BIG BILLER SECRETS

Contents:
Calling the Right Person at the Right Time and Saying the Right Thing ............................................................ 2
9 Strategies For Overcoming Cold Call Reluctance ............................................................................................ 4
A Fresh Perspective On Fees .............................................................................................................................. 6
A Little Help, Please ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Big Billers are Great Planners........................................................................................................................... 11
Big Billers have a "Reasons Why" philosophy.................................................................................................. 12
Big Billers identify what clients look for .......................................................................................................... 14
Big Billers Understand the Art of Negotiation ................................................................................................. 15
But Can your Deliver? ...................................................................................................................................... 16
Closing as an Obligation ................................................................................................................................... 18
Contingency or Retainer? ................................................................................................................................ 20
Creating the Predictable Placement ................................................................................................................ 22
Criteria for Doing Business............................................................................................................................... 25
Market Tight? Don't Find New Clients, Make Them ........................................................................................ 26
Finding the Recruiting Script that Works ......................................................................................................... 29
Follow Up and Cash Flow ................................................................................................................................. 30
Four Steps to Negotiating Higher Fees ............................................................................................................ 32
How To Be a "Big Biller" in Executive Recruiting ............................................................................................. 35
How to Deal with HR (without getting a migraine) ......................................................................................... 38
How to Even Out Your Placement Activity ...................................................................................................... 40
How to Get Clients to Love to Pay Fees ........................................................................................................... 42
How to Identify Quality Search Assignments .................................................................................................. 44
How to Increase Your Productivity & Earn More With Less ............................................................................ 47
How You Can Get Past The Gatekeeper, Into The Executive Suites ................................................................ 51
How to Succeed in a S-L-O-W Job Market ....................................................................................................... 53
Maintaining Focus in a Strong Recruiting Market ........................................................................................... 54
Maintaining Focus in Turbulent Times ............................................................................................................ 56
Making the Most of Your Time ........................................................................................................................ 61
Marketing is a continuous process .................................................................................................................. 63
Marketing Through the Back Door .................................................................................................................. 65
Negotiate for Higher Recruiting Fees .............................................................................................................. 67
Negotiation Tactics for Recruiters ................................................................................................................... 69
Persistence Over Pressure ............................................................................................................................... 71
Playing Hide and Seek with Clients .................................................................................................................. 74
Power Recruiting .............................................................................................................................................. 76
Tell Me About Yourself .................................................................................................................................... 81

Calling the Right Person at the Right Time and Saying the Right Thing
Longing for the glory days?
You know, that golden time when clients were fighting for talent, and your earnings seemed to increase
month by month.
Economists may be just starting to admit it, but we saw the economy move past "slow down" long ago. In a
slow period the simple fact is there are, and will continue to be, fewer positions to fill. In light of this
reality, what can we do to maintain earnings?
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nsultants need to execute assignments with greater precision.
Every action taken
from client prospect call to candidate recruit call
becomes magnified for the very
reason that there are fewer marketing opportunities available.
Quantity still counts, but now the quality of your calls will have significantly greater impact to your
earnings.
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Consultants ask the hard questions and listen carefully to answers.
Consultants find solutions and solve problems.
Consultants do their homework first.
Therefore, before you pick up the phone to make your next marketing or recruiting call, do a little
research.
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-- the client cold call.
1. Calling the right person.
Who is the right person to call? Successful consultants know that the primary contact is the hiring
manager to whom an open position reports. A second poin
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and position title before making your
marketing call.
2- At the right time.
When is the right time to call? A consultant recognizes that the best time to call is when there is a
problem to be solved or need to be filled (i.e., an open position). The exact timing of your call
should occur when the hiring manager is available to speak (i.e. break in his schedule). In fact, you
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many steps in the recruiting and placement process, be cautious here. Leaving the wrong message
for a prospective client can be more detrimental than leaving no message at all.
3- Saying the right thing.
What to say and how to say it? This involves technique that is learned, practiced and perfected over
time. Each of us has a unique presentation and delivery style that can be developed. Thinking as a
consultant, you might want to position yourself up front as an industry specialist and/or field
specialist (i.e. finance, HR, sales, etc.) As you introduce yourself to the decision maker, seek to
"bond " by finding "common ground" and thereby making the first impression count.
The best marketing calls are those that are prepared in advance (mentally or in writing) and
individually tailored for each new client call. Do your homework.
In summary, winning new clients and search assignments now requires less selling and more consulting.
Research before you call prospective clients
it should not take long
Ask yourself
Who are you going to speak to
Why are you are calling them
What you are going to say.
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Control the timing of the call by identifying a need first and then by learning when the hiring
manager will be available to speak.
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economy!

9 Strategies For Overcoming Cold Call Reluctance

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each person. Here are a few ideas that will help you or your staff to get out of procrastination and into
action.
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-confidence in
that it fluctuates. No one is self-confident all of the time. Call reluctance may come and go in
varying degrees and some of this is normal. Making sales calls takes pro-active effort on your part
and forces you out of your comfort zone. Look at your situation objectively, admit where you are
and make a commitment to improve.
2. Change Your Objective: If your objective on each marketing call is to secure a new assignment,
then you are going to experience a high degree of perceived failure. In reality this rarely happens in
one call. However, if your objective is to discover the truth as to whether there is an opportunity to
be of service for this client, either now or in the future, then you will associate success to many
more calls. So if you discover that the prospect has no need for your service at this time, you can
consider this a successful call because you were able to get to the truth. Remember, success breeds
confidence.
3. Have clear activity objectives with small rewards: The first call is always the hardest so you may
want to set up small rewards to get going early. The best time to do marketing calls is first thing in
the morning before you get distracted. Small rewards could include, "I get my morning coffee after
my first 5 presentations." I read the paper after 10 connects." Make them addictive
e.g. that first
cigarette break, the first cup of coffee, the first internet logon, first look at your personal email etc
4. Fully believe in what you are selling: In order to be effective you need to be 110% sold on what
you are selling. You need
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your prospects. When you call or call on a prospect, he or she can immediately sense your level of
confidence in yourself and your service. Trust is extremely essential in this step. You cannot expect
others to trust you if you do not feel trustworthy. If you have a problem with a lack of pride in your
service, try and build pride by becoming an industry and business expert. Be able to outline your
search process in a set number of steps and articulate it from memory. Also KNOW YOUR APC
the candidate you are marketing to increase your confidence.
5. Choose prospects or companies that you feel good about calling: If you are experiencing call
reluctance, be sure to follow this step in your attempt to improve your calling behaviour. Try to
learn a little something about your prospect and his company before calling him, and then mention
this knowledge when you make your sales call. Work in specialties that you feel passionate about so
that you are excited about speaking to your prospects.
6. Expect some rejection: I
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8. Have an "accountability partner" or buddy: Work with a colleague who can be your partner and
who you will report your daily activity to. Work with a buddy doing the same thing as you who you
can measure yourself against and who can help you to create some structure and accountability.
9. Create some competition internally
tell others what you intend to do or benchmark a top
performer and try and hit their figures.

