Phone Scripting And Making The Most Of Your First Recruiting Call - Episode 2 of 2
Richard Milligan breaks down recruiting calls into four pillars: research, dialing consistently, using a script focused on shared values, and handling objections with yes-questions. He cut his time-to-hire from 2.6 years to 62 days using this system and stresses that voicemail gets a 0.04% response rate, so aim for live conversations instead.
Chapters
So let's talk specific to the phone script now. Okay, what are the requirements for having success on the phone? Okay, there's really 4 critical components here. Okay, you got to do necessary research prior to making the call. We're never going to wing a call. We're never going to get a call list and just call. We're always going to do the necessary research To be able to identify information about the individual before we make the call. The next part of that is, look, it's obvious that we have to have a willingness to make the call, right? That seems very obvious to me, but truth be known, it's a place that people struggle, right, is just making that phone call. But you got to be willing to make the phone call. The third part of this is you have to have an attractive leader phone script. Okay, like if you've listened to my podcast, the attractive leader is someone who has a clear vision, clear core values, can articulate around those extremely well, storytell around those, and then is living and acting in alignment with those. Okay, so we want to be seen as an attractive leader. That means that you don't get permission as a, as a leader who fishes in the smaller pond, a smaller geography, a specific city, A specific state, a specific region, right? You're in your career, you're gonna be in that area probably forever. Okay? So you, at all costs, we have to represent ourselves as someone with a high core value system. Then the fourth part of this is we gotta be able to handle objections. Okay? An ability to handle objections is a basic premise. You gotta be able to do this. Now, if you're doing your research and you've got a good phone script and you're making the phone calls and you can overcome objections, You're going to set appointment rates at a very high percentage with a similar phone script that I'm using. And I'm going to give you the bullet points for it. Okay, let's talk about this. The first part here, what are the tools for researching recruits? Does it— it may seem obvious that most people and their value system is available to you through places like LinkedIn, through Facebook, through Instagram, through social media, you can tell a lot about who people are. Okay, so there's some great resources there. Now, inside every company, inside every industry, there's also specific tools. Okay, like as an example, inside the mortgage industry, Zillow has a lender directory. Great resource to be able to identify the core value system of a loan officer. Well, why is that? Well, because the customers that are doing business with them are actually doing reviews. And so you can see what the customers are saying about them to get an idea what the value system is. Now, one of the things that I coach to and one of the things that I give to people is a core values list. Because when I'm researching somebody out, I want to be able to see the things that are true about the individual. And by having a core value list that I'm actually identifying what things are true about you, in my phone scripting, I can use some of that. So as an example, if I'm looking at a customer's review and a lot of your customers are saying that you overcommunicate, that you were overavailable, that you took phone calls after hours, there's a core value system that I can identify there. Communication is critical to you. Excellence is critical to you. Professionalism is important to you. Dedication is important to you. There's a lot of core values there. That represent your character that I can pull out. I can look at Facebook and see, are you family-minded, family-oriented? Is your value system family first? Okay, I can look at how innovative you are in representing yourself. Okay, inside the mortgage industry, from time to time, you'll see individual loan officers that will go get their own website. Okay, they'll go get, you know, lendingyourway.com. RichardLovesLending.com, that's innovative. It's outside the box. Again, I can look at a core value sheet, core value list, and I can begin to identify that. Someone that's always talking about them reading books or listening to podcasts or always showing leadership quotes or motivational quotes, it's easy for me to say that person has a core value of personal growth, of leadership development, Okay, so I could go on and on in this space, but you can identify the core value system of the people that you're recruiting if you have the eyes to see it. You've got to have the eyes to see it. Okay, now here's another element to this. When you're recruiting, most recruiting leaders are able to get cell phone numbers. Okay, look, inside the mortgage industry, the real estate community, Really any community today that has salespeople that are self-sourcing business, their cell phone numbers are readily available on the worldwide web. You can go to my Facebook page and find my cell phone number. You can go to LinkedIn and find my cell phone number. You could do