As I’ve said many times, you should never ever begin by telling, pitching or providing solutions before the client articulates what they want to gain, achieve or solve.
Open-ended questions are essential for any sales success. As we know, without an employer having recruitment, staffing or even business problems, we cannot provide recruitment solutions, specifically if we’re trying to job carve. And in order to discover business problems, we need to ask good questions. Good questions are designed to help us identify client goals, experiences, gaps, problems, perceptions, and values. Once we understand those, only then can we design a solution that is aligned with their needs.
But most importantly, we need to ask good questions that help the customer create their own insights, as well as taking them on a thinking journey in order to explore their own needs, values and solutions.
Last year a great Australian sales expert by the name Luigi Prestinenzi taught me about the three types of questions that are most important to ask. I’ve personally followed a SPIN type of questioning framework myself which is brilliant, but Luigi’s framework was simpler as I found that my students were able to apply it with ease. It was also laser-focused on three types of buying habits, problems, and needs. Current, past and future.
Here are the three types of questions and a few examples for recruitment and employment services.
Current Questions
Here is where you discover the current status quo of their business and recruitment process. Finding out what they’re currently doing at the moment, and how they are doing it, is detrimental to setting yourself up for sales success.
On a scale of one to ten, how happy are you with the way that you’re currently recruiting?
May I ask how you would describe the working culture at the moment?
Do you currently have a diversity and inclusion plan?
What are your thoughts about hiring someone with a disability?
What are the top 3 qualities that you’re currently looking for in a candidate?
What are some recruitment challenges that you feel you are facing with the recruitment process?
Past Questions
This gives you an insider view of how they have purchased in the past. How have they been doing their recruitment? Have they had experience with organisations like yours and what are their experiences? It’s critical to understand their past experiences in order to know how to best position yourself and overcome objections.
Have you used government-funded organisations like ours in the past for recruitment purposes?
What has been your biggest challenge in creating a more inclusive culture?
How have you recruited in the past?
Can you please tell me a little more about your experience with this?
What would you have done differently?
What has been your biggest obstacle so far?
Future Questions
We need to understand the prospect's future goals, needs, and strategies. Getting your prospect to consider their goals and even create a compelling future is important. This also helps us understand how they may be buying in the future.
What vacancies can you see on the horizon in the next 3-6 months?
What are some of your future recruitment goals?
What type of team culture do you envision for the future?
What type of candidate do you see working for you in the future?
What strategies are you planning to put into place?
How do you think changing this area could improve your day-to-day work?
There are hundreds of current, past and future questions that you can ask. Your job is now to create your own and contexualise each question to the employer, industry, and jobseeker who you will be marketing.
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