For years we’ve been talking about the importance of referrals and the best ways to generate more of them. Though often overlooked as a key revenue opportunity, referrals have consistently higher close rates, lower costs of acquisition, and better retention rates. They also generally end up being more loyal to your brand, a characteristic that’s helpful in reducing turnover and increasing redeployment. It’s not hard to see why they’re a valuable asset, but many firms just don’t have the time to create a successful referral engine.
Enter: automation.
Your recruiters are busy and time is precious, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dedicate resources to growing your pipeline through referrals. Engagement platforms like Sense let you automate the whole process, giving your recruiters quality leads while saving them time.
When it comes to brand trust and loyalty, more than 8 in 10 people say they trust the recommendations of their friends and family. And when it comes to staffing and recruiting, it’s no secret that employers think highly of referrals. Referred candidates are 55% faster to hire, compared with employees sourced through career sites. Your network of contractors have friends, family, and contacts in their own networks that might be looking for work. And given that you’ve already vetted your existing talent pool, chances are good that their referrals will be high-quality, too. It’s a no brainer to tap into your existing workforce as a powerful acquisition channel, and you can do it without any additional manual work.
Staffing firm Belflex has seen the impact of leveraging automation as a digital assistant for their recruiters. With the help of the Sense platform, they’ve seen 30% higher response rates than when they sent communication directly through their ATS, and they’re filling urgent positions faster than ever. In a recent referral push, Belflex recruiters generated an incredible 109 referrals from just three campaigns in two months. Here’s the kicker: you can see results like this, too.
We recommend creating personalized automated workflows at strategic intervals throughout the talent lifecycle. Using SMS and email, you can set up triggered communications prompted by various contractor behaviors or key moments throughout their employment journey. For example, asking for referrals when a contractor is starting a new placement or coming off a recent assignment are great opportunities to catch them while you’re top of mind. If you send regular NPS surveys to contractors (and you should!) you can follow up on positive responses to ask if they have any friends or contacts they’d like to refer. Most firms also incentivize their talent network to make referrals by offering some kind of commission or bonus for the referrer — maybe a gift card, or cash if it makes sense for your business.
In today’s staffing landscape, up to 70% of placements come from referrals. If your firm isn’t yet taking advantage of this massive and affordable acquisition channel, that statistic represents a huge business opportunity for you. While it might feel daunting to create a new referral process, it’s actually super easy to set up and get started, especially if you’re already using Sense to automate candidate and contractor engagement. With the creation of a few simple workflows, you’ll have an efficient growth engine running in the background of your everyday operations.
Interested in learning how to use automation to generate more referrals? Schedule a Sense demo to learn about our engagement platform and see how we can help.
