By Jay Mattern, CEO at TerraFirma Marketing
Over the years, I have attended countless webinars, training sessions, and presentations addressing the staffing industry’s selling process. One of the first questions the presenter always asks the audience is …
“What are we selling?”
The answers usually come out like this:
- “People!”
- “Solutions!”
- “Productivity!”
- “Efficiency!”
While all of these technically provide a good answer to the question, they don’t get to the heart of the matter. The true answer has two parts.
First, you must sell yourself. Period. This comes before you talk about what you do, how you do it, what makes you different, or anything related to your staffing firm and its services.
I’ve seen so many business development people run right past this and begin telling the prospect all the wonderful things about their company and what they can do. Until the person on the other side of the desk gets a sense of who you are and gains some trust, you’re wasting time pitching how great your screening process is.
Burt Lancaster, a famous actor and director, was asked how he landed so many great film roles. His answer?
“Sell yourself first if you want to sell anything.”
That’s great advice.
Once you’ve sold yourself, then – and only then – can you introduce your staffing company. And, once you do, you must again answer the question, “What are we selling?”
The answer is NOT people/solutions/productivity/staffing or any similar ideas.
You are selling a commitment. You are selling a promise.
AN OUTCOME.
“At XYZ Staffing, we do A, B, and C. Here’s what that means to you …”
So, sell yourself first.
Then, sell your promise.
Then, make darn sure you execute on both.