10. Review your primary goals daily: If you have a big enough "Why" then the "How" becomes much
easier: What are your goals? How will they benefit you? Take a moment each day to feel the
positive feelings of these goals coming to fruition.

A Fresh Perspective On Fees

Much has been written recently about the fees charged by recruiters. A recent issue of The Fordyce Letter
provided readers with an explanation of several variations on the theme. Without covering the same
material a second time, below is what many of you may consider a "fresh perspective" on the topic.
First and foremost, you need to establish relevance for whatever process you choose to utilise in
determining your fee. This relevance can only be established when your fee is justified against the value
your client receives from the performance outcomes produced by the placed candidate. In other words,
the cost of your service (your fee) must be justified by the value your client receives after the candidate
has actually been placed and has consistently met or exceeded the performance standards for the position.
Remember
Ultimately, the only way to retain a client is to consistently demonstrate a direct correlation between
the people you place and the improved performance capacity of their organisation. The improvement in
performance capacity must be great enough to justify the investment the client makes in paying your
fees.
Therefore, keep your eye on the "end game". Certainly you have to locate qualified and interested
candidates. Certainly you and your client need to establish and execute an interactive process for
evaluating each candidate while building in them an interest in the position and company. Certainly, you
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"end game" that you must never lose site of is the post hire performance of the placed employee. Nothing
else has real value, if the newly placed employee does not properly perform the essential functions of the
position and deliver to your client performance outcomes that meet or exceed their expectations.
In the proper context, particularly when asked to discount the fee, your reply could be similar to the
following:
"Obviously, you would not make an investment of this nature unless you were reasonably certain of
receiving an appreciable return. Therefore, rather than asking me to discount my fee, it may be in your best
interest to challenge me to deliver a value that more than justifies the investment. Since employees
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avoided."
"Both of our long term business interest may best be served through executing an interactive process that
consistently delivers employees who impact, in a positive fashion, the performance capacity of your
organization. Does that seem reasonable to you?"
Therein lies the justification for your fee.
However, there is a related topic. Have you ever had a client who was unwilling to disclose their
compensation range at the time you wrote the job order/search assignment? Have you ever had a client
say that the range of compensation is totally open and depends on the candidate? Have you ever had a
client who was unwilling to disclose the top end of their compensation range? Have you ever had a client
who was unwilling to seek your guidance at offer time? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions,
ask yourself a follow-up question. Why was my client unwilling to share this information or to seek my
guidance at the time of the offer?

In many instances, the answer to this question lies in the fact that for the majority of recruiters, the level of
offer accepted by the candidate determines their fee. Therefore, the thought has to at least cross the
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paid candidates. In like fashion, at offer time, the client may believe you are negotiating a higher
compensation level than necessary, in order to increase the size of your fee.
An alternative approach would be to take yourself out of the equation. Here is a fresh perspective on how
it can work.
At the time of taking the job order/search assignment, fix your fee (whatever your percentage may be) at
the agreed upon mid-point of the compensation range.
Example: Compensation Range - $60,000 to $70,000
Fee set at mid-point - $65,000
Fee percentage 30% - Fee established at $19,500
The fee is now set at $19,500. Regardless at what level the candidate is hired, the fee never changes. They
can hire someone at $60,000 or at $70,000, or at any number in between, above or below. The fee remains
$19,500.
In using this approach to establishing the fee, you will accomplish at least two things:
1. The client knows exactly what their obligation is regarding the fee, thereby eliminating the
possibility of "shock", when they receive your invoice. This also eliminates any mutual mystification
a
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.
2. You take yourself out of the equation. The client now understands that your negotiations are not
influenced by the size of the fee.
Obviously, in order to make this approach fair to both parties, an agreement must be reached on what
constitutes a realistic compensation range. If you are uncertain about the numbers presented by the client,
survey the market and adjust accordingly.
Most clients prefer this approach because it is clear and straightforward. This approach creates an aura of
relief for all parties, and generates a working environment where the fee no longer interferes with the
central focus of closing the deal.
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tends to balance out. Some years they may "leave a little on the table" while other years, they may end up
ahead. For most clients and recruiters, it represents a "fresh perspective" on the subject of fees.

A Little Help, Please

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who has to look your boss in the eye
and tell him or her that you are leaving.
For candidates, giving notice is the one thing they fear most. Fear of giving notice alone can keep some
candidates from making the career switch they have previously agreed to. Candidates fear giving notice
that much. But they seldom admit this.
For recruiters, getting the offer and getting it accepted is often what we see as the final most difficult step
in the search process. That negotiating period is certainly a most stressful part of the process, but it is not
the end of the process for the best recruiters. The best recruiters know that coaching their candidates to
give notice is the best insurance they have to make sure their candidates will actually begin their new jobs.
It is also excellent insurance from keeping counteroffers from being delivered and accepted.
So how do we tell our candidates to give notice?
In my initial interview and again in my preps and debriefs, I comfort my candidates by telling them that
once they get an offer and have accepted it, I will provide them with a detailed email on how to give notice
effectively. Telling them this information early in the process reduces their anxiety about giving notice and
gets them to focus on interviewing. They can

