Last week I listened to a podcast by Dale Beaumont from Business Blueprint in which he interviewed Tony Gattari from Achievers Group.
Tony spoke about his six principles of influence, the importance of emotional intelligence, the ability to persuade people and what the difference was between influence and manipulation. All the principles apply DIRECTLY to what it takes to be a successful Recruitment Consultant.
His six principles are:
- The Principle of Reciprocation
This principal refers to one of mankind’s most basic instincts – and that is when you give you will receive in return. The spirit of generosity.
How do we apply this to Recruitment? Basically when you are generous and honest with your pre qualified Candidates, you can expect them to be open, honest and even more importantly, loyal in return.
If you have ever bought a new car you will understand Tony’s example. He says that a tactic used by car dealerships is to give away a free 40-cent coffee in the hope of getting a $40,000 sale. Once the purchaser receives the coffee, they feel the need to reciprocate.
- Commitment and Consistency
The best sales people are the ones who solve problems. I believe one of the characteristics of a successful Recruitment Consultant is the ability to enable Candidates to discover answers themselves whilst the Consultant maintains control of the recruitment process.
In Recruitment, we need to be committed to our task and consistent in our delivery but we can’t and shouldn’t manipulate Candidates into roles.
Our role should be to educate Candidates on the best available opportunities in the market and allow them to due their due diligence on what we have to offer with our clients.
- Social Proof
How big is your tribe. How many Connections, Likes and Followers do you have? People want to follow the leader of their field, the industry expert.
People believe testimonials and what others say about your service or product. Written testimonials are great but video testimonials are even stronger. A video testimonial is an excellent way to gain credibility within your tribe.
- Likeability
People like to do business and buy from people they like or would like to be like. A likeable personality is important to winning repeat business and in building a successful recruitment desk. You can’t “fake it until you make it” and the crash and burn mentality of some Recruitment Consultants is unsustainable in this market.
- Use of Authority
You need to become an authority in your field and the master of content in your industry sector. Tony talks about being “centimeters wide and kilometers deep” and this is so true in Recruitment.
The days of Generalist White Collar Recruitment is dead. The most successful Consultants are experts in their industry sector and the vertical market within their industry.
You must continue to write, post, video and blog to prove your authority in your industry.
- Scarcity
This is the principle where manipulation can come into play. It is that scarcity sells and people are motivated by the fear of loss.
Retailers and Real Estate Agents are masters at this. “This special offer is only available until 5pm tonight” or “Another party has made an offer and properties like this in this area don’t come up often”.
I’ve already said earlier that we shouldn’t manipulate Candidates into taking job offers.
As successful Recruitment Consultants we understand how these six basic Principles work and how we can use them to our advantage.
