – ensure you respond to EVERY issue and communicate an update or fix to the business (if it warrants it) or the individual on a pre-agreed timeframe.
We work with Recruitment and IT leaders to deliver an ROI and sales-led recruitment technology strategy. Our mantra is “CRMFirst”!
HIIT Us, Recruiters!
Our high intensity interval training (Recruitment HIIT) helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines. Recruitment HIIT is an exciting recruitment training platform for recruiters to speedily learn skills to be more successful with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digital and Email Marketing. Try Recruitment HIIT for free, or arrange a call with me - press one of the magic buttons below.
TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT FOR FREE
READ ABOUT HOW WE DELIVER RECRUITMENT TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
BOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS RECRUITMENT TRAINING
Extra Content
Blog Image
Extra Content 2
media centre
Read more-
Lisa Jones
Blog
Forget Candidate Experience! What About Recruiter Experience?
Recruitment leaders - before Covid, was this you and your business?Too much data, not enough information…Too many applications, not enough candidates…Too many leads, not enough invoices…Too many systems, not enough process…Whether you have a team who have been, or are still on, furlough… Whether they are all back to work, in the office, or working from home…How can you get your recruitment team, and recruitment business, back on track?And do you even want to go back to what you had before?You likely want to:Increase productivityCreate more accountabilityImprove the recruiter experienceAnd you want to create a flexible and sustainable recruitment business to prepare you for the disruption that lies ahead. Your technology and team have never been more important. How can you use it and them to improve your recruiter experience, and thus your recruitment business?Watch My Speedy 20min RecExpo Seminar on Recruitment TrainingTalking of Recruiters Being Happier...Could you save your recruiters an hour a day, and make an extra £18,750 a year (or £187,500 if there are 10 of you?)Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT- helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines with Adapt, Bullhorn, Herefish, Idibu, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digital, Email Marketing, and your own training! We aim to save every recruiter at least 1 hour per day - more billing time, more fees (more sleep and smiles).TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT 7 DAYS FOR FREEREAD ABOUT OUR RECRUITMENT TRAININGBOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS RECRUITMENT TRAINING
-
Lisa Jones
Blog
4 Things to Help Recruiters Bill More Sales During and After Covid
Recruitment Leaders, before Covid, was your tech delivering profit? Or, did you have the feeling that you were over investing in tech? Did you suffer:Too much data, not enough information?Too many applicants, not enough candidates?Too many jobs, not enough placements?Too many systems, not enough process?I recently spoke at Rec2020 and the topic was: Recruitment Technology – The Future and Making it Work for You – and the take away was:you need to seriously accelerate effective tech adoption in your business – now is the time!But with the current climate, frustrations, and "new normal" changing every day, how do you do this? We answered these four questions...1. Recruitment Tech! All The Gear, No Idea?Perhaps, due to:Massively distracting market conditionsStaff returning from furlough, and possible not firing on all cylinders (fair enough!)Recruiters drowning in candidates applying for jobs that they can’t doRecTec supplier invoices needing paying…you now feel that you were “over investing” in recruitment tech. What did it actually do to help you through this period, and what will it do in the coming months?For example, my team reviewed a 25-person recruitment business with a tech stack costing £200k+. (This excluded their Bullhorn CRM, which ironically, they were not using effectively.) The business wanted to be more effective at attracting, sourcing, engaging, converting, retaining. But they had great tech, data, and passionate recruiters…2. The Problem Between the Chair and the Keyboard? (Recruiters?)Did you have PIBKAC before Covid, and do you want it now and in the future?Ask yourself:How was your business performing before Covid? Did you:Have a team of highly trained, super-engaged recruiters, delivering super-happy candidates to clients who couldn’t cope without you?Have a fully monetised set of systems, data, and processesAnd a marketing department generating awesome leads that your sales team could convert?Or were your 3Cs (candidates, clients, colleagues) not being as effective as you’d like, and you seemed to be buying more and more tech just to stay the same?Perhaps you also suffered from a high attrition rate (average before Covid = 43%). Note that 2/3 of people who quit their jobs in 2019 stated “lack of training” as their reason for leaving. Perhaps you’d used up your business growth budget on salaries (who) and tech (what) and neglected the training (how)? Perhaps you thought "automation" would fix everything?3. Is Recruitment Automation the Goal?Recruitment automation has become a real turn on for some in the industry (including myself!) Systems like Herefish are really kicking butt and doing things to the recruitment process that fixes a lot of the issues outlined above. It’s a great time saver and processes speeder-upper!But - in our march to “automate” we’ve forgotten a step...Systems can only automate processes, if the processes (or at least the sentiment) exist.Humans are still pretty viable (understatement) in the recruitment agency world. The key is to understand where and how they deliver their marketing, sales and recruitment, so you can delegate some of it to a system, then leave the recruiter to do the bit only they can do.But in an industry that is drowning in data and systems, it suffers a lack of process. And there is a distinct lack of systems and process training for recruiters which compounds the problem.Look at your processes:Can they be automated? What’s possible (and plausible)?What isn't being done consistently, forgotten, or what would you like to do that will improve candidate/client experience and free up consultant time for more valuable activities?What needs automating so that your staff can work from home, and you can lead / manage them more effectively?How can you create time for recruiters to develop stronger relationships with clients and candidates (hence stronger pipelines)?4. How Do You Generate the Buy-In for Using Recruitment Technology Effectively?You need buy-in for this for effective rectec adoption. So, gain an understanding of two things (thanks Andy):How will recruitment tech drive an increase in performanceHow will it solve a business-critical issue (eg. Covid) which will enable point 1Often recruiters need more time to manage the sales process. (They likely have enough data and systems). Ask yourself:If I could save each of my recruiters 1 hour a day (hence 30 days a year) how much more could they bill?What could they do with that hour?Through the Bullhorn, Adapt, and other recruitment training my team delivers, we aim to give recruiters back 1 hour a day. Case study:A recruiter who has a £100,000k target.They’re full time and take 20 days hols a year.My team trains them to use their tech more effectively and saves them 1 hour a day.This generates 30 days extra time per year.This equates to a potential pipeline of an extra £12,500You have 10 staff? This means £125,000. What’s the commission for you and your team on that figure?And how much does it cost to train recruiters to generate that level of fee? (not as much!)That’s a simple way of measuring performance improvements and generating buy-in from all levels of the business.Recruitment Leaders, You Need… 1, 2, 3You need to seriously accelerate effective tech adoption in your business – now is the time!Look at your tech stack– is it delivering value to you, or just the people you bought it from?Look at your processes - are they clear enough for remote workers to adopt, managers to manage, and where possible, to automate?Admit that your staff are extremely unlikely to ask for help in the current market. It is too risky to admit a lack of skill? Be the leader and get them trained.If the rest of 2020 is about linking your systems, data, processes and people, imagine what 2021 could be like!Watch the Rec2020 Webinar HereHIIT Us, Recruiters!Could you save an hour a day, and make an extra £18,750 a year (or £187,500 if there are 10 of you?)Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT - helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digital and Email Marketing. We aim to save every recruiter at least 1 hour per day - more billing time, more fees!TRY RECRUITMENT HIITREAD ABOUT OUR RECRUITMENT TRAININGBOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS RECRUITMENT TRAINING
-
Downloads
The Adapt Playbook
.jpg)
.png)