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candidates have told me that giving notice was such a stressful notion for them that it held them back from
interviewing their best. Early reassurance from you that this help is forthcoming often helps your
candidates interview better.
What does my email say?
Basically three things.
1. First it tells them when to give notice. Many candidates, and recruiters for that matter, think the best
day to give notice is Friday afternoon. It is not. Especially not in the current corporate environment where
counteroffers are considered a vital corporate tool. Giving notice on Friday gives the boss and his/her
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questions about why they are leaving and where they are going. Also, because notice was given early in the
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strategize on how to counteroffer a resigning employee. They still may make that attempt, but the boss
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ave two full days with nothing else to think about or work on. That is why you, as the recruiter,
want notice given on Monday or Tuesday in the latter part of the day.
2. Second, your candidate will also need to write a letter of resignation and give it to their boss to open the
resignation meeting. I use a very simple four-sentence, two-paragraph letter of resignation that is direct
and to the point. It is also filled with subtle subtext that helps make sure the counteroffer risk is reduced.
The letter reads like this:
Dear Boss,
Please accept this letter as my official notice of resignation. I appreciate the work we have
been able to accomplish together at (company name), but I have now made a commitment
to another organization, and plan to begin with them in (two or xxx) weeks.

It is my intention to work diligently with you to wrap up as much as possible in the next (two
or xxx) weeks to make my resignation as smooth as possible. If you have any suggestions on
how we can best accomplish that goal, I hope you will share your thoughts with me, as I am
eager to move forward on the most positive note possible.
Sincerely,
There is plenty of subtext involved in this letter which time and space do not allow us to explore here, but
let me just mention that the words "commitment," "two weeks (or xxx a finite period)" "together,"
"smooth as possible," and "positive" are not accidentally used in this letter. It is also no accident that
"thank you" does not appear in this letter. There is nothing to say thank you for. Yet, that is how many
resignation letters inappropriately begin. Saying thank you or having a micro Oscar Acceptance speech in
t
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notice must understand it is unprofessional and inappropriate for them to use the resignation letter to tell
the current boss where they are going, what they are doing in their next job, or how much they will be
making. It is your responsibility to make sure the candidate understands this.
3. T
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icebreaker needed to open the "giving notice" meeting. It is merely a simple paraphrasing of the
resignation letter. I suggest that with the above letter in hand they open their resignation meeting
conversation by saying:
"Boss, I have made a commitment to join another organization and will begin working with
them in (two or xxx) weeks. Please accept this, my letter of resignation. I would ask that you
to take a minute to read my letter before we discuss together how we can make my
transition as smooth as possible."
I remind the resigning employee that almost every boss in the world knows what is about to happen when
their employee walks into their office with an envelope in their hand. The opening I provide them gets
right to the point without unnecessary small talk. It also makes it clear that you are not planning to talk
about your decision to leave. Instead, it is clear that what you plan to discuss is the transition now that
you have made a commitment to leave. It makes the transition the most important item to discuss in the
conversation that is about to occur.
The Next Step . . .
After my candidate reads this email, I have them send me a fax or email a copy of their letter of
resignation. Next, I ask them to call me so I can coach them through some of the more difficult aspects of
this resignation meeting. My main goal is to remind them that the conversation need not be about where
they are going and what they are doing next. Rather it should focus on their transition during the next two
weeks. I tell them that every time the boss asks anything not related to ensuring a smooth transition, that
they deflect the other questions simply by saying:
"I know you may be curious about that, but it is not my intention to discuss where I am going
or why. My decision is made, I have made a commitment to another organization which I
plan to keep. If it is really important for you to know where I am
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about it when it is not an emotional issue for us, say a month from now. Today, my goal
remains to discuss how to make the transition as smooth as possible."
To help my candidates feel comfortable about using the above deflector, I ask them why it is that on the
day they give notice that suddenly their opinions are so important to their boss? That perspective usually
reinforces that there is no purpose to the resignation meeting except to leave on as positive a note as
possible through a carefully-p
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Drive that point home repeatedly. Once candidates understand this, they no longer feel the need to talk
about anything else. That is certainly one of your primar
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use all these suggestions, often word for word. Because they do, you will have the peace of mind you need
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be accepted. That is just the peace of mind that makes getting to work on the next deal easier for you to
do.

Big Billers are Great Planners

Common Traits of Big Billers
1. Big Billers are strategic planners. They utilize news alerts on keywords, competitor websites,
business newspapers and informational sites such as Hoovers, Dun & Bradstreet, etc., to acquire as
much information to have a knowledgeable phone conversation.
2. Big Billers never pick up the phone until they have built a strategic plan!
3. They have candidates and clients assist them in building a plan and always have them sign off and
date the "Initial Target List" as approval that both parties are in agreement before proceeding.
Do your planning skills need to be improved?
Answer the following questions. . .
Do I know who my first contact of the day is going to be?
Do I know what accounts are "closest to money"?
Do I have a set schedule throughout my day to market, interview, rouse, reference check, etc.?
Do I have a set time each day to plan for the next day and do I know what resources I will utilise to
get the planning done accurately?
Am I over-planned?
If the answer is "no" to any of these questions, than re-analyse your planning skills.
In summary, the GOLDEN RULES of planning are as follows:
1. Production will sky rocket when you become an effective planner!
2. Always know who your first call of the day will be and the first call after lunch. Your first contacts of
the day should be the deals that are "closest to money."
Here are a few examples of "closest to money":
o
o
o

Debriefing a candidate who had their final face-to face interview, as well as
debriefing the hiring authority.
A call to finalise the contract.
Making the offer to the candidate.

3. Always over-plan.
4. Know the importance of working a balanced day. Plan at least ten marketing calls into every day to
keep the funnel full. A normal day should have 30 marketing calls
5. Never leave the office until you are planned for the following day. If that time is not convenient,
determine another time to plan, but not during client time.
6. Maximise all resources for planning.
7. Stay focused and never deviate from your plan.

Big Billers have a "Reasons Why" philosophy

Big Billers understand the importance of why it is a good match between the client and the candidate. If
you want to build relationships, you want to present candidates who are excited about the opportunity
and are an exact fit for what your client is looking for.
The reasons why process will only prove that you do not have a reputation of fitting square pegs into
round holes. You need to educate your candidate on the process of working retained and that you get paid
regardless if the candidate accepts the position or no one takes the position. What is most important to
you is making sure the candidate is a "right fit" for your client and your client is a "right fit" for your
candidate.
To determine the reasons why your candidate is the "right fit" you need to qualify your candidate by asking
these five questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

When have you been the happiest in your career?

