The real cost of bad data in recruitment!

Are bad habits with data damaging your recruitment business?

How much of your CRM is peppered with inaccuracies, gaps, or simply overdue a deep clean? When it comes to data, you only ever get out what you put in.

When your data is compromised then so is almost everything you’re drawing from it. That means you could be building your financial projections, management reporting and performance metrics on inaccurate figures.

If you want intelligent and actionable insights then your data needs to be clean, accurate… and there has to be plenty of it that’s easily accessible.

As an industry we’ve historically tolerated data inaccuracies as par for the course. It’s become so pervasive that almost half of agencies question the accuracy of their data and struggle to access what data they do have.

Unless you have a team of analysts waiting in the wings then how are you going to do an MOT on your CRM, or undertake the task of data cleansing your CRM?

ATTACHING A COST

Research from Gartner sets the price tag as a 25% reduction in potential revenue.

How do you quantify the cost of a poor decision based on inaccurate data, or the price of missed opportunities? What we do know is that oversights will cause a chain reaction in recruitment. Leads go unfollowed, successful activity goes unlogged, jobs are not covered appropriately and resource is allocated to unprofitable clients.

It all comes back to the quality of the information going in and the management of that process. There need to be measures in place to ensure information is logged, processed, certified and actioned. Without doubling down on resources and personally overseeing data entry, how can agencies tackle data quality?

INCENTIVISE YOUR STAFF

When data entry is a box ticking exercise it’s conditioned to fail. Consultants need to understand its involvement in simplifying their own work and improving their conversion metrics.

Data entry can also be tied into KPIs, and the entire process gamified to encourage its use.

VISUALISE THE PROCESS

If the gaps in data entry are noticeable and accountable then they will very quickly be addressed. Recruitment is a performance-based role and the public announcement of personal activity, or lack of, is a good way to incentivise staff. We should never forget recruitment is a team sport too and having team targets which rely on others creating and recording activity is a great way to keep employees focussed.

By displaying performance analytics across desktops, TV screens, mobiles and tablets that are universally accessible, agencies can drive the activity they want without being hands on.

Consultants who aren’t seeing the benefits from their CRM data are also less inclined to dedicate time away from the phones to updating them.

Businesses need to break down the management siloes that prevent actionable insights from being effectively communicated further down the hierarchy. Recruiters that understand the importance of data will always buy into its position within their role.

MAKE TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR YOU

Only 13% of agencies are automating their reporting and almost a third are losing time each week to gathering data, despite half of businesses surveyed stating they use data to inform board decisions

MONITOR AND REVIEW YOUR DATA

If the last time you cleaned out your database was over a year ago then according to Salesforce, over two-thirds of the data you’re working with should be retired.

Do you have a process for flagging inaccuracies or a litmus test for the data you are actually using?

As a result of good quality data our clients are able to identify the staff that are underperforming, where the training is needed, how to motivate activity and ultimately how to grow their bottom line.

On a ground level consultants are able to work with increased efficiency, close more deals and get recognised for doing it. Ultimately, they earn more commission and the agency scales quicker.

In 2018 improving data accuracy will mobilise your CRM and directly grow your bottom line… but more importantly you’ll be able to see and understand why.

Before cube19, Spencer Ogden, like many recruitment agencies, spent a vast amount of time putting reports together from multiple sources. Bradley Lewington states, ‘since implementing cube19 we don’t have to run reports anymore so it’s a much less onerous job from a database administration and an IT support perspective. It has also enabled us to make data driven decisions much more easily and quickly.’ Watch this video to learn more about how Spencer Ogden is benefitting from using cube19.