just a Google search for Richard and come up with my cell phone number. Okay? So it's not hard to find. But what I do want to do is take a next step and use a tool to verify that it is a cell phone number. I do not want to call people at their office. Puts people in difficult positions if their leader's sitting in front of them or somebody else in the office is sitting in front of them or their door's open. Any of those moments there puts them in a position to actually be rude to you, unprofessional to you. And it basically helps them throw the hand grenade on the relationship bridge. And I don't want to help them do that. So if I can get a cell phone number, I'm going to use that number. I'm going to vet that it is that number. So an easy tool that you can use to vet that out is through a website called searchbug.com. Okay, underneath their tools, you can actually put a cell phone number in, hit enter, and it will tell you— or any number— it will tell you whether it's a cell phone number or not. Okay, so these are some of the tools that we have as we're doing the research. Okay? So we've done the research, now we're ready to make the call, we have to have a good phone script. As a recruiting leader, you need to be straightforward. Who are you? I have a good friend that uses the word tricky a lot, okay? A tricky phone script is the quickest way to identify yourself as a non-attractive leader in your market, okay? No tricky phone scripts allowed. Straightforward. Like, who are you? Okay? Yes, you may get an immediate objection. Okay? We're going to overcome that. Yes, you may get an immediate objection. That's okay. Straightforward in who you are. Okay? I have seen— there's a gentleman in a specific industry that I know of that calls escalating, leaving voice messages. And I'm not a fan of voice messages, number one, but leaves escalating voice messages. If you don't Take Patrick's call, Patrick then calls again. And if you don't get him, if he doesn't get you the second time, he escalates the voicemail. And eventually you get to a place where either you're calling back or you're taking the call because you think it's a 911 emergency at home. That's a tricky phone script. None of that for you. Straightforward, who are you? Voicemail does not work today, gang. We've tested this at a very high level. I brought up voicemail. You had to assume phone scripting, voicemail is going to come up. We've tested this at a very high level. 0.04% of people will respond to your voicemail, but yet you've done several things. You have given them a breadcrumb that leads back to you, which is your cell phone number. And now they can plug you in and they cannot take your phone call. And we don't want that. We do want them on the phone. I think a lot of people's minds goes to, I can leave voicemail at scale, and by planting more seeds, I'll have a larger harvest. And that may— I get that. But voicemail is dying. Voicemail just doesn't work. When we tested this with a large company in an industry that was a top 15 company, we tested this. 0.04% was the response rate that we got. And so that's 4 out of 1,000. Wow. That would actually return the voice message. And out of that, 4 out of 1,000 that returned the voice message, they were not the people that we wanted to recruit. These were transitional people. These were people that were working at a new location looking for a sign-on bonus or a draw. We're typically recruiting in this position for salespeople. So the recruiting leader wants people that aren't looking for the next You know, sign-on bonus, the next 90-day guarantee, simply so they can move on again. So voicemail does not work, okay? There are some things that you can do to improve voicemail, but the truth be told is that voicemail does not work that well today. So I'm gonna encourage you to not leave a voice message. Okay, so now we've established that, we've done our research, we're calling people, we're straightforward who we are. The part that I'm gonna bring into this is, I'm going to say, I've done a lot of research on you. And in my research, I see some similarities between your core values and my core values. I want to be prepared to discuss those similarities. So you've gotta have those lined up. Your research will not take you any more than 3 to 5 minutes to do. Okay? That's the truth. 3 to 5 minutes of research will get you a 30 to 40% appointment rate. I've done research on you. I see similarities between your core values and my core values. I'm gonna be prepared to discuss the similarities. Okay? I am calling to establish— I'm calling to build a relationship with you, understanding that people transition. And depending on your industry, right? I was talking about the mortgage industry where I spent 15 years, the typical transition window is 2.5 years. Now that number's gone up recently to 3.1 years in that industry. But truth be told, people transition consistently. Okay, and so I'm calling to establish, build a relationship so that when you transition one day, right, that we have an established relationship, one that you trust me and you'd be willing to pick up the phone and say, hey Richard, things have changed over here, can we talk? And if you're willing to meet, I promise not to use a recruiting pitch on you, try to sell you on my company value proposition. And so if you're willing to meet with