Has there been a time when you woke up and were really excited about going to work?
What made you feel that way?
Is there anything about your current position you are unhappy about?
What are the elements that would make up the ideal job for you?

Weigh the pros and cons of whether this candidate is a potential fit for the position. It is important that a
candid
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that their earning history will be verified. Most people get an annual earnings statement. If compensation
is in alignment with the position and the candidate is open-minded and qualified under the terms
Assignment Profile, than you have a match!
Always ask your qualified candidates the following questions before moving to the next step:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What peaked your interest to return my call?

What aspects of the position I described seemed most exciting? Why?
What aspects of the position I described seemed least exciting? Why?
What information would you like to learn more about on the interview?
What are the key elements that interested you to interview for the position?

THE ABOVE QUESTIONS WILL MAKE UP YOUR REASONS WHY DOCUMENT. Listen for positives as well as
negatives. Both are equally important in determining why the candidate is best suited for the opportunity.
It is important to continually review the reasons why with your candidate and your client.
Review the reasons why after each interview to determine if these reasons why still hold true for both the
client and the candidate. Make sure you edit your reasons why as you move along in the process.
This document will mentally prepare both parties to get the deal completed.
In Summary:
1. Before a final interview the "Reasons Why" document should be typed and sent to both parties
and reviewed with them.
2. Before placing a candidate, ask yourself "If this were me would I take the job?" Why or Why not?

Below is a sample of a Reasons Why document:

Reasons Why ABC Company is the right fit for Joe Doe
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Upward mobility.
Limited travel. Better work/life balance.
Office in Xxxxxxxx but also can work from home.
Benefits
Total earnings match is higher. New Company improves basic salary.
Less cost on medical for family coverage.
Company culture is better.
Position reports to the EMEA Director / VP whose management style is in alignment with the
candidate, more so than current report.
8. Company has a strong marketing department to support the product. Has innovation, respects and
promotes people.
9. The Manager or the new team have the same focus and sales / accounting/ HR / IT beliefs as the
candidate.

Big Billers identify what clients look for

In a consultative sale the needs analysis is critical! Big Billers listen twice as much as they speak.
How to make the potential client feel comfortable:
1. Show empathy.
2. Convey confidence and conviction.
Credibility and expertise need to be conveyed to your potential client. Share with the client
your discipline knowledge AND industry specialisation and what types of positions you fill.
Make sure your client is comfortable with you and your firm before moving forward.
Ask the potential client, "Based on what I have shared with you today, do you feel
comfortable working with me and my firm to fulfill your future assignments?"
3. Clients want to work with firms that have a proven process. Walk a potential client through
your process to paint them a picture of how their search is going to get accomplished. Show
them how it will work, when they need to be involved. Show them what you do for your
money.
4. Clients want to feel comfortable that you can fill the search in a reasonable amount of time.
Always under promise and over deliver. It is important to be realistic!
In Summary:
Identify the decision-maker.
Build relationships and sell yourself.
Establish credibility and expertise in the potential clients vertical market.
Educate the client on the search process.
Talk about delivery time. Know your statistics and ratios and be prepared to present them to
clients.
Use the following two key questions when you are trying to capture a key client:
1. Have you made a decision to partner with a single recruitment firm?
2. What will be the criteria you will use to select one recruitment firm over another?

Big Billers Understand the Art of Negotiation

To be a big biller, you MUST perfect the art of negotiation! Big billers never talk about the fee or the
s
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.
Big billers never talk about the fee or the service charge unless they have made the decision to work the
search.
The reference book on negotiation is The Negotiator by Frederick Forsyth. When a potential client asks,
"What is your fee?" return with this question: "Is fee the only issue keeping us from doing business? If it is, I
am sure we can make this work for both of us. Let us decide first if my firm meets your needs."
Discuss at that point how your firm can add value.
Conduct a needs analysis on how their company will add value to attract a potential candidate.
Incorporate value-added services instead of reducing your fee:
o Compensation consulting
o Behavioral-based interviewing
o Assessment and selection
o External Profiling (where required)
o Advertising management
o Response Handling
o Reference Checking
o Rejection Handling
o Shortlist management
future pool of talent
o Offer and Counter offer control
o Resignation walk and talk through with candidates
Never give a potential client the discount they are asking for. It makes them feel that they could have
gotten you to accept even less! Know your bottom line and never alter. Stay consistent.
In Summary:
#1
Make sure you want the search before talking about the fee.
#2
Beware of potential clients that demand to know your fee before doing a complete needs analysis.
These clients are only window-shopping.
#3
Ask those critical questions.
#4
Never give the client the fee they are asking for
without trying everything else first .e.g restructure
to back end some more fee, containers, Advert and placement fee.
#5
Always sell your process.
Remember, success is not determined by how hard you work, but by how intelligently your efforts are
applied to your goals. Utilise the tools around you in the best manner possible and you will reach those
goals and beyond.

But Can your Deliver?

In the rush to take advantage of high-demand market conditions, a growing number of recruitment firms
find themselves over-selling and under-delivering.
T
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!
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e
.
Because recruiters increasingly oversell, consequently, clients are receiving inconsistent results and the
quality of service standard for our industry is falling. In response potential clients are increasingly asking,
"But can you deliver?"
You must carefully consider your response to this question. Companies are frustrated by sophisticated
sales presentations that have little real relevance to the actual delivery of services. With minor
modification, they have already heard most of these presentations from your competitors. Therefore, you
must ask yourself, "can we deliver every time, on time, without exception?" If you adhere to a proper set
of criteria for accepting business, the answer can be "yes."
Regardless of economic conditions, the ultimate competitive quality differentiation should be your process
for quality service delivery. This quality differentiation can be achieved through the proper implementation
of the following steps.
1. Understand that the real value of your service is not the provision of qualified employees or
contractors. It is in whether or not these employees and contractors will have a positive impact on
the performance
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presented, your criteria for accepting business can be your unique selling position.
3. In addition to what is normally covered when taking a job orders/assignments, concentrate on
gaining a clear understanding of the performance outcomes the client is seeking (standards or
measurement and how they will be communicated), the structure in which the employee will
perform (management operating style, peer interface, as well as access to both internal and
external resources), and the job related skills and experience required in order to perform at or
above the identified standards.
4. Gain commitments from your client to work within the parameters of an adaptive and interactive
process for delivering the agreed upon services. This includes recognising you as an essential
participant in the process from beginning to end.

