If you are like many recruiters, one of your New Year's resolutions may be to increase your recruiting cold calls. At the very least, you probably want to increase your placements in 2013, and cold calling can definitely help you do that.

The problem is, few recruiters like making cold calls.  But even with the Internet and traffic-driving social media tricks, nothing can quite replace getting on the phone and talking directly with prospective clients.  

Volumes have been written on how to make cold calls and how to motivate yourself to make them, but we haven't seen much that helps recruiters who are specifically trying to make contract placements.  So here a few tips to get your contract staffing cold calls started in the right direction in 2013:

1. Remember that contract staffing job orders tend to come from hiring managers rather than human resources, so your call list for contract staffing calls may be different than for direct hire job orders.
2. Consider sending a brief marketing document before you call that illustrates that you can do contract staffing in addition to direct hire.
3. Rather than asking if they need contractors, try asking questions that will help them see that they do need them, such as:

• Do you have a hiring freeze now that prohibits you from hiring someone?
• Do you have a deadline or special project that you need completed?
• Do you need to reduce tax risks associated with 1099 independent contractors?
• Do you want to evaluate a candidate’s skills prior to offering direct employment?

Debbie Fledderjohann is the President of Top Echelon Contracting, Inc.