Prospecting is Still Prospecting: Execute with Purpose
By Rick Welling and SFC Jeremy Barbaresi, USAREC, G3 doctrine Division
March 2, 2015
Prospecting endures as the most fundamental recruiting activity. Lack of it degrades all other recruiting functions, putting the mission at risk.
Daily vigorous, persistent, and effective prospecting is essential. It leads to the most critical task - conducting the interview and convincing a prospect to enlist.
There are three prospecting methods: Telephone, face-to-face, and virtual. Telephone prospecting includes calls and text messaging. Virtual allows engagement through email, chat rooms, forums, and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
It is important to recognize each methods effectiveness and efficiency. An efficient method allows the recruiter to contact large numbers of people in short time periods. An effective method yields a high ratio of contacts to appointments.
Telephone and virtual prospecting are the most efficient methods. Face-to-face is less efficient but very effective, because a recruiter's physical presence makes a powerful impression.
Which method is best depends on the local environment, season, time of day, type of prospect, and the recruiter's skill and experience. However, all are vital and none should be neglected. What matters most is getting an appointment allowing recruiters to tell their stories and ask for an enlistment.
Recruiting doctrine guides how we think about recruiting in general and prospecting in particular. USAREC Manual 3-32, The Recruiter Manual; and USAREC Manual 3-31, Recruiting Center Operations, have gone through major revisions. Both describe prospecting methods and techniques by taking a fresh look at prospecting.
Prior to conducting any type of prospecting, center leaders and recruiters must conduct analysis to identify targets/leads and create a solid plan to engage the market through multiple prospecting methods simultaneously.
The Front Line
The Army and USAREC have developed enlistment incentives and aggressive and costly strategic advertising campaigns. These support center leaders and recruiters, the front line and most indispensable asset. These NCOs bring powerful strategic resources to fruition by compounding their message through persistent prospecting at the tactical level, putting the Army into direct personal contact with people in their communities. A prospect can ignore a TV or radio ad. A recruiter's personal approach demands attention.
Every level of command conducts some type of prospecting. An Army commercial shown nationwide solicits a thought or emotion and is complimentary to prospecting. A well-delivered marketing campaign makes a person much more receptive to the recruiter’s prospecting message.
Center leaders and recruiters are best suited to determine which prospecting methods are most optimal to their environments. Since the market is constantly changing, the analysis process must be continuous.
The true purpose of prospecting is to find qualified applicants who desire to serve their country in the Army. Therefore, the targets, as well as the message, are crucial to success.
Qualified leads are high-value and time- sensitive targets. Recruiters must know where to find the highest concentration of high-value targets, when those targets will be within range, and which prospecting method is most efficient or effective to reach the targets.
The recruiter must execute prospecting operations at the time and place that will most likely bring the desired results. Spending 90 minutes calling high school seniors during school hours is a huge waste of time. However, obtaining a list of early release seniors extends the timeframe in which one can effectively engage that target market.
Walking around a shopping mall early Monday morning is equally non-productive. However, shifting your focus to target shopping mall employees during periods when business is slow can be very effective in capitalizing on otherwise unproductive blocks of time.
The Power of Referrals
Referrals are powerful force multipliers. Leads gain great legitimacy when provided as a referral. Regardless of the method used to reach that lead, it more likely results in an appointment than any cold call.
This fact alone shows why every commander and leader needs to develop COIs and constantly reiterate the importance of telling the Army story. Recruiters should view every person they meet as a potential COI - a potential source of referrals. It only takes a few seconds to ask for a referral, but a positive response provides a great opportunity.
Leaders must also determine returns on investment.
For example, when conducting the boiler room operation - setting a time when recruiters simultaneously saturate a targeted market with telephone calls provides immediate, detailed, and specific feedback about the market and the competency of Soldiers. A good leader will use these types of prospecting operations to foster competition and camaraderie.
Timely feedback from prospecting operations is valuable in planning future events. The truly critical information comes later when appointments made during prospecting travel through the funnel into the subsequent stages of processing.
How many of those new appointments turned into an interview? How many interviews produced qualified applicants who went on to enlist? The proof lies at the end of the enlistment process, when prospects become applicants who become Future Soldiers who eventually ship.
Leaders who are able to track the flow of processing all the way back to the specific original lead source is much more capable of making informed and intelligent planning decisions and much less likely to waste his Soldiers’ time by giving bad guidance.
Conducting lead source and prospecting analysis informs recruiters and leaders which methods work best to communicate the Army’s message and the best time to do so .
Center leaders need this information to develop operational plans. If face-to-face prospecting generates 40 percent of enlistments monthly, the leader can determine how much time and energy to devote to such operations.
Lead source and prospecting analysis helps leaders identify training needs, but there is no substitute for personal observations during execution of prospecting’s critical tasks.
If recruiters are contacting many leads but converting few of them to applicants, recruiters must refresh their prospecting skills. Analyzing reports can help identify trends and shortfalls. However, directly observing recruiters in action can determine the specific source of the problem.
Prospecting is the lifeblood of recruiting operations. It is what recruiters must do first and continuously. Recruiters must develop a detailed plan to prospect in the right market at the right time using the right method.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to contacting any particular segment of the market. Every market is unique. However, they are also identical in the sense, that without adequate focus and dedication to prospecting, mission accomplishment is unattainable.