Remember
Identifying talent is just the first step. The process is not complete until that talent makes a
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process must reflect this reality.
5. Execute a program that results in the recruitment (attracting) of the required employees.
Remember, there is no shortage of qualified employees; it just so happens that most of them are
currently employed. For you and your teams to achieve consistent results you must use the
proactive 4-way methodology and its component techniques for identifying, approaching, and
attracting those individuals who are not actively seeking a new employment opportunity.
6. Properly evaluate those who have been recruited against the agreed upon selection criteria. This
must include not only the evaluation and verification of appropriate skills, experience, and
motivations, but also the match between the functional preferences of the potential employee
and the management/operating style of the client. In no other area of service delivery is the
staffing indus
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ers are given to you
by the client because you asked for them when taking the Job Brief.
7. Give a full commitment and follow-t
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met to their satisfaction. This area presents the greatest opportunity for quality differentiation. We
guarantee to replace free of charge or repeat the assignment. However, this can only be
accomplished if you have successfully completed the steps listed previously and if the client
respects your terms of business.
If you wish to increase both client share and market share, you must have the wherewithal, willingness,
and courage to raise the performance standard for Antal International.
Do not let the least best practice of our industry define YOUR bottom line potential.
C
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for doing business; gain agreement from each client to work within an adaptive and interactive process;
and then and only then, give a full commitmen
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s
expectations. By operating in this manner, when the question is asked, "but can you deliver", you can
stand tall, look them straight in the eye, and without hesitation say, "absolutely, and let me tell you why."

Closing as an Obligation
Some recruiters have had trouble with closing reluctant candidates. Shockingly, in many instances, this is
due not to lack of sales skills; rather, it is because they had this doubt about talking someone into
something as serious as a job change when that person apparently does not want to!
To what extent should we feel free to close reluctant candidates? Let's explore that area here and see
what our obligations are to both parties.
Our Job
When I ask recruiters where our real worth is to our clients I generally get answers like finding candidates,
screening candidates, and referring the top ones, etc. We seem to think of ourselves as an old aunt or a
"dating agent" who is constantly trying to make the right match.
However, our worth to the client is not at the beginning of the search but at the end! Suppose we recruit
50 candidates for the position and screened them down to ten to present to our client. Three were
interviewed, two offers were made, and none accepted. Of what real worth are we?
NONE?
No, worse than that! We just cost everyone a lot of time and money!!!
Our client loses money every day that job goes undone. Our value is not to initially find candidates; it is to
eventually get the best one to go to work for our client.
In fact, some people say that your worth isn't that you could find good candidates for the client, but that
you can help them hire them.
Think about it. If the top candidate says no to the offer, then your client is left with only two options:
1. Start the search all over again.
2. Hire second best, or maybe third.
Neither is good for the client, so for you to earn your money and uphold your duty to the client, you need
to do everything within reason and ethics to ensure that the candidate says yes to the offer. Which is
exactly why you should be involved in the salary negotiations, offer decision, offer structure, and delivery.
When you help clients hire, you help them solve vital problems in their departments.
Do people need help in being able to accept a career opportunity? YES!
A job change is in the top five stress factors a person will ever face. No matter how good it is, the job will
start to fade when the pressure and fear of a big decision faces the candidate. Changing jobs (and your life)
is easy to dream and talk about, but tough to actually do!
A Knowledgeable Source
Many people talk it over with others when faced with a big decision like a job change. The problem is that
t
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iest idea about career path and think that
upward mobility is the elevator in your office. Or they talk to their friends who just tell them what they
want to hear
because none of them are recruiters. So, the candidate hears things like;
"You're not going to take little Tom to another just so you can have a different job, are you?"


Y
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u

r
e
g
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a
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stay where you are. If I were you I would go in and ask for what you are worth
I think you
do a great job (because you buy me beers), go and ask for a rise and t
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.
This is just two examples of the conversations candidates have with others
outside your control.
If the candidate is going to talk to someone about why they would consider the change, then have it be an
experienced recruiter who can accurately describe the benefits and/or difficulties associated with the
position in question and enable the family to make an informed decision.
Remember, when under pressure and stress, the easiest way out is to just say NO! Then they do not have
to face quitting, moving, and all the other areas of fear that they are facing.
Very few people are ready and willing to pay the price of success. Most must be helped along the climb up.
T
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end, answer their questions, and combat their fears for them because they are ill-equipped to do it for
themselves
and their friends and family cant help like you can.
They want t
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would want their Heart Surgeon to quit just before you got the anaesthetic, would you? Be a professional
and see them through their doubts.
The Reasons for Turndowns
Candidates essentially turn down an offer for three reasons:
1. First, the recruiter may have done an inadequate job of identifying total concerns at the initial
recruit call. Without obtaining concerns, the recruiter lacks the hard ammunition to emphasise the
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written out the
extensive concerns of the candidate? If not, you are doing a disservice to all involved.
2. S
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that "an object at rest tends to remain at rest - - unless acted on by an outside force." You must be
that outside force. Steve Finkel, in his classic video on closing for our industry - "Book More
Business!", states that "Fear of Change" is a factor (and frequently a major factor) in 90% of the
turndowns or counteroffers that afflict us. Correcting this problem means more fees, and the
satisfaction of a job done well and ethically.
3. Finally, excess reliance on candidates obtained in the public domain of the Internet (e.g. job boards)
leads inevitably to a high percentage of turndowns and counteroffers. When your client or offer is
only one of many, how can frequent failure not be the result?
All of these factors are within your control!
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in the unknown.
Most people seek comfort and avoid pain even in the face of sensible reasoning and logic that points their
life forward.
You have a moral right to assist at this critical moment.
Closing is good! It is your duty to your client and your professional obligation to your candidate!
To do less is unworthy of us as professionals.

