Getting Past the Gatekeeper to Reach the Decision Maker Bill Santos President/Partner of Employment Management Professionals February 6, 2014

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Marketing Exchange Theory For a voluntary transaction or a voluntary exchange to occur - all parties to the exchange must perceive the benefits of the exchange outweigh the costs!

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name Employment Exchanges This exchange of benefits doesn’t happen by magic. It comes about because the best Job Developers initiate the exchange. Employment exchanges are more successful when the employer’s perceptions of the benefits and costs are managed by the Job Developer. The Job Developer must ensure that the employer:  Clearly understands the benefits in the hiring decision  Can appreciate how the benefits equal or exceed the costs  Appreciates how the benefits are reinforced through the subsequent employment relationship

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name Perceiving Value The essence of the Marketing Exchange Theory is that the perception of value (benefits outweighing costs) at the moment of the decision, the now, is how the decision to proceed or not is made. The value itself may be realized or not, but it is not the reality of the value, but the perception of value which causes the decision. It is the perception of value at the moment before deciding that is the key to the decision. No perception of value, no exchange.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name The Strategy The key to this specialized approach is to have a long-term strategy to maximize your contacts with employers. The strategy is to build a network of employers who:  You understand and appreciate for their personality and their business environment  Trust you so that candidates are considered often solely on your recommendations

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name The Strategy (cont.) The number of employers that you will eventually need, will be dependent on the number of people you are placing and the type of community you work in. We suggest that one Job Developer can adequately take care of, and manage, 20 employers. Remember making contact with an employer is often the hardest part of job development. Just getting the employer to pay attention to you and to give you the opportunity to engage them often takes more work than convincing them to hire your candidate.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name Prospecting Ratio The number of people you ask to meet with you and the number of people who actually agree to a meeting is called your prospecting ratio. You may call five employers and only one agrees to see you. This should tell you that you will need to have identified and planned to meet with many more employers than you actually ever do. This is why the initial contact with employers is so crucial because the prospecting ratio tends to be great (5:1 or higher) and there is a lot of up front work to get initial meetings. When an employer agrees to see you, you have the chance to do some business. Until then, you have only hope!

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Project name The Hidden Market The hidden job market is the term we use for job opportunities that are not advertised in the press or searched through employment agencies. It is hidden from obvious view, but it is made available to those people who are in touch with employers on a regular basis. When your hidden job market is well developed, you could be the only supplier in that market. Our strategy is to penetrate this Hidden Market in our geographical regions. We can do that in a number of ways:  Secure referrals  Build a network of contacts  Promote your business  Personally explore the market

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Connecting with Employers Connecting with employers and building an ongoing relationship is not built on the competencies of your clients. It is built on:  The competencies of your service  The area you control  The things you can do with the employer to add value to the employer through the hiring process

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Face Credibility On the immediate surface you need to be perceived as being credible. What you say and the questions you ask will identify you as a novice or veteran of the hiring scene. You need to have a series of business references, one liners, stories and questions to instantly build face credibility for you. To get to the Decision Maker you must have established your face credibility. One of the easiest ways to do this is to show your understanding of the employer’s situation: his/her pressures, challenges and expectations. To reach that level of understanding you need to demonstrate insider information and let the employer know you have dealt with and solved employment situations like his/hers.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Insightful Good Questions Having established your appreciation for the employer’s problems and having shown that you do have some solutions you now have the right to ask for the Decision Maker. We will get more access as we become better in our interactions with employers and as our confidence and skills evolve. Old Adage in Sales: “If you ask the right questions and listen carefully to the answers - someone will tell you not only what they want to buy but how to sell it to them.”

