Neil Clough, managing director at sales recruitment and training specialist Prime takes a look at the evolution of recruitment, and the potential impact of the sector moving online.
As we have seen in recent years, the way that businesses adapt to the internet is the biggest challenge of the 21st century. We can now buy cars online, get a degree from a university in another country and access a huge range of data. It is inevitable that this will impact many sectors, with sales recruitment high on that list.
Particularly relevant for sales is the impact of the new technology on communication. Typically, communication is made up of 55 per cent body language and 38 per cent tone, meaning that just seven per cent of how we communicate is what we say. With as much as 93 per cent of communication only being relevant when face to face, recruiting on an online platform presents problems.
Since almost all of the tactics used by traditional salespeople seemingly are unavailable when online, it has been suggested that salespeople are a dying breed.
It’s certainly true that we’re in a world where selling has dramatically changed. Customers are more commercially savvy and sophisticated in how they make purchasing decisions, re-thinking the way they buy. With access to almost unlimited information, people have an increased understanding of what they need, meaning they no longer want to be sold to.
However, before we prematurely announce its demise, salespeople have looked to evolve, using technology to find a way around the loss of traditional methods. For instance, rapport has always been the big thing for the industry, particularly on the service side of selling, and this has become increasingly significant when it comes to the Internet.
With rapport in mind, the rise in social media has been a key trend, particularly for the recruitment sector. If we look at LinkedIn alone, there are over 187 million users, with around 40 per cent checking their profile on a daily basis. With recruiters now able to use this enormous database of contacts, this provides salespeople with another outlet to build rapport and target.
Though this does not directly reduce the fact that 93 per cent of communication is only relevant when face to face, the industry is beginning to take note of this. Programmes are now helping recruiters build rapport with their client base through the content that they post on social platforms, helping them to build their own ‘personal brand’. This ‘personal brand’, provided the content is strong enough, entices clients that would otherwise shop around on social media platforms, communicating their expertise in an effective manner.
However, it will be standing out in the crowded market of online recruitment that is set to be the biggest challenge for the coming years, with personal brands becoming ever more crucial in distinguishing between individuals. However, this has its own risks. A recruitment firm that relies too heavily on the personal brand of a specific individual will find themselves in an extremely difficult position should the employee decide to leave, as they will tend to take their clients with them.
With this in mind, the best performing companies will be the ones that perform a delicate balancing act. Recruitment firms need to ensure that no individual becomes larger than the business. Through building the company’s collective brand, management can encourage its staff to build their own reputation, while being secure in the knowledge that they can fall back on their own should an individual leave.
Ultimately though, the rise in personal brand building demonstrates a key point: sales and recruitment will always require a personal touch. As such, the “Death of the Salesman” will never occur, but the industry will simply continue to evolve and adapt to the ever-developing technologies. The Internet has undoubtedly had a significant impact on recruitment, but behind the computer will always be a human operator.
So what does the future hold for the industry? As technology continues to progress, we are beginning to see the return of the 93 per cent of communication traditionally displayed by salespeople. For example, a greater number of firms include a Skype call as part of their recruitment process, with video CVs also becoming increasingly popular. While this isn’t quite the same as face to face contact, it is certainly better than the alternatives offered by the Internet. Should this continue to extend as expected, we may even see a return towards the traditional values of sales.
You can’t be a good recruiter without embracing technology, but you cannot let technology become the be all and end all. The recruiter is still more powerful than the technological advancements, so the best businesses will remain the ones with the best recruiters.