Contingency or Retainer?
Many recruiters have asked me for my view on this subject. Therefore, I felt compelled to add a slightly
different perspective.
First of all, let's consider the nature and scope of the four basic relationships that are available to
Recruiters for working with their Clients.
Non-Exclusive Contingency
In this relationship, the Client only receives a measured response from each Recruiter. Because there is no
mutual commitment, each Recruiter has to work the job order on a "time/resource available" basis. Each
order must be balanced against all the other orders currently available to the Recruiter. This type of
relationship generally does not lend itself to a strong drill down approach to penetrating the talent pool.
Also, because the relationship is non-exclusive, the Candidates surfaced can be and will be presented to
more than one Client by some recruitment firms. They will also target publicly available and less exclusive
candidates who will have other offers. In this relationship both the Client and the Recruiter must take a
quantitative approach, ensuring that the numbers work in their favour. From the Client's perspective, this
may be an acceptable approach if the open position(s) is of low priority to the organization and the timing
for hiring is not important. The Client is basically taking a "commodity approach" to meeting their needs
and will no doubt exert downward pressure on fees.
Exclusive Contingency
This relationship is based on a signed exclusive agreement between the Recruiter and the Client. This
agreement defines the exclusive nature of the relationship and ties both parties to a specific time frame.
Results must be delivered by the Recruiter within a defined period of time. Penetration of the talent pool
by the Recruiter is much greater. However, the Client does not own the product of the search, i.e., the
Candidates. The Recruiter is free to present these Candidates to other Clients. As far as internal
Candidates, walk-ins, referrals, or any other Candidates are concerned, they undergo the same process
with the Recruiter as sourced Candidates. In this manner, the Client is properly positioned to compare
"apples to apples." Since all Candidates are processed in the same manner, an unbiased decision can be
reached without compromising the results through an alteration of the process. From the Client's
perspective, this relationship is effective if they place a higher priority on the position, and if timing is
important for filling the position.
Regarding the time frame reflected in this type of agreement, it generally ranges from 30 to 90 days.
Perhaps the best comparison for this type of agreement is the standard real estate contract which gives
the listing agent an exclusive period of time (generally 90 days) in which to sell the property. During that
period of exclusivity, they are legally entitled to their commission regardless of who sells the property and
regardless of the source of the buyer. It could have an end date on which it becomes non-exclusive and the
rate drops
this makes clients more comfortable that you share the pain if it is delayed and gives you an
incentive to deliver.
Container / Engagement Fee
This relationship combines retainer with contingency. The Client signs an exclusive agreement with the
Recruiter and pays a predetermined portion of the estimated fee up front, and once paid, it is nonrefundable. Generally the initial container/engagement fee ranges from 10% to 20% of the anticipated
total fee. The remainder of the fee is paid by the Client upon the successful completion of the search and
the hiring of a suitable Candidate. Although the relationship is exclusive, the payment of the majority of
the fee is still contingent on the Recruiter's performance.

The engagement fee relationship is designed to capture the Recruiter's attention and thereby secure for
the Client a greater level of commitment and resource allocation. This is most appropriate when the Client
places great priority on the position and where timing in filling the position is critical.
Standard Retainer
In this relationship the Client pays the Recruiter's fee in three instalments or retainers. The assignment and
search begins when the Client signs the exclusive retainer agreement and pays the initial retainer. The
payment of the two remaining retainers is generally tied to specific time lines or performance outcomes.
The Client must be convinced that the Recruiter can source and recruit qualified Candidates, properly
orchestrate an effective process for delivering the Candidates, while helping to insure that the hiring
decision is not compromised by extraneous variables. This relationship is characterized by a strong, mutual
commitment between the Client and the Recruiter. The Client has greater control of the process and owns
the product of the Recruiter's efforts, i.e. the Candidates. The Recruiter is not at liberty to present the
Candidates to other companies until their Client either fills the position or releases the Candidates by
stating "no interest".
In order to justify this level of relationship, the Client must place the highest priority on the position, while
requiring no margin for error in their timing or evaluation processes.
Of course Advertising can be applied to almost all of these approaches
sometimes included in the fee, or
Part Included or at total cost to client. Advertising gets more exclusive candidates, though after time they
will become more public / active in the job market. Advertising accelerates timescales. Advertising
provides often vital networking points for your search / headhunting for this assignment. Advert response
candidates are often highly motivated to join the featured client / take up the described role than others.
It is not necessarily that one of these approaches is better than another. Rather, it is a question of which
approach will best serve the Client's interest. This should be determined between the Client and the
Recruiter. The decision must reflect the priority the Client places on filling the position.
The real art of positioning yourself as an effective Recruiter is to clearly identify with your Client the
appropriate priority that must be placed on each opening. Ultimately, it comes down to a question of
priority. The priority, once established, should determine the relationship that is required in order for you
to achieve results for your Client.

Creating the Predictable Placement

Mentoring Training and life long learning are the heart and soul of our business. Successful consultants
know that to achieve their financial goals they must continually learn and adopt new ways of doing
b
u
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~
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science to art.
Stage One: The Science
Those new to our business first learn the technique ~ what I call the science of recruitment. These are the
time-tested methods (e.g., marketing, recruiting, sourcing, scripts) that can make well-trained rookies
s
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.
Stage Two: The Unknowing
Then reality sets in. Economic cycles and company changes affect business. Key contacts move on. Clients
are lost. Business seems to get harder and harder. Stuck in a rut with fifteen plus send outs in a row and no
p
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a
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m
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t
s
,
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s
only human to question whether we have what it takes to go on.
Stage Three: Getting Through It
If you can get past tough times (i.e., burn-out or a soft labour market), and motivate and focus yourself ~
really focus yourself ~ true learning begins to take root. Many simply work harder. Others work smarter by
i
n
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:
1)
2)
3)
4)