me, I promise that I won't talk about my company. We're trying to recruit you. What does your schedule look like on Thursday afternoon to meet? Okay, it's a very simple phone script. It can be slightly shifted for the dialer. The dialer can say, Richard's asked me to do a bunch of research on you, and we see similarities between your core values. And all of that is true. Okay, I'm asking the dialer, the recruiting assistant, to do research on people in my market, and when they find people That have a core value system similar to ours that they're calling them. And I'm gonna have, I'm gonna teach that dialer the core value system so that they have the eyes to see it. And they're gonna be prepared to discuss it. And they're going to then set the appointment using a similar script. Okay. So we're gonna use the research that we've done and the similarities that we're going to identify as our core value system as the reasons to set the appointment. And we are going to say that I'm not going to actually recruit you I simply want to meet and build a relationship with you. I won't talk about my company. Okay? Now, with that scripting said, you are going to get objections. You're just going to get them. I don't have time to talk. I'm not interested. I'm happy where I'm at. Those are some of the typical objections that you're going to get. Understand this. Objections have to be an expectation. Remember, you're calling. You're calling with your agenda, and they know this. Right? You know this. You're calling with your agenda and you're inserting your agenda into the middle of their agenda, in the middle of their day. They're on point. They're getting the things done they need to get done. You have to expect objections. I don't have time to talk is a very reasonable objection. But also understand this, okay? It's a smokescreen. What do you say if a telemarketer accidentally gets you on the phone? I don't have time to talk. I don't have time to talk. I'm not interested. Those are the things that we say. So we've got to understand that it's nothing against why you're calling and what you have to say. It's simply a smokescreen. And specifically, the first one is a major smokescreen. So I want you to have a shift. Most people think they have to acknowledge that objection. No, we're not going— I'm sorry. Most people think they have to address that objection. Okay, no, we're not going to address it. We will simply acknowledge it. A very easy way for me to acknowledge that I don't have time to talk is to say, look, I want to respect your time with you being busy, so let me be real direct. I just overcame that. I can use that similar scripting whenever someone says, I'm not interested. Look, I respect the, the fact that you're happy that you're where you're at, so let me be real direct. Okay, so I respect— and let me be real direct— I respect that you are So let me be real direct. That initial objection, this is a phenomenal way to just move right on past that. Remember, we're going to get objections when we simply introduce ourselves. I'm Richard Milligan, the regional manager with ABC Company. Look, I don't have time to talk. You're going to get that a lot initially right then and there because they know that you're a recruiting leader. Look, I'm not interested. Look, I'm happy where I'm at. You're going to get those things immediately. Okay, look, I understand you're happy where you're at. I want to respect that. So let me be real direct. And now I'm going to move into my phone script. Look, I've done a bunch of research on you. In my research, I found that we've got similar core values. And because of that, I'm reaching out to connect with you, understanding that most people transition multiple times in their career. And because of that, I would love to meet with you and establish a relationship. And if you're willing to say yes to that, I promise that I'm not going to try and recruit you. And I'm not gonna talk about my company value proposition. Now pause here, think about this. The problem that I was trying to solve when people came into a face-to-face meeting with me was that I needed to protect that meeting so that they weren't asking questions about the company, and one, that I wasn't jumping into a situation where I was leading with the company toolbox, the company value prop. Now I've created a beautiful set of boundaries around that meeting So that when we get there, it's all relational. Okay? And if that meeting goes relationship building, guess what? If you've got the correct formula for that, then you're going to get next steps out of that. And minimally, okay, minimally, people will say this, I would work for that person. If you're leading with your company value proposition in the face-to-face meeting, then you are throwing everything that you have at them. You're loading basically every bullet in the gun. Your sales gun, so to speak, and you're firing it. And if something sticks, great. But when it doesn't, because it won't the majority of the time, then guess what? You're done. People, they will say forever, I know that company. I know what they have to offer. I met with that leader one time. Now, what we've done is when that face-to-face meeting transpires, when it comes, when we have it, then I've protected it and I will then follow a specific agenda so that they get to see who I am as an attractive