How KPI's can hurt your business

Yesterday a contact showed me a list of recommendations from a Senior Business Consultant (from a well established firm) given to the company he worked for. It was basically a list of KPI's for the sales staff & managers, things like make more calls, book more meetings, do more reporting etc. I couldn't help but think, is that it? That's all you gave them? You rotten dinosaur.

While there is certainly validity in the numbers game, it's just one ingredient to the recipe of a successful sales person. There was nothing about how to make the calls more effective, or what information you need in order to properly qualify prospects. Anything on how to have more effective meetings? Nope. Nothing about strategy, psychology, training or anything that would actually make anyone better, it was just a crap load more work for everyone, and they all had to do it regardless of performance.

This advice may as well have been etched on a stone tablet it was so old school. The immediate result was the staff were annoyed they had to do all this extra work & some were talking about leaving because of it, likely the good ones. Were they just lazy? No, they felt undermined, didn't believe in the initiative & thought the guy was a scammer. He just didn't understand them properly.

If people aren't performing or there is an essential reason for KPI's, then sure implement them with caution. But if you have 30 or so people at various levels of success & think that a one size fits all approach is going to magically make them all step it up, well bad news my friend, it won't.

Times change & so should your approach. Yes a process everyone follows is good, & standards that people should live up to are good too, but people are individuals with their own unique pros & cons, so improvement initiatives should be tailored towards the person. You'll get better results by leveraging individual strengths, identifying areas of improvement & motivating sufficiently to get by-in.

If you are going to pay for a consultant like me, make sure they identify the problem before they sell you a solution. Make sure they ask the right questions before giving you the answers & make sure they learn what you & your company is all about before telling you how to move forward.

Good luck!

Why Recruiters don't consistently hit their target & 3 ways to fix it.

It’s nearing the end of the quarter, you look at the numbers board & get an uneasy feeling in your stomach. You know you aren’t going to hit your target. The anxiety builds & you start rehearsing the excuses in your head, they need to be different from last quarters but just as believable. You know you have what it takes to be a good consultant but can’t quite figure out where you’re going wrong.

What can you do?

There are many factors involved in being a successful consultant, but one thing that often gets overlooked is “pipeline”. It’s so simple, yet so common that people get to the end of the month & realise they don’t have enough requirements to work on. Even if they do have a good month, the following month is likely to be a failure without a good pipeline.

While I don’t fully subscribe to the “it’s a numbers game” adage, I do believe it has a large part to play in consistent billing. I promote quality over quantity, you should try and convert as many of your roles as possible, otherwise what’s the point in having them? The reality though is you can’t win them all & that’s ok, as long as you know your average success rate & calculate how many requirements you need in order to hit your average.

For example, if you usually work 10 roles per month & place 4 on average, logic suggests you need to have 10 live roles the following month in order to make another 4 placements. Pretty easy right, well in principle yes, but don’t fool yourself by thinking that just because you have the numbers you’re guaranteed the placements. There are other factors to consider, such as the quality of the roles, time to fill, the fee etc. Connecting the dots will come with experience, but having a solid pipeline will at least ensure you have an important piece of the puzzle covered. 

So how do you ensure you have a strong pipeline? Here are the basics:

1. Set reminders throughout the month to do a health check on your workload, try establish when your placements will land so you can plan ahead.

2. When you make a placement, also make a note that you need to replace that role & set time aside for business development. 

3. De-prioritise roles that aren’t moving, focus on the ones that are & replace lost opportunities to keep your pipeline full.

These three things alone should help you prioritise & start being more conscious about your pipeline. In the world of recruitment (or any sales role really), one thing that separates the good from the great is consistent billing. Not everyone needs to be a big biller & many recruitment companies would be happy to have a mid-range biller who is consistent & reliable. So if you are struggling with consistency try the above & see the difference it makes.