specialising in a high demand discipline as opposed to a falling sector

using the Antal network to establish trading partners, find more clients
going to networking events after hours or industry conferences
reading more industry news and creating agents to deliver targeted news to the
desktop
5) Calling old clients and placed candidates
6) Reviewing the Masses of Tools document in case anything was missed
Stage Four: Moving Through It
Moving through tough times teaches us a lot about ourselves: 1) about our will power, 2) about how we
handle pressure, 3) about our ability to adapt and change, and 4) about our passion for the business. Most
of us prefer to learn through the paths of least resistance ~ through others who can guide us through
tough times.
Though, accelerated learning comes from internalising and overcoming personal challenges. Think about
all of those expensive five figure "lessons." Like losing a placement to a counter-offer. Or, not seeing the
red flags up-front when taking a search assignment that ended up burning weeks, even months of our time
for no result !
Stage Five: The Realisation
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industry colleagues and peers, 2) from publications both inside and outside the industry, 3) from the news,
to historical events. Seeing trends helps us see the big picture and gives us perspective.
Stage Six: The Knowing
Then we come to a point when we understand what truly matters for the long term ~ deepening our
relationships. Business relationships transform into friendships (and vice versa). Trust and respect take

precedence over business. We look to give more than we take. We realise that by sharing with colleagues,
clients, and candidates, we learn from one another and everyone wins. Life becomes richer.
Stage Seven: The Art
In the end we arrive at a place where business seems to flow naturally in the direction we desire. This is
the essence of what I call the art of recruitment. Based on our relationships, our experience and our
insight, we become "tuned in" very early on in the placement process and are able to anticipate next steps
before they occur. Our highly developed skills ~ similar to a doctor diagnosing an illness or a trial attorney
questioning a witnes
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talking about.
The art of recruitment starts with asking the right questions up-front to both clients and candidates. The
order and answers to those questions are key to placement predictability. Below are the most important
questions to ask both prospective clients and candidates in your first conversation.
Client Questions

Candidate Questions

Why is this position open?

Why are you looking for a new position?

How long has the position been open?

How long have you been looking?

Have you met any candidates to date?

If so, have you met the right candidate?
-If not, what has been missing?
-What are you looking for in the right candidate?

Have you had any interviews to date?

If so, have you been asked for a second meeting?
-If not, what do you think the reasons have been?
-What are you looking for in your next career
move?

What are you seeking?

-Experience level? Industry-specific skills?
-Required education? Preferred credentials?
-Your geographic preference?
-Compensation range?
-Personal style?

What are you seeking?

-Position title and responsibilities?
-Industry (and specific firms) would you like to
work for?
-Your geographic preference?
-Current and expected compensation?
-Culture fit?

What is most important for me to know to assist you What is most important for me to know to assist you
in locating the right candidate?
in locating your next position?
Ideally, when would you like to have the right person Ideally, when would you like to be in your new
start?
position?
How have you achieved X% in 3 months before?
What are the measurables this person must achieve How would you go about doing it with this
in 3 months, 6 months, a year ?
company?
How would you achieve x in 3, x in 6 and x in a year ?
If X happened, what would you expect of the person

If X happened, what would you do, how, why, when

?

Notice that the client and candidate questions are mirror images of one another.
They focus on:
1) the timing,
2) the motivation,

3) the qualifications,
4) the commitment.
The fact-finding Why, How and When questions lead to the open-ended, subjective What
questions. Listen hard to the answers to the What questions. These are the keys to mastering
search and creating predictable placements.
In summary, learning recruitment is a personal, never-ending journey. From science to art, we learn from
others in the industry, while realising that accelerated learning comes from overcoming challenging times.
The goal is to move toward leveraging well-established relationships with an in-depth understanding of the
placement process. As in a game of chess, those who learn to anticipate future moves become most
successful. Highly developed skills save precious time and enable us to predict placements.
"Making placements is like composing an orchestra with lots of subtle influences." I tend t
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like painting or sculpting a work of art. The process is creative, demanding and extremely rewarding.

Criteria for Doing Business

What criteria must be met before you consider doing business with a client?
In today's economy, accepting business that has not been properly measured against an established set of
realistic criteria is inviting you to waste your time and resources for no result.
Remember
Most firms do not suffer from an absence of resources, rather, they suffer from a lack of focus for those
resources.
Every company, in order to be successful, must have in place a set of criteria against which they judge the
business opportunities that are available to them.
Only in this manner can they properly focus their resources. Experienced business professionals
understand this reality. As staffing industry professionals, we should as well.
Therefore, consider utilising the following criteria as a guide for doing business with your clients.
1. Measure the client's sense of urgency about receiving the staffing solutions you can provide. This is
the most important criteria because typically, the higher the client's sense of urgency, the higher
their level of cooperation and flexibility.
2. Measure the value the client places on your solutions. This has a direct impact on your fees and
%age rates. The cost of your service is always linked in the client's mind to their estimation of the
value received (whether perceived or real).
3. Determine whether or not you will be working with the client's key decision makers and measure
the decision maker's attitude about receiving your services. While a positive attitude on the part of
the decision maker can go a long way toward insuring positive results, correspondingly, a bad
attitude may compromise the outcome.
4. Measure the nature and scope of the process that will be followed in providing your services,
including the level of competition, both internal and external. Commitment from all parties to
following an appropriate process can help insure a positive outcome that exceeds expectations.
By following these criteria for doing business, you will improve your quality ratios, increase client share,
and when reviewed with other recruiters during the sales process, help position you as a business equal.
However, these criteria must be properly quantified and qualified and you and your staff must understand
them for maximum results.

