making your employee referral program proactive

MAKING YOUR EMPLOYEE REFERRAL PROGRAM

PROACTIVE ERE.Net Webinar November 17, 2010

Dr. John Sullivan Author, Professor and Advisor to Management

with Master Burnett

Managing Director, Dr. John Sullivan & Associates

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Six topics of today

1.  A quick introduction 2.  The basic factors that differentiate traditional

from proactive referrals 3.  How to “segment” your referrer population to

improve referral quality 4.  How to develop targeted referral campaigns

and messaging 5.  How stories can convince reluctant prospects 6.  Five effective proactive approaches/tools

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Part I

A quick introduction

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A quick introduction

1. Employee referrals produce the highest volume of hires (over any other external source)

2. Employee referrals produce the highest quality hire (on-the-job performance and retention)

3. Traditional employee referral programs can be made as much as 50% more effective, if they include key design features (including proactive referrals, harnessing social networks, periodic renewal, etc.)

4. Proactive referrals are a complement but not a replacement for traditional referrals

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Part II

The basic factors that differentiate traditional and proactive referrals

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The basic differentiators

Traditional referrals have no specific focus  It is assumed that all employees have an equal

capacity for making referrals  Referral messages and campaigns are designed to

fit all employees  Referral job openings and messages are

“broadcast” to all employees  Because of the volume and the fact that some

messages don’t “fit” the individual employee, some employees consider these broadcast messages to be “spam” >

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The basic differentiators

Proactive referrals are targeted  It is assumed that some employees have a higher

probability of referring the right people because of their… job title, their ability to sell or their network

 A proactive approach actively identifies and then seeks out these key employees… both for “names” and for referrals

 Referral messages are tailored to fit the targeted segments

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A quick example illustrating the two different approaches

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An example

The firm is seeking a “star” CFO for Asia Experience tells us that…  Most employees “know” very few CFO’s and

especially CFO’s that understand the Asian market  As a result, “broadcast” referral messages are

likely to have a low success rate  We know that those in senior level jobs in

finance are 72% more likely to know CFO’s  Within this senior group of finance employees,

only 29% have Asian work experience / contacts  Top performers in this subgroup (9%) are more

likely to know & be able to refer top CFO’s

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A quick example – broadcast vs. proactive

The firm is seeking a “star” CFO for Asia  As a result, only these few “likely to know”

employees are targeted to receive a “narrowcast” referral message

 This message is designed and scripted so that this target group will likely read it… and be driven to action as a result of it

 A recruiter may visit a routine meeting of these senior finance executives to further solicit names

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Part III There are four components of a proactive referral program

1.  Identifying employee segments to target 2.  Tailoring referral messages to each segment 3.  Providing stories to help employees sell 4.  Utilizing specific proactive referral tools

We will now cover each of these four components

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Component #1

Segment your referrer population to improve referral quality

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Why you must segment your referrer population

A) Two reasons related to messaging overload: 1.  Referral spam – a high volume of messaging

will cause your targeted employees to ignore all referral messages

2.  “I can’t help” overload – excessive requests for referrals for “unrelated jobs” may also cause your target employees to ignore all referral messages

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Why you must segment your referrer population

B) Five reasons related to the quality of the referral: 1. Better contacts – those with many quality

contacts are more likely to make quality referrals 2. Similar job – those with a similar job title are

more likely (because of professional courtesy) to get prospects to respond to inquiries and to build relationships

3. Similar demographics – those that share similar characteristics with your targeted candidate (i.e. recent college grads for college hires) may have better contacts or be more persuasive >

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Why you must segment your referrer population

More reasons related to the quality of the referral: 4.  Better sales skills – employees with superior

sales skills are more likely to successfully convince the misnamed “passive candidate” to accept a referral

5.  Referral track record – those with a successful track record of past referrals are more likely make successful referrals

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Possible criteria for selecting referrers to target for a particular “hard to fill” job

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How to segment your referrer population

Segments to target due to their “better contacts”   Employees in the same job family   Same function as the open job  With similar “hard to hire” skills   Same business unit as the open job   Similar geography   Those active on social networks   External referrers (corp. alumni, vendors, customers)

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How to segment your referrer population

Segments to target because they’re more persuasive

 High performers

  Similar career level or demographic factors

  Strong persuasive skills

  Successful past referrers

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-  Start with a small segment to approach and then expand the size if your initial results are unsatisfactory

