A person’s perception is their reality. What opinion they form of you and your company is their reality … it may not be yours, but it’s theirs and that’s all that matters.
In the time equivalent to the attention span of a goldfish you have one chance at a first impression. It takes a person only 9 seconds to form a complete opinion about you and your organization. If the impression is incorrect it will take longer than 9 seconds to overcome the opinion formed in those first 9 seconds. So you have a choice, make the first impression correctly or incorrectly and it’s a choice.
Let me better clarify the first ‘impression’; a person’s impression is really what their instinctive ‘feeling’ is upon their first encounter with you. This impression will be with your advertising, how you’re handling the inbound telephone call and/or the first time they meet you or the business.
Because this article is about managing canvassing I’m going to discuss designing the first impression with new canvasser recruits.
In recruiting canvassers there are really only 2 objectives: To attract the right people and repel the wrong ones. Attracting the right people will make your job and their success in the job easier and repelling the wrong recruits will save you money and headaches.
Here are the things to consider when designing your first impression.
What phone number are you routing calls to?
I say what phone number, but it’s really more about who is going to be answering that phone number. Most employees are already bogged down in the work they have and heaping more inbound calls on them creates more work and that person will telegraph this frustration in the tone of their voice if not also in their language.
You can forward calls to a phone number that’s dedicated to handling the recruiting calls but you have to consider what the message on that line is communicating and who’s communicating it.
The ideal choice is a live person who is dedicated and versed in handling these types of calls. Having the inbound phone line and the person or message that responds to those calls professionally prepared for the inbound calls will instantly project a position of professionalism and preparedness.
One of Stephen Covey’s principles in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to ‘start with the end in mind’. That’s to say, know what you want it to look and feel like before you start to create it. This principle is fundamental in everything I’ll cover in this article.
Once you have a phone number to direct recruits to and you’ve decide on the ‘who’ or ‘what’ will answer the inbound calls (live person or recorded message) next it’s time to focus on the message itself. If you’re going to have a live person answer the calls that person must be friendly and enthusiastic when answering the phone. The inbound calls cannot be an interruption to their work or day, rather the reason for them being there. If you’re going to have a recorded message greet the inbound calls the same holds true for the person recording the script.
Something from your recruiting efforts made the caller excited about calling and you have to make them feel welcome and important for calling. Follow this and the likelihood of them leaving a message is better; and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to meet and hire your next superstar canvasser.
I said it earlier, the first impression is an emotional feeling and your objective in those first 9 seconds is to make a connection, getting them focused and creating clarity for them … all in those 9 seconds.
The key is to get started. You may not get it right the first time so I suggest you record all your calls and then play them back with someone else. Brad Smart, the former right hand hiring VP under Jack Welch at General Electric, suggests you always have someone else involved in the process to give you feedback. Having another person creates the opportunity for constructive feedback and a different perspective. Nothing then is left to interpretation.
It’s the same principle I teach when taking canvassers out for the first few times. I direct people to double canvassers up so they can observe each other objectively and offer unbiased feedback. Having others listen in on how the calls are handled gives you clear feedback if you’re getting to your objectives. There are no mulligan’s – no opportunity for a do over.
You’ve handled the inbound telephone call. You’ve made a good impression, made a connection and set them up for the position. Next is to pre-qualify the candidate. Remember, we want to attract and repel. If a person can’t meet the basic criteria for the job then there’s no need to waste your time bringing them in for an interview.
They’ve committed to come in for the job overview-interview meeting, what then is your follow up process? You should be following up on the call with them reiterating the conversation along with the date and time of the overview interview. You can easily facilitate this through email and/or text messaging.
Then, prior to the job overview-interview meeting send another email or text message confirming the meeting. In that email or text touch on a few of the key points you discussed on the personal call with them. You should also include what they will expect and experience when they arrive at the office. Include the address and a map to eliminate excuses for not showing up. Also tell them where to park, where to enter; when they enter the office that will great them and what will happen in the meeting. You should re-suggest they bring a friend or someone they trust along with them to give them constructive feedback on the interview.
You now have a roadmap to create your first impression. From this article you can set up yours.
Define the experience (first impression) you want a recruit to have on their first call to your business?
During the live Silver Telecoaching call, I did on this subject you’ll hear a lot more examples and stories with each item I covered in this article and more. If you’re not a Silver member and not presently receiving the live Silver level calls on CD and would like to get a copy of this CD go to www.canvassking.com/SilverProgram.
If you would like personal coaching or consulting on designing your first impression contact me at cthompson@canvassing.com or call my office at (216) 588-1337. For Gold and Platinum members this is included as part of your coaching membership benefits.
If you’re not a coaching member I can develop a program for you and help you implement it into your company’s culture.
Don’t underestimate the impact this can have on your growth. Creating the right first impression and follow up process will generate more people with a desire to work for you and you’ll prolong their time with you, reducing turn over. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t eliminate turn over all together, though you’ll reduce it when you develop and implement the system. The key is to build strong teams.