The long-term approach to hiring manager outreach

There’s a business development tactic I’ve heard about a lot: pretend like you’ve got great candidates, even when you don’t. 

Then, when a hiring manager bites, you can say something like “oh well that person isn’t on the market anymore, but we can find you another.”

I’m sure this can work, particularly in markets where a certain type of candidate is always in demand. 

But several recruiters I’ve worked with have said they definitely don’t want to take this approach. 

Lying to get new business isn’t a great start to a working relationship. 

But how do you get new business without dangling those enticing candidates in front of hiring managers? 

And how do you build working relationships that can last for years, or even decades, instead of chasing a single job order that might not even get filled? 

Here are 3 things to think about when doing your business development that will help you find those long-term relationships with companies who appreciate your work. 

1. Most hiring managers don’t need you right now
2. Chasing a transaction often just gets you a transaction
3. The relationship is more important than an open role

Most hiring managers don’t need you right now

In The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes talks about The Buyer’s Pyramid. 

The people who will never buy… a big chunk of people… sits at the base of the pyramid. 

The further up the pyramid you go, the more ready to buy people are. And naturally, there are fewer people the closer to the top. 

Chet estimates that for most markets only about 1-3% of buyers are ready to buy right now. 

And if you’ve ever done a week of cold-calling and heard “we’re not hiring right now”, you probably feel this is true with your hiring managers. 

And here’s the thing about that 97% of your market who isn’t hiring right now: 

There’s absolutely nothing you can do to change that. 

So what can you do? 

You can speak to everyone. So that when someone moves from “not ready to buy” to “ready to buy”...

They think of you. 

Content is one of the best ways to do this. 

And it lets you do it for dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of leads at the same time. 

But there’s another reason to try and influence hiring managers even if they don’t have a job order for you right away. 

Chasing a transaction often just gets you a transaction

When I was in high school and I’d visit family in Denver with my parents, my dad and I would often go to music stores to check out guitars. 

We usually didn’t have any intention of buying a guitar that day but any musician is always thinking about that next instrument purchase somewhere down the road. 

I remember one store where the staff were very happy to let us strum the guitars, talk to us about the features, and compare them to other brands we were familiar with. 

But there was one store that took the opposite approach. 

The staff would ask, right up front, “you looking to buy a guitar today?”

And when our answer was “no, just looking around,” the salespeople basically ignored us other than to say “don’t touch that.”

One store was interested in customers. The other was interested in transactions. 

Which place do you think we ultimately went when it was time to spend money? 

Hiring managers aren’t any different. 

Chances are that most days of the year they won’t actually need to work with a recruiter. 

So chasing job orders means you miss out on 97% of hiring managers who might be a great fit for you. 

But if you’re building a relationship? Building trust? And building someone’s faith in your abilities to help them? 

That’s the type of client/recruiter engagement that really can last for years, where you become the person they want to call any time they need a hand. 

Which I, and many of the recruiters I’ve worked with, would argue is more important than just getting a job order one time. 

The relationship is more important than an open role

There’s a recruiter I’ve worked with who switched careers from the medical industry to recruiting for the medical industry. 

Because she used to be a clinician, she knows exactly what the clinics she works with are going through when it comes to hiring clinicians. 

She can speak their language, she knows what open roles cost, and she knows the frustrations, hopes, & fears of the hiring managers that she helps. 

Hiring managers trust her, they reach out to her when they have open roles, and they go to bat with her even when their bosses insist things go through the VMS. 

But it’s not like every single one of her new LinkedIn connections tosses job orders her way immediately. 

Yet they’re stepping over piles of recruiters who send “we make successful placements for businesses just like yours” messages to work with her. 

Because there’s a relationship built on trust & understanding there. 

Not a transaction based on a simple need. 

And you can create these relationships for yourself. 

By focusing not just on the simple “can they give me a job order right now?” approach…

…But building your outreach & content to attract the type of business that you like working with…

That you can help for years to come…

And that will need you after their one job is filled. 

Conclusion

Finding new clients is hard. 

But the way you approach it can make a huge difference when it comes to the types of clients you end up getting. 

The transactional approach might get you job orders…

But the long-term approach helps you build relationships. 

Which in the long run, means you’ll end up with more job orders anyway, and ones that are easier to fill.