We all have conscious problems we want to resolve. A lot of them revolve around money and more specifically, saving money. We buy rail season tickets, move debt on to interest free credit cards, buy a certain product because its on offer that week. If we’re not shopping around for all of our insurances, we’re mocked by a nearest and dearest who got “a better deal”. Then there are costs where we don’t hold the data or knowledge to easily be able to compare price vs value:
How much to plaster my wall?
£2700.
Can I get a breakdown of that please?
Sure, to do the job is £2700 and to not do the job is £0
Being constantly told that we are doing things the wrong way and the damage that can do to relationships is not lost on me as a father of 2 independent pre-teens. So how do we open up these sensitive topics without looking like we know a business better than its own leadership team. The short answer is to first admit that we don’t. We can ask good questions and show genuine interest in what makes an organisation attractive to potential candidates but until we get into the detail its often hypothetical.
Add to all of this that even if you can identify a problem, you then need to convince the decision maker that it is worth their while fixing it. When it comes to outsourcing their recruitment, I believe that if you can demonstrate 3 things to a potential client you have much more chance of progressing the conversation:
- They can save money – This may not be on recruitment fees alone. For example, if a typical London estate agency can retain just one extra member of their team a year, they will save/generate over £100k in upside for the business.
- Demonstrate expertise beyond those they can employ directly – One of the biggest drivers to outsource has to be the recognition that your team of experts offers more than an internal recruiter can on their own, no matter how good they are.
- That you and your business can be trusted – These are long term investments which are significant in value. There has to be absolute trust backed up with contractual protection (which comes later in the process) if the outsourced provider fails to meet certain standards
We’re asking to look under the bonnet of a businesses operations to find a problem that we will then advise we can fix. All well meaning and of course I truly believe that a quality outsource provider has access to a greater depth of skills compared to a lot of company’s internal capabilities. We are also very often more easily able to invest in the improvement of the recruitment process.
We like to work with data in the first instance. It’s a single source of the truth and good or bad its often less emotive to deal with. The key is then demonstrating what improving this data does for the individual. The skill of understanding the different motivations of your buyer (HR, Procurement, Business Owner etc) will be begin the reassuringly long process of building that trust.
If you’d like to be the first to peak into some of your potential problems and would like someone who is on your side no matter what the data tells us, then book in a call here.
