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What are clients really paying for?
We all know that the recruitment industry is under pressure to add more value for clients and candidates, whilst becoming leaner and more efficient. If the downturn has shown us (amongst other industries) anything useful, it is that there is A LOT of dead-wood in our industry.
At this stage it is worth taking your thinking onto a deeper level. What are client's paying you for? or put another way, why should a client use you?
In my humble opinion it's quite simple. Clients are paying to access your network. Which then means, that those Recruiters who have spent their time and energy on expanding the quality (depth) and width or their contact base, are the ones who will be able to respond adequately to client's request, and provide better suited matches in a timely fashion.
I mentioned 'depth' of network, as this is where the 'quality' of a network comes into play, and not just the volume of mere hollow contacts. It is no good having 5000 contacts on Linkedin who you never touch base with. It is better to have 50 contacts who you are in regular contact with, who can help you when a need arises.
Clients don't have time to cultivate such large networks of contacts themselves, as unlike us their full time job is within another realm. The majority of our time is spent on networking, creating networks, contacts, conversations and referrals etc. Hence we should have a larger network-base (or allegedly so) than our clients. Therefore in essence, our clients are paying for access to this network.
However behind the scenes, the 'health' of each Recruiter's network is determined by the effort the Recruiter has invested in their network. Needless to say, the Recruiters who are the most visible online AND offline, will be the most 'networked' Recruiter, and in turn will be able to respond to Client's needs.
With all this in mind, surely we should be spending time on creating 'quality- filled' networks, where regular conversations are the focus? Only so much can be done online, conversations can start there, but to put a 'quality' badge on it, those conversations MUST move to the phone and/or face to face at some stage.
We are human after all, so humanizing our network will surely help us craft our own individual USP when it comes to pitching to clients. Which client wouldn't want to be connected to a visible and well-known Recruiter in the market?