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Insightful Good Questions To demonstrate solid face credibility with the employer ask questions which have a high likelihood of being answered “Yes”. The psychology behind this approach is very simple. By answering “Yes” frequently, the employer begins to feel you are asking the right questions and you understanding what is going on in his/her business. If you think there is a high possibility the employer will answer “No” to your question, then change the question. Some of these questions are very exploratory and do not suggest this is a sales call at all.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Types of Questions Survey Type Questions: These questions are designed to ask only for information and an appointment and have little to suggest there is any sales call potential to them at all. They are targeted at employer curiosity and willingness to help. Referral Type Questions: This is the most effective type of question to ask since it contains its own credibility. The employer feels an immediate sense of trust and is willing to answer it with few reservations. These questions demonstrate your credibility through reference. Direct Request Type Questions: These are questions you ask of an employer where you feel confident that they have an immediate need or they familiar with you and your organization. These questions are aimed at timing and availability needs.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Questions (cont.) Ask for Help Type Questions: These questions are designed to appeal to a person’s natural inclination to help if requested to do so. The questions often begin with the phrase “Could you help me…” They are targeted to situations where you need some information and believe that the person you are contacting can both help you with that information and also provide you with an opportunity to ask follow up questions. Making These Questions Work For You: Some types of questions will be more comfortable than others for you to use. Keep in mind that these are questions you are going to ask right at the beginning of a contact with a prospective employer. You want the question to be sincere, reflective of your personality and something you can use to secure a face-to-face appointment. The employer should be curious as to who you are and what you actually have to offer. You will need to talk about your service but even this amount of information you give out should be kept short.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Value Added Options These are services that you control which the employer would not have access to if they were not dealing with you. Value added means that the employer gets more than they themselves would have required, mainly because the employer will not know what to ask for and any extra effort on your part will generate value added service. The employer must not see your efforts as simply a placement for your client, as they get this all the time when they hire anyone. When you offer more, the employer now has added benefit in dealing with you.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Persistence This first step in making contact is more successful if you have persistence. Persistence is the willingness to return to the task of prospecting or making contact with employers even though your ratio of employers saying “No” to you is greater than their saying “Yes”. The cardinal sin in making first contacts is to give up to soon or to put in place a sporadic approach where you start and stop. In the start and stop approach, each time you start again after stopping you are cold! What is happening is that you are not giving the employer a sense of confidence about you. You want to show that you know the job market and the challenges the employer faces around hiring.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – The Gate Keeper You want to get the Gate Keeper to work with you, not to try to trick him/her into letting you past. Here are some things you can try: 1.Be emphatic and positive - create rapport! 2.Ask for contact without using a formal salutation. You will sound more relaxed and informal and the receptionist will not immediately get defensive. 3.Ask for help! Then describe the reason for your call and wait for advice. 4.Be persistent! Remind the receptionist that you have tried contacting this person before and had no success. 5.Ask the receptionist if the person you are trying to contact is the right person or should you try contacting someone else.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Prospecting Discipline In all businesses, not just employment, the successful salespeople concentrate on the discipline of prospecting. That discipline has 4 rules you need to make your own. They are as follows: 1. Have a schedule you follow. Your schedule needs to have specific actions such as:  Meet or say hello to a new employer every day or at least every week  Call at least five employers every week  Follow up on all of last week’s calls 2. Write three standard prospecting scripts before beginning any prospecting initiatives 3. Be positive and believe in the value of your efforts so that your prospecting efforts are working for you 4. Reward your successes so that you overcome any reluctance to make that extra effort when prospecting

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Keys to Getting to the Decision Maker – Prospecting Discipline Too much prospecting time can be wasted when you can’t get through to the person who really makes the hiring decisions in a company. Usually systems have been set up in a company to screen calls, especially calls to employment departments and hiring personnel. That doesn’t mean you can’t get through. It simply means, as you have likely experienced all too often, that you have to find a way around the system. There are many strategies for doing this, but the best one is: Find someone in the company who will help you! You don't have to be all that clever in your approach. Most of the time someone will be happy to help and eventually you will get to where you need to be speaking with the hiring manager.

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute. Funded by RSA Grant # H264A © Contact Information Bill Santos EMP Oakville

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