Common Objections In this section, I’ll present lists of questions and answers to overcome objections. These are general and I recommend and urge you to personalise them to reflect your unique selling points. They’re not in any particular order and you wouldn’t be expected to say every line to your client. “Recruitment agencies are too expensive” Firstly, acknowledge the objection: “I agree they sometimes can be. Understandably saving money is important to you. My ambition is to save you time and money.” Do you have an in house recruiter? No, have you worked out how much it costs to take you / one of your staff away from their job to recruit? If you look at what we do, we actually save you money. We put up the adverts; we vet, reference and interview the candidates; and if you don’t hire any of the candidates it’s cost you nothing. How do you normally recruit? Why don’t we compare the cost of my services vs. your current method, you might be pleasantly surprised? How long does it normally take you to fill vacancies? What would you do if one of your staff goes on long term sickness, or maternity leave? It doesn’t cost you anything to try our services. Why don’t you let me send you two CV’s and see what you think? “We have no budget left at the moment” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “Okay, that’s not a problem.” To be honest with you, this gives us an opportunity to get to know each other. I’d like to understand your business more, so when you do need to recruit I can react fast for you. Out of curiosity, when is your budget renewed? How much do you normally budget for recruitment? What time of the year do you usually run out of budget? What would you do if one of your staff goes on long term sickness, or maternity leave? “It’s company policy not to use agencies” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “Oh, okay.” How do you normally recruit? What was the reason for the policy? (Money? Bad experience?) How are you managing your current recruitment methods? How successful are your current recruitment methods? Have you ever tried an agency before? When do you expect this situation to change? (record this and chase) How long has the policy been in place? What calibre of candidates does your current recruitment method find? What type of staff do you find recruiting difficult for? What would you do if one of your staff goes on long term sickness, or maternity leave? “There’s a recruitment freeze” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “Oh that’s a shame, I’ve heard you’re a good company to work for.” What’s the reason for the freeze? When do you expect it will pass? (record this and follow up) When do you think you’ll be recruiting again? I understand you have a freeze. How is this affecting you and your department? What would you do if one of your staff goes on long term sickness, or maternity leave? How is this affecting your job? What would happen if you lost a key member of staff, how would you go about replacing them? “We advertise ourselves” (newspaper / website) Firstly acknowledge the objection: “I understand.” Where do you advertise? If an advert costs you £2000, but doesn’t find the right candidate, what do you do then? Most of my clients used to advertise themselves until they gave me a chance. With my services you don’t pay until you hire the candidate. Next time, why don’t you give me a chance before paying for an advert? If it doesn’t work out you’ve lost nothing. How successful is your advertising? How much do you spend on advertising? Who deals with the responses? How much does sifting through all those CV’s take you away from your day job? What’s the calibre of candidates who respond? What do you do if you don’t get the right response? What would you do if you needed someone immediately? I can complement what you’re already doing. If you advertise and use me at the same time then you can compare what I’m sending you to what your advert attracts. “We only use large agencies that can fill multiple roles” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “I can see the sense in that. That probably makes it easier than dealing with multiple agencies.” Many of my clients previously only used large generalist agencies, but they found they weren’t getting the top candidates. They simply can’t keep on top of every profession. Large agencies have to hide candidates from their clients, because it would mean headhunting candidates from their other clients. They wouldn’t do this for ethical reasons. With so many clients they can’t headhunt candidates for you. I only work with a select few clients, so I actually have a bigger pool of candidates for you. “We use another agency” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “I’m glad to see that you take recruitment seriously.” What agency do you use? How did they get to work with you? What is the reason for using them? What is it about their service you prefer? What other agencies do you use as back up? What types of staff do they supply you with? What do you do if they can’t deliver? Would you ever go out to another agency if needed? What do you look for in a recruitment agency? What could they do to improve? What would you change about their current service? I really want to work with your company. What can I do to get that opportunity? “Your fees are too expensive” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “That’s why you should use me.” I charge more because I go the extra mile. I deliver a premium service and you’ll only ever get two to three CV’s of interviewed, referenced and relevant candidates. If I can’t deliver, I’ll honestly tell you straight away rather than waste your time. “We’re not recruiting right now” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “That’s not a problem.” I’m interested in your company and while there is nothing happening now, I genuinely want to know you and understand your business for when you do recruit. What do you normally do when you are recruiting? When do you think you’ll next be recruiting? I read that your company is planning on growing, how do you expect your department to change with this growth? I read that your company is considering a stock market floatation. What recruitment measures are you taking for this change? I’m glad you’re currently not recruiting. This gives me an opportunity to better understand your business. “We don’t use recruitment agencies” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “Oh, okay.” How come? How do you employ temporary workers? How do you keep productivity up when spreading staff duties? How do you cover staff? How do you pay temporary staff? What happens if one of your employees goes on sick leave or maternity? How do you recruit for specialist skill sets? How do you cover peak trading periods? What issues do you face when people leave? “It’s my job” (internal recruitment) Firstly acknowledge the objection: “Great, I’m speaking to the right person.” I believe your company has 2000 employees, that must be hard to manage, what external support do you use? Who covers you when you’re ill or taking holidays? What do you know about recruitment agencies? How often do you recruit? What candidates do you find hard to find? How would you feel about partnering with an agency and using our facilities for private discreet interviews? What do you look for in an agency? Which positions are the most difficult to fill? Who does the interviews? What do you do if you can’t find the right candidates? “I’ve had problems with your agency in the past” Firstly acknowledge the objection: “I’m sorry to hear that. That’s really frustrating.” What happened? When did this happen? What was done to solve the issue? Who did you talk to? What can I do to leave you with a better taste? What areas were you happy with? I want to fix this for you, what would you need? How can I help you? I would love the opportunity to fix things. How would you feel if I offered to work on your next vacancy for free?
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