leader. Look, here was a larger aha moment for me. Mid-2014 to end 2014, I had been following this methodology for less than a year, but I began to get phone calls from external and internal recruiters, and they would say this: I was recruiting in your market and I came across this person, and this person said this. And this happened to me probably half a dozen times. It was always the same thing. It was, I talked to this person, this person said the only person they would ever go to work for if they left their current company was Richard Milligan. They didn't say the name of my company. They said my name personally. And truth be told, I worked for more than 4 companies in my career. So it wasn't the company that mattered. It was my leadership value proposition that mattered most. So now we've set the stage incredibly well. For your career to plant these seeds with people that if you follow up with them and stay in front of them consistently, that you will win at scale. So, the challenge in this is, look, I know most of you are leading with your company value proposition. You have to stop that. The only way to stop that is to clearly understand your own leadership value proposition. Okay. We'll talk about some framework on this. Around this in the next podcast. Okay, but this has set the stage extremely well for you. You are going to get 3 or 4 people out of 10 that you get on the phone that are going to say yes to meeting with you with this scripting. Okay, so let's just talk about this, right? If on the objection piece, we've given you the first— the ability to overcome the initial smokescreen. I'm happy. I'm not interested. I don't have time. Okay? We don't address, we acknowledge, right? The second part of this is you are not going to overcome those objections for maybe 60 to 70% of the people that you speak with. So the objective beyond that is we've got to get a yes. So what am I going to do? I'm going to ask yes questions. Okay, so this is how we're gonna handle this. We're gonna ask yes questions. So as an example, if I got to the end of my phone scripting, look, I've already told you I'm happy where I'm at. I love my leader. I'm gonna stay put right now. Things are going extremely well. As I get that objection again, I have to respect that. Remember, you're the recruiting leader. You're gonna be in this geography forever. You're not the corporate salesperson. Okay, they can get— they have the entire, you know, United States or the larger pond to fish in that you don't have, right? So I've got to leave this meeting with some momentum and with a crack in that door. I got to see light in the door. So I'm going to ask a yes question. Look, I told you I'm happy where I'm at. I really am happy where I'm at. I love my leader. That would be something that would be typical to be said. So then what I'm going to follow up with is a yes question. A yes question could be, I'd love to just connect with you on LinkedIn. Would you be open to that? You're going to get a yes from that. I'd love to send you my favorite book. What's a good address to send that to? I want to respect that you're happy where you're at. That's a yes question. If someone said, look, I don't feel comfortable giving you an address, I'd say, no problems. I've got your cell phone number here. I'll just send it to you through audible.com to the cell phone number. Are you— would you allow me to send you my favorite book via text? Right. I'm just trying to get a yes question. There are probably thousands and thousands of yes questions. But something as simple as saying, I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn. Would you be open to that? That's a yes question. And when I get that yes, guess what? I'll go do that. And now I've got to have a next step system built around what's next. The problem that most people have is that when they get through their phone scripting, they get a no. They're not getting a yes. That's a big problem. But then beyond the yes, they Definitively do not have a system of next steps. And recruiting is not that hard. To some degree, you got to look at yourself in your career and say, how long have I been a recruiting leader? And if I had a next step system of building relationships with people, wouldn't I be able to win at scale? And the truth is, yes, you would be able to win at scale if you had a system. But most people are stuck in the 3 ideas. That I should just be identifying talent, making phone calls to talent, or making contact with them in some way, shape, or form, and then in the end following up. Right. And so there's no real system of next steps built around that. So they spontaneously combust into recruiting behaviors and recruiting efforts. And because of that, they don't ever win at scale. Look, you're going to be in your geography in a similar role for a long time in that career as a recruiting leader, especially if you're having success. Okay, and so you have to have a next step system beyond this. Okay, so let's go back through this again. Phone scripting is critical. We are not going to leave voice messages. Okay, dialer, yes. If you, if you are able to hire a dialer, then I would encourage you to hire dialer. Yes, we actually as an organization train dialers for individual recruiting leaders because we do think there's a specific methodology they should follow. Okay, so excuse