-  Track your success and then adjust your criteria

-  Continually praise and recognize referrers that go beyond what’s expected

Execution steps

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Component #2

Develop targeted referral campaigns and messaging… for key open jobs

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“Tailoring the message” to the target employees

Proactive referrals use “targeted messaging”  Referral marketing messages and campaigns must

be designed to “fit” those employees that you are targeting

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“Tailoring the message” to the target employees

The “fit factors” for a message might include:  “Who” the message is from  Message channel (e-mail, text, Facebook etc.)  The timing (hour, day or during slack time)  Message length  Message frequency  Key action words (I need your help, only you can

help etc.)  Highlighting direct impacts on them/ their team

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-  An advisory board or focus group can help you identify elements of a great/ bad message

-  You can improve your messaging over time by using… message tracking features, average response time, average response percentages and successful referral rates

Execution steps

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Component #3

Stories can help to convince reluctant prospects

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Stories convince potential referrals

After an employee has identified a potential candidate… “powerful stories” located in story inventories can be effective in convincing potential candidates

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Stories drive successful referrals

Five reasons employee spread stories are effective

1. Employee stories are more real and authentic 2. Stories avoid the appearance of corporate

propaganda 3. Colleagues can get close enough to tell stories

with little resistance 4. One on one conversations or interactions last

longer, so detailed stories are possible 5. When employees tell stories, questions can be

answered to erase any concerns

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Examples of story inventories

Microsoft “Spreadthelove” internal website  Their “Spreadthelove” website allows Microsoft

employees to "write up" their own individual story about their career with Microsoft (their story might include pictures, testimonials and video)

  Employees can then share the web link and "spread the love" with targeted friends, family and potential referrals

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Stories build your image – Consider a story book

Zappos publishes a book full of 300+ employee written stories about what it’s like to work there (Zappos’s culture book is available on Amazon)

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Your policies can become stories

Our Dog Policy

“Google's respect and affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We have nothing against cats, per se, but we're a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our campus would be fairly stressed out”

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An internal competition story built referrals

Send a message that talent triumphs over tenure

Picture varies from actual

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Finding stories

Ways to identify stories for employees to spread 1. Do a Google search for stories posted on the web,

on YouTube or in blogs 2. Check press clippings and press releases 3. Check HR benefits brochures 4. Ask employees for stories that illustrate “why they

stay” 5. Ask “superknowers” 6. Check best place & functional award applications 7. “We do that” lists culled from best place articles

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Making stories more powerful

10 elements that make a story more powerful 1.  Comparisons with best in the industry 2.  Quantifying program results 3.  Awards received 4.  Degree of participation 5.  Stories involving ordinary and diverse people 6.  Demonstrating the $ spent or the program costs 7.  A great program name 8.  Compelling quotes and testimonials 9.  Provide a link to a video clip or picture 10. At least one WOW feature

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Component #4

Use proven proactive referral approaches/ tools

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Five proactive referral “tools”

1. Give me 5 – Proactively “prime” top people   Best manager you ever had   Best team leader   Best idea person or innovator   Best out of the box thinker   Best person that "ran into" burning buildings   Best problem solver   Best sales person that beats you   Best student in college that was so smart   Best mentor   Best technical skilled person   Best international talent   Best customer service person   Best replacement for "you" when you’re promoted

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Five proactive referral “tools”

2. “Most wanted list” for pre-need recruiting

 Employees are asked to seek out game changers and “magnet hires” that are selected in January

 Employees are asked to keep in contact with

individuals on the list (Relationship recruiting)/

 Speed is required… when they are ready >

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Five proactive referral “tools”

3. Reference referrals

 Identify top performing hires from last year

 Call/message references that said accurate things

 Thank them

 Ask them “do you know anyone else as good?”

 Ask them to be a future referral source

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Five proactive referral “tools”

4. Blue light special for key immediate openings

When you have a sudden critical need

 Send a “I need your help” flash e-mail or Facebook posting to your segmented population

 Ask the relevant manager to mention it as part of their regularly scheduled meeting agenda

 Call recent hires and ask them directly

 Put a “blue light” sandwich board in the lobby

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Five proactive referral “tools”

5. Seek out corporate alumni  Ask your current employees to target their

referrals on desirable former employees

 Corporate alumni should also be asked to become referral sources for key jobs

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Benchmark firms to learn from

 Accolo  CACI International  Microsoft  Acumen Solutions  AmTrust  Amazon  Edward Jones  Accenture  Booz Allen  Owens Corning

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Did we make you think?

How about some final questions?

www.drjohnsullivan.com