recruiting is sales: hire more driversthe driver values what you offer more than what you...

RECRUITING IS SALES:

Hire More Drivers by Training Recruiters in Sales

DRIVERREACH.COM | 2 | BRANDOUTCOMES.COM

A s the CDL trucking industry has slipped further and further into the current

driver shortage, something interesting has happened to the recruiting

process. Instead of being a recruiter-driven application process, the

entirety of the driver lifecycle from initial conversation to retention has

become the focus. Carriers and recruiters are now responsible for improving the quality

of driver conversations because, in the modern CDL trucking world, long term retention

starts with the recruiting process.

With such overarching responsibility now placed solely on the shoulders of CDL driver

recruiters, a change of mentality is necessary. Instead of approaching driver recruiting

from a purely HR mindset, recruiters are now taking a more sales-based approach to

recruiting. Now, with drivers considered as ‘leads’ or ‘prospects’ in the ‘sales funnel’,

recruiters can proactively nurture these contacts and cultivate a lasting relationship.

RECRUITING IS SALES: HIRE MORE DRIVERS BY TRAINING RECRUITERS IN SALES


While comparing recruiters to salespeople doesn’t always come off well (after all, who really likes being sold to?), the current industry landscape has aligned itself perfectly to this connection. In the current CDL driver recruiting process, recruiters don’t have the credibility they once had. Drivers believe that, because of the competitive industry landscape, recruiters simply tell drivers what they want to hear to get them to orientation. Starting out a relationship on this level with zero trust leads to higher turnover rates, creating a repetitive cycle that nobody enjoys. By looking at this process through a sales-focused lens, recruiters can start to engage drivers better on the front-end and appease these issues early on. True sales is not about tricking a driver into accepting a position. True sales is about helping a person make the best decision for him or her and working through potential incorrect assumptions that maybe held in the mind of the driver.

In the wake of a myriad of challenges and issues facing the industry (the lack of drivers, government regulations, and more), the expectations of CDL driver recruiters haven’t changed. If anything, the increase in competition has only heightened the stakes. At the end of the day, the demand for recruiting is heightened, as is the importance of current driver retention.


Why is This Sales Mentality Necessary?

PHIL M. JONES

International Business Speaker, Author of Exactly What to Say, Exactly How to Sell, and Exactly Where to Start

This competitive, prospect-driven mentality is typically associated with the sales industry, where every deal is treated as a life-or-death matter. Recruiter sales guru Phil Jones said it best on the Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition Podcast when he explained that recruiting is simply figuring out how to get people to pick you out of the crowd because they like you best. If anyone can relate to this pressure, it’s a salesperson. in through more channels, your recruiting team has a wider pool of talent to work with, leading to increased conversion rates.

Adopting a sales-focused recruiting mentality is also beneficial for recruiters as it helps break through barriers and overcome common problems that recruiters face. Standing out in a crowd of competitors isn’t always easy, especially if drivers are simply looking for higher pay. With a sales mindset, however, recruiters would know that differentiation starts with the very first impression. So, instead of just rattling off answers to a driver’s question, a sales-driven recruiter would regain control of the conversation by asking the driver a unique question that will lead to a conversation. The finish line for a CDL recruiter isn’t an accepted job offer. It’s much further down the road, past orientation and the first few drives. It’s the referral. A referral should be considered a ‘closed deal’ to a recruiter.


CHAD HENDRICKS

Host of Recruit and Retain Podcast and President at

Brand Outcomes, Inc.

In a recent webinar hosted by DriverReach, Chad Hendricks, host

of the Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition Podcast, put the connection between sales and recruiting into perspective by parsing it down to a simple value proposition:

“The word ‘sales’ still has a dirty connotation to it, even in the trucking industry. People start to think that recruiters are telling drivers what they want to hear instead of the truth just to ‘close the deal’ and make the hire. But it really comes down to understanding. A driver might not truly understand an offer due to their past experiences. It’s not what someone offers or doesn’t offer, it’s that the driver values what you offer more than what you don’t.”

