Over the past few weeks I have noticed some of my HR contacts complain about vendors on their social media feeds. Firms seem to be spamming them outright which is bad for the rest of you trying to sell into HR the right way.
Recent RecTech podcast guest Claire Petrie said this on twitter;
She's right. Never try to pitch a prospect in the connection request. You need to build goodwill first and establish some kind of relationship. You'd be better off adding a tip or mentioning an article that they might like to read.
Then I saw this post from Carrie Corbin, also about a bad LinkedIn tactic.
They should have just said congrats and moved on. Moving into a new recruiting role at a company is a hectic time for those folks. I would wait at least 30 days before even thinking about trying to pitch a new recruiting exec.
Selling into HR is both art and science. Vendors need to take a thoughtful and careful approach. Know your target. Offer them something of value that helps them do their job better or faster.
For example, a vendor I know actually sends a book about HR to their prospects before even picking up the phone. Their conversion rate is super high with this kind of tactic.
Let this post be a lesson.