By Rick Welling and SFC Jeremy Barbaresi, USAREC, G3 doctrine Division
March 2, 2015
Prospecting endures as the most fundamental recruiting activity. Lack of it degrades all other recruiting functions, putting the mission at risk.
Daily vigorous, persistent, and effective prospecting is essential. It leads to the most critical task - conducting the interview and convincing a prospect to enlist.
There are three prospecting methods: Telephone, face-to-face, and virtual. Telephone prospecting includes calls and text messaging. Virtual allows engagement through email, chat rooms, forums, and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
It is important to recognize each methods effectiveness and efficiency. An efficient method allows the recruiter to contact large numbers of people in short time periods. An effective method yields a high ratio of contacts to appointments.
Telephone and virtual prospecting are the most efficient methods. Face-to-face is less efficient but very effective, because a recruiter's physical presence makes a powerful impression.
Which method is best depends on the local environment, season, time of day, type of prospect, and the recruiter's skill and experience. However, all are vital and none should be neglected. What matters most is getting an appointment allowing recruiters to tell their stories and ask for an enlistment.
Recruiting doctrine guides how we think about recruiting in general and prospecting in particular. USAREC Manual 3-32, The Recruiter Manual; and USAREC Manual 3-31, Recruiting Center Operations, have gone through major revisions. Both describe prospecting methods and techniques by taking a fresh look at prospecting.
Prior to conducting any type of prospecting, center leaders and recruiters must conduct analysis to identify targets/leads and create a solid plan to engage the market through multiple prospecting methods simultaneously.
The Front Line
The Army and USAREC have developed enlistment incentives and aggressive and costly strategic advertising campaigns. These support center leaders and recruiters, the front line and most indispensable asset. These NCOs bring powerful strategic resources to fruition by compounding their message through persistent prospecting at the tactical level, putting the Army into direct personal contact with people in their communities. A prospect can ignore a TV or radio ad. A recruiter's personal approach demands attention.
Every level of command conducts some type of prospecting. An Army commercial shown nationwide solicits a thought or emotion and is complimentary to prospecting. A well-delivered marketing campaign makes a person much more receptive to the recruiter’s prospecting message.
Center leaders and recruiters are best suited to determine which prospecting methods are most optimal to their environments. Since the market is constantly changing, the analysis process must be continuous.
The true purpose of prospecting is to find qualified applicants who desire to serve their country in the Army. Therefore, the targets, as well as the message, are crucial to success.
Qualified leads are high-value and time- sensitive targets. Recruiters must know where to find the highest concentration of high-value targets, when those targets will be within range, and which prospecting method is most efficient or effective to reach the targets.
The recruiter must execute prospecting operations at the time and place that will most likely bring the desired results. Spending 90 minutes calling high school seniors during school hours is a huge waste of time. However, obtaining a list of early release seniors extends the timeframe in which one can effectively engage that target market.
Walking around a shopping mall early Monday morning is equally non-productive. However, shifting your focus to target shopping mall employees during periods when business is slow can be very effective in capitalizing on otherwise unproductive blocks of time.
The Power of Referrals
Referrals are powerful force multipliers. Leads gain great legitimacy when provided as a referral. Regardless of the method used to reach that lead, it more likely results in an appointment than any cold call.
This fact alone shows why every commander and leader needs to develop COIs and constantly reiterate the importance of telling the Army story. Recruiters should view every person they meet as a potential COI - a potential source of referrals. It only takes a few seconds to ask for a referral, but a positive response provides a great opportunity.
Leaders must also determine returns on investment.
For example, when conducting the boiler room operation - setting a time when recruiters simultaneously saturate a targeted market with telephone calls provides immediate, detailed, and specific feedback about the market and the competency of Soldiers. A good leader will use these types of prospecting operations to foster competition and camaraderie.
Timely feedback from prospecting operations is valuable in planning future events. The truly critical information comes later when appointments made during prospecting travel through the funnel into the subsequent stages of processing.
How many of those new appointments turned into an interview? How many interviews produced qualified applicants who went on to enlist? The proof lies at the end of the enlistment process, when prospects become applicants who become Future Soldiers who eventually ship.
Leaders who are able to track the flow of processing all the way back to the specific original lead source is much more capable of making informed and intelligent planning decisions and much less likely to waste his Soldiers’ time by giving bad guidance.
Conducting lead source and prospecting analysis informs recruiters and leaders which methods work best to communicate the Army’s message and the best time to do so .
Center leaders need this information to develop operational plans. If face-to-face prospecting generates 40 percent of enlistments monthly, the leader can determine how much time and energy to devote to such operations.
Lead source and prospecting analysis helps leaders identify training needs, but there is no substitute for personal observations during execution of prospecting’s critical tasks.
If recruiters are contacting many leads but converting few of them to applicants, recruiters must refresh their prospecting skills. Analyzing reports can help identify trends and shortfalls. However, directly observing recruiters in action can determine the specific source of the problem.
Prospecting is the lifeblood of recruiting operations. It is what recruiters must do first and continuously. Recruiters must develop a detailed plan to prospect in the right market at the right time using the right method.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to contacting any particular segment of the market. Every market is unique. However, they are also identical in the sense, that without adequate focus and dedication to prospecting, mission accomplishment is unattainable.