Long term retention starts at recruiting in the same way long term customer relationships start with that first sales call. Instead of leaning into the negative sides of a sales-focused recruiting approach, recruiters should strive to bring integrity and honor back to recruiting in order to be successful.

On a sales team, before reps can hit the phones, they need to know what they are selling. This means figuring out the value of their product or service that differentiates it from competitors. In the world of recruiting, this means honing in on the problem areas. Your team can uncover your brand’s value proposition by working backward:

• Start by gathering all of your previous conversations with drivers. If you can record them that’s great, or add all of the relevant details to your CRM platform after a call to make it easy to sort through.

• Pinpoint trends in these conversations that have a common theme. What are the main reasons drivers are saying no? What is the last thing that is discussed before drivers go dark?

• Once you have these problem areas in hand, build compelling ‘sales pitches’ and potential questions that will allow a driver to see that certain business decisions actually benefit the driver as well. Drivers can afford to be picky and shop around. What makes your company any different than the others?

Now, when you’re on the phone with drivers it shouldn’t be them leading the conversation with questions.

Use the information you’ve prepared to immediately address the issues you know they’re going to bring up and provide carefully researched answers to show them why your company is their best choice.


Building a successful sales-focused recruiter training program means starting at the beginning, just like a sales team would.


Building a Genuine Relationship with Drivers


TRUCK SPEED Many carriers monitor truck speeds to reduce fuel expenses and

to ensure drivers are complying with safety regulations. If drivers are paid by the mile, however, being asked to drive slower can be perceived negatively. While a traditional recruiter might not even question or fight back against a driver who makes this case as their refusal, a sales-focused recruiter would know that the issue is in understanding how this truly affects the driver.

When we invite the driver to go through the speed issue and how it will affect their pay, we can build a clear idea of the actual impact. Asking the driver about what percentage of the route will be at full speed and doing the calculations will allow the driver to see that the impact on pay could be less than 1%. If we take into account our pay per mile, we will be able to identify if our pay is truly less than their current employment or if it is more.

Just as a salesperson has to appeal to the emotional and analytical side of their prospects so too does a CDL driver recruiter have to deliver the facts while still making a driver feel comfortable with your company.

In his recent webinar, Chad Hendricks walked through a few specific examples of roadblocks recruiters face to show how a sales-focused mentality can help change the narrative:

SENIORITY DISPATCH Many carriers have seniority dispatch where drivers who

have been at the company longer get offered the first available loads. Instead of waiting for a driver to bring this policy up as a question or complaint after their start date, a recruiter can get ahead of a potential concern by asking pointed questions that start a conversation.

Ask the driver how long he or she plans to be driving as a career, and if they would rather drive for a company that rewards loyalty than have to switch carriers every few years. Thanks to all of the preparation and practice, recruiters can frame their questions to sound more like answers, putting thoughts in drivers heads and giving them the information and confidence to back up their decision. Of course the driver wants to drive for their entire career and of course the driver would like to stay with one company that is thinking long term success versus short term success.This kind of recruiting doesn’t play into the negative connotation of sales – it flips it on its head entirely.

HOME TIME The amount of time a driver spends at home can be a huge

selling point for many recruiters, and what they’re selling against is the driver’s current situation. It’s like trying to sell someone a cell phone when they already have a perfectly good one at home. Recruiters can approach the conversation from a point of curiosity, understanding, and compromise.

Ask if the driver values certain things over others. Ask why they are looking for a new opportunity. If home time is ranked as number one, is it essential or a preference. Is there any amount of money, benefits, certain routes, etc that could convince them otherwise? If there is maybe home time isn’t as big of a deal breaker as you thought. Eventually, recruiters will come to a consensus with a driver that is built on trust and mutual understanding, which is where retention stems from.

