Dear HR Manager
I have personally been cold calling corporate clients for last 4 Years. I have found it damn difficult to get through to the HR Managers to consider our services.
It is difficult because like ALMOST ALL consultancies have a similar approach give the proposals & use the same communication. I tried differentiating by creating different methodologies, creating niche verticals / sectors for some time. NOTHING seems to work!
Our one drawback could be that during meetings with new clients we do not offer or discuss "other considerations" apart from our professional services & how we will tackle their issues. Please rest assured it has nothing to do with my communication skills , personality etc, which I would rate as Excellent ( Modest ain't I :))..despite all my sincere efforts I am not able to get the success I deserve as a Business Development Manager for my Consultancy.
Any ideas, what works?? I know you'll be hesitant to give out you secrets...but if we people don't share our learning & techniques with each other who do we share it with? Where do I go? What is this forum for....I am sure few good men & women will definitely come up with some good suggestions.
Thanks in advance for all you dynamic minds for participating with your suggestions.
Good HR Associates
From India, Chandigarh
4I have personally been cold calling corporate clients for last 4 Years. I have found it damn difficult to get through to the HR Managers to consider our services.
It is difficult because like ALMOST ALL consultancies have a similar approach give the proposals & use the same communication. I tried differentiating by creating different methodologies, creating niche verticals / sectors for some time. NOTHING seems to work!
Our one drawback could be that during meetings with new clients we do not offer or discuss "other considerations" apart from our professional services & how we will tackle their issues. Please rest assured it has nothing to do with my communication skills , personality etc, which I would rate as Excellent ( Modest ain't I :))..despite all my sincere efforts I am not able to get the success I deserve as a Business Development Manager for my Consultancy.
Any ideas, what works?? I know you'll be hesitant to give out you secrets...but if we people don't share our learning & techniques with each other who do we share it with? Where do I go? What is this forum for....I am sure few good men & women will definitely come up with some good suggestions.
Thanks in advance for all you dynamic minds for participating with your suggestions.
Good HR Associates
From India, Chandigarh
Dear Good HR Associates,
Your post brings out difficulties involved in selling your services. Though you have not mentioned clearly what kind of services you sell to HR Managers, it can be deduced that you sell recruitment services. Secondly, you have boasted of your "Excellent" communication skills. While nothing can be said about verbal communication skills, as far as written communication skills are concerned, your post leaves evidence to the contrary.
Now coming to the challenges that you face and why you face these challenges. It is because of the following reasons:
a) Your No 1 problem is "problem of plenty". Market is overcrowded therefore, there is no scope to stand out from the crowd. How are you different from your competitors? What reply you have?
b) It is not just overcrowded market but then it is saturated as well. Therefore, demand is fixed and existing players have to share the pie.
c) For your customer, you are the supplier of the services. As far as your services are concerned, your services fall in "Routine" quadrant of <link outdated-removed> . All suppliers, who provide services in "Routine" quadrant face similar situation or fate as well. Services cannot be sold on "value' but per force on "price".
d) The service providers who provide services in "routine" quadrant can be switched easily. For some services like security services, the switch is little difficult however, this is may not be the case for your kind of services. Therefore, you are forever at the mercy of the customers. No provision to dictate the terms.
e) There are well-established players in the market. They have realised their investment in pre-recession era i.e. before 2008. For them it is just continuity of the services. However, new players find it very difficult to sustain. This is because of weak demand in the market.
f) How about quality of the manpower that you employe? Do they come up with some innovative ideas? Do they use analytical skills in their job? What is the level of attrition? I leave answers of all these questions to you.
Final Comments: - So what is the solution? Solution is two-fold. One is think of some diversification. A prominent facility service provider diversified into security services and then corporate catering services. Find out what diversification you can do. While diversifying, make sure that you enter into "Mission Critical Product or Services". The second thing is what research you can do in your field. This research data should be useful for the growth of your services.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Your post brings out difficulties involved in selling your services. Though you have not mentioned clearly what kind of services you sell to HR Managers, it can be deduced that you sell recruitment services. Secondly, you have boasted of your "Excellent" communication skills. While nothing can be said about verbal communication skills, as far as written communication skills are concerned, your post leaves evidence to the contrary.
Now coming to the challenges that you face and why you face these challenges. It is because of the following reasons:
a) Your No 1 problem is "problem of plenty". Market is overcrowded therefore, there is no scope to stand out from the crowd. How are you different from your competitors? What reply you have?
b) It is not just overcrowded market but then it is saturated as well. Therefore, demand is fixed and existing players have to share the pie.
c) For your customer, you are the supplier of the services. As far as your services are concerned, your services fall in "Routine" quadrant of <link outdated-removed> . All suppliers, who provide services in "Routine" quadrant face similar situation or fate as well. Services cannot be sold on "value' but per force on "price".
d) The service providers who provide services in "routine" quadrant can be switched easily. For some services like security services, the switch is little difficult however, this is may not be the case for your kind of services. Therefore, you are forever at the mercy of the customers. No provision to dictate the terms.
e) There are well-established players in the market. They have realised their investment in pre-recession era i.e. before 2008. For them it is just continuity of the services. However, new players find it very difficult to sustain. This is because of weak demand in the market.
f) How about quality of the manpower that you employe? Do they come up with some innovative ideas? Do they use analytical skills in their job? What is the level of attrition? I leave answers of all these questions to you.
Final Comments: - So what is the solution? Solution is two-fold. One is think of some diversification. A prominent facility service provider diversified into security services and then corporate catering services. Find out what diversification you can do. While diversifying, make sure that you enter into "Mission Critical Product or Services". The second thing is what research you can do in your field. This research data should be useful for the growth of your services.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Dear Dinesh V Divekar
Thank you for your post. Your suggestions and observations are indeed valuable. Thanks for taking time out to write this post. Some of the suggestions (Kraljic Portfolio) were really useful and practical.
Also thank you for pointing out that I sounded "boastful" on my post as also appearing to be lacking in good written communication skills. I'll take care of these things pointed out by you and try to improve. Thank you for being forth right and direct. I really respect this.
Good Hr Associates.
From India, Chandigarh
Thank you for your post. Your suggestions and observations are indeed valuable. Thanks for taking time out to write this post. Some of the suggestions (Kraljic Portfolio) were really useful and practical.
Also thank you for pointing out that I sounded "boastful" on my post as also appearing to be lacking in good written communication skills. I'll take care of these things pointed out by you and try to improve. Thank you for being forth right and direct. I really respect this.
Good Hr Associates.
From India, Chandigarh
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