me. So dialer, yes. And you've got some great tools now in your toolbox that you can go at the phone. And then in our next podcast, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about the face-to-face meeting. So now we assume someone said yes to that. Now how are we going to handle the face-to-face meeting? And we'll talk about that next. Look, I have had so many questions. Around this particular piece, the phone scripting piece. We're just excited to be able to deliver some framework for you around this. The goal now for you is script it out. Script it out. What is the script? Scripting, it's just stage 1. You got to memorize it at such a level that it sounds authentic, that it sounds real, that it sounds like you're conversational in it. Most people will never get that in their career because they will simply wing everything around their recruiting efforts. And because of that, they will never win at scale. So if you're gonna win at scale, it's gotta sound authentic. It's gotta sound like it's you. It can't sound scripted. And the only way you're gonna get there is if you practice it thousands and thousands of times. Write it, record it, listen to it, say it. So you've gotta write it out first, okay? Then you've gotta record it. Just read it, right? Your phone has a recording app on it. If you've got an iPhone, there's a recording app on it. If you've got a Droid, you've got one as well. So record it. Now listen to it and then try to say it. And then again and again, listen to it and say it, listen to it and say it until it comes to a place where it sounds natural and it sounds like it's coming from your heart. If you get to that place where you, where you're able to do that and you're able to overcome objections extremely well, Through acknowledging them, not addressing them, then your appointment rate is going to be extremely high with people and you're going to plant some phenomenal seeds. Right. Because there's 2 different seasons in recruiting. The first season is where we actually plant the seed. We're farmers. Right. So we plant the seed, we cultivate that seed. The second season of that is going to be where we make the harvest. Can you make a harvest in a short window of time? Absolutely. My data, my own personal data where I changed my phone scripting and my face-to-face meetings, I went from 2.6 years recruiting someone to 62 days recruiting somebody. Okay? So yes, this methodology we're talking about actually condenses relationship building, building trust, creating empathy, bonding with people. And because of that, now we can go win at scale. Okay. So there you have it. There's the phone scripting and some great ideas around all of that. I'm hopeful this brought value to you, but more than that, I'm hopeful that you'll go activate at an extreme level with this information now that you have it and that you'll go win. And when you win, you let me know that you're winning because you've taken the steps and done this. That's the value for me. I spent 10 and a half years struggling to recruit with no resources. So the endgame, the reward for me today is actually finding out that I'm helping people by doing the podcast and helping them grow in their recruiting skills because there is no training around this. I know it because I was there and I'm in the landscape today. I see it. There's a big hole around training our recruiting leaders to become better recruiters, and that's why we love doing this. So if this works for you and you're excited about this content, drop me a line and let me know. And until we talk to you again on the next Recruiting Conversations, have a great week, everybody. And don't forget, have fun recruiting. We'll talk to you soon. There you have it, gang. There is another episode of Recruiting Conversations. Well, that one went about 45 minutes long, so we're going to, we're going to dissect that and turn it into 2 separate podcasts, which is what we had a hunch that we would need to do by the time we got through the By the time we got through the content. So I'm going to give you a resource. I promised to give you a resource at the end of this that's to bring value to you. I have created an outline of what the dialer role should look like and some of the things that you need to be thinking about. I'm going to give that to you just for watching the video and sticking through all the way to the end of this. So if you go to recruitingissimple.com, Okay, that's a URL that we own, recruitingissimple.com/dialer. What you're going to find is a presentation that's yours to keep. Okay, so you're going to be able to push the play button there and, and you'll have access to a presentation there for free of what the dialer role should embody and how you equip them best, how you train them best. Some incredible nuggets there that if you're like, I want to hire a dialer because I want to reduce myself to that very narrow lane, where I'm going to be making the— doing the meetings and making the Visioneer presentations, then there's a resource there for you. So I know that will bring value to you. It's basically the business model that I used to go win and grow 18 teams in 3 and a half years. So there you have it, and, you know, just happy that you guys made it to the end of the video. And look forward to the next episode of Recruiting Conversations. Have a good week, everybody.