As a recruiter, it’s impossible to change the facts. It is possible, however, to change how someone sees the truth. Instead of building up an argument and entering into a conversation with a driver on the offensive, try gathering the facts to defend your already solid positioning.

No matter what the current state of the industry tells us, drivers and recruiters are on the same team. The decisions that carriers make regarding speed, home time, and routes are made for a good reason. Recruiters can’t simply pretend the problems aren’t there and try to pull a blindfold over drivers’ eyes. Instead, they need to rely on the facts and explanations to help drivers see the reasoning behind these decisions.

DRIVERREACH.COM | 6 | BRANDOUTCOMES.COM DRIVERREACH.COM | 7 | BRANDOUTCOMES.COM

• Preparation: Do you have a question tree that will help drivers see potential areas of conflict as a positive?

• Rapport: Good questions will lead to conversations and good conversations build relationships.

• Genuine empathy: In some cases you may have to agree to disagree. In the end, if the driver and the recruiter cannot come to agreement, then there was no long term opportunity to start with.

• Presentation: Are you just winging this presentation or have you prepared and practiced this tool which you will use 10-15 times per day?

• Close: Do you know when to ask for a referral?

Understanding the different steps of the sales process is only the first part of setting your team up for success. It’s also important to have the right technology in place. Before you even start actively pushing your new recruiting strategy, make sure your website is updated and optimized. This means streamlining your application, cutting out any unnecessary content, and making sure everything is mobile-optimized.

You’ll also need an intuitive applicant tracking system to manage drivers as they move from one stage of the hiring process to the next. An ATS helps ensure drivers don’t slip through the cracks so you can be as successful as possible. And finally, like any good sales team, you’ll need to take advantage of a CRM platform. While Customer Relationship Management is the sales

term, recruiters can think of CRM as ‘Candidate Relationship Management’. CRM helps recruiters communicate with, engage, and nurture drivers from the very first touchpoint until the last. CRM is necessary for both initial recruiting processes and long term retention communication.

These technologies also provide something that most HR teams are missing – and that most sales teams heavily rely on: data. Whereas in sales decisions are made based on data and conversion metrics, recruiters can use the data in an ATS and CRM to better target drivers, create more engaging outbound campaigns, and better prepare for one-on-one discussions.

A final step for setting up your sales-focused recruiting team is to implement a structured training program.

Until now, there hasn’t really been a formal training program in place for CDL driver recruiters. ‘Training’ usually consists of a few days shadowing others on the team before it’s game time. With a sales-focused recruiting methodology, there needs to be a bit more onboarding and education. Create content and resources that highlight the different issues and questions recruiters might encounter on the phones. Build playbooks and call scripts (just as a sales team might) to help inform recruiters during specific conversations. When it comes to training, the more resources that are available the better chance at success your team will have. For additional information on potential recruiter training workshops or online courses, please visit RecruiterSalesTraining.com

Part of delivering a sales-focused recruiting experience to your drivers is implementing a sales-driven process internally. This means that there are certain steps that your team should be prepared for:

Setting Up Your Sales-Focused Recruiting Team

DriverReach is a mobile-enabled recruiting management system for CDL drivers that transforms the ways truck drivers apply for jobs. DriverReach’s technology streamlines the application experience for both driver prospects and recruiters. Verification of employment is completed digitally and automatically. Companies including RedGold and DollarGeneral trust DriverReach to help them hire drivers in days, not weeks, utilizing all trucks at all times with no lost revenue. For more information, visit DriverReach.com or follow @DriverReach.

You can learn more about how DriverReach is helping to usher in a new era of technology-backed CDL recruiting excellence here.


About DriverReach

With the right processes and technology in place, this new era of CDL driver recruiting will bring opportunity and success for recruiters. If you want to take your marketing, recruiting, and retention processes to the next level, look no further. DriverReach is the modern solution for innovative CDL driver recruiters to deliver a driver-first approach to recruiting. Learn more – request your personal demo today!

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