Market Tight? Don't Find New Clients, Make Them

"We made 100 cold calls this week, had twelve really good face-to-face appointments, and still we closed
no new business. What are we doing wrong?"
Sound familiar? An interesting part of visiting different Antal businesses and then hearing from new staff or
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,
and the perceptions, of the sales
professionals involved.
Sometimes listening to these people was like watching someone run up the down escalator. You know they
may get where they're going, but what a waste of energy! For example, consider how these people are
being told to deal with the current economy:
Since business is slow, consultants are under intense pressure to compensate for declining sales by making
more cold calls. Sure, higher activity helps but think about what they are saying or who they say it to or
they will just make more calls that end in no success.
HR managers, who are sick of the near constant onslaught of consultants, are becoming increasingly
resistant to traditional sales tactics.
High volume accounts - major multinational clients, are using just a fraction of the recruitment services
they did two years ago, yet many of these consultants are focusing on selling to the major accounts.
Pretty easy to see why these sales people feel frustrated. They're using transactional selling techniques
(cold calling and order taking) in a market that isn't buying. And rather than changing their techniques to
deal with market conditions, they're being told to simply do more. These poor people are fighting an uphill
battle and relying on outdated tools.
Making New Clients
If you were in the staffing industry 25 years ago, you probably didn't do a lot of transactional selling. When
you called on a new account, you couldn't ask them about their staffing needs; they didn't have any (or at
least, they didn't know they had any). To close sales, you frequently had to teach people what a "temp"
was and how to use one. Headhunting was something you read about happening in the jungle in South
America, not an accepted service business. Recruitment Advertising
or Appointments Sections of
newspapers were under Jobs Wanted or Jobs Offered in the classified section of a newspaper. Essentially,
you made new clients through a process of education.
Today, many companies have become sophisticated users of staffing services, particularly those with large
HR departments. You're not going to teach them about using temporaries. However, many other
companies, particularly smaller ones, still don't really understand the value of staffing. Let me share a story
I think you'll find interesting:
Many years ago, I participated in conference program for Entrepreneurial Leadership. My discussion Group
consisted of 8 senior managers and business owners, and as part of the program, each owner gave a
presentation on his or her company. One gentleman in my class ran a highly successful distribution firm. In
his warehouse, they outsourced 100% of their labour to a recruitment firm, a managing agency. Now here
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During the Q&A period, 6 of 8 other managers objected to this owner for his use of "temps and
contractors." They threw out all the typical stereotypes: "they're not reliable," "quality will suffer," "they're

expensive," etc. To my shock, these 6 business owners unanimously viewed temporary staffing as a bad
thing
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felt fear about putting all their eggs in one basket. They lost sight of the economic advantages. They also
asked how an outsider could gauge the culture of the company in finding new Perm staff
how could they
do better than word of mouth or an expert internal eye?
In today's market, educational selling can play a big role in growing sales. With smaller companies, you can
use education as a means to sell value. In your sales process, show people how you can help them to
control costs, improve productivity, manage risk, match culture and get more work done.
With larger companies, educational selling may be a bit more challenging. First, you have to find out what
kinds of people-related challenges the business is having. Next, you have to determine if (and how) you
could solve these challenges. And finally, you have to convince a fairly knowledgeable client that you can
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and that the solution justifies the price.

While it may not be an easy sale, educational selling may be the only way to get beyond the pricing game
with larger accounts.
Educational Selling "How To"
Step 1: Define the kinds of problems you can solve.
Step 2: Identify businesses likely to be having those kinds of problems right now.
Hint: If you can do it, skip the obvious big companies with sophisticated HR
departments.
Step 3: Create an educational curriculum.
Break your educational message into a series of small pieces.
Be sure to repeat key learning points often.
Step 4: Deliver your curriculum.
Get your message to your prospects (and even your clients) through the most cost-effective
methods. Consider using a series of direct mail, bulletins, e-mail, seminars, or a mix of all
these techniques.
Step 5: Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.
Integrate your education with your sales efforts.
Don't just sell, focus on helping potential clients to understand how your
services can help their business to be more profitable.
Making It Work
Training
Unfortunately, many people do not fully understand how recruitment can be used to solve
problems and what a powerful approach it can be. Some don't know how to sit down with
higher level decision makers to determine the real problems a company has. Before sending

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you
will be surprised at the answers that are right here, today, in this room. Teach one another
about the value of recruitment to clients. Share a list of the kinds of questions consultants
can ask to uncover problems and hold masterclasses on objections, negotiations,
presentations techniques etc.
Coaching / Mentoring / Masterclasses
To maximise the effectiveness of your sales staff, hold regular coaching sessions to review
specific client challenges and brainstorm solutions. Through this process, everyone will
come to better understand the value your services can offer and how to sell that value to
their clients.
More training
Effective mentoring and training is not a one-time event. Make it a process you regularly
repeat.
Think cost-effective
Find ways to reach the most people with the greatest impact for the lowest cost. Often, a
mix of media is most effective (e.g., direct mail, e-mail, in person).
Be Persistent
Educational selling is not a quick fix. It takes time to get people to recognize and admit to
their problems, understand the value you can deliver, and develop enough trust in you to
test out the solutions you recommend. Stick to the process, and over time, people will come
to see you as an expert, a problem solver, and someone to whom they want to give their
business.

Finding the Recruiting Script that Works

We know that no two candidates are alike. And yet as recruiters we often get lazy and use the identical
recruiting script for everyone, as if each candidate were a clone of another.
To combat the cookie-cutter approach to recruiting, remember, there are three types of candidates, each
with their own set of expectations as to what a recruiter's role should be. Since each type of candidate
responds to a different recruiting approach, your job is to find the style that fits the need.
For example, the relationship-driven candidate is like a free agent, and expects the recruiter to act as a
career representative. This type of candidate responds best to the "Let me learn about you first, and then
I'll call you when the right job appears" script.
Relationship-driven candidates are typically those for whom a variety of jobs are readily available, such as
IT professionals and mid-level accounting types. Due to the high demand in this milieu, a highly skilled
candidate can often be sent - on short notice - to two or three companies at a time, once the person has
been added to your inventory. By understanding the candidate's needs in advance, you'll be able to save
time and increase rapport by making a more perfect match.
By contrast, the situation-driven candidate sees himself as a problem-solver in search of a distinct position
worthy of his expertise. These higher-level candidates are typically difficult to inventory and place, due to
their unique skills and higher salary expectations. Usually, they're approached in response to an industryspecific search assignment in which generic candidates are inappropriate. They also expect you to find
them that perfect role.
Situation-driven candidates respond best to a storyboard approach, in which you describe a compelling
staffing dilemma. The more detail you know about the needs of the client (and the consequences of the
job remaining unfilled), the more you'll stimulate the interest of the candidate and excite them to the
challenge the role offers.
Play the Tune They Like to Hear
Finally, there's the specification-driven candidate. He has little interest in "bonding" with the recruiter, and
just wants to know the facts: Who's the company? What's the position? How much does it pay? Your
relationship with this type of candidate will often be much like a vendor or supplier, and perhaps not very
exclusive, but if you've got the right job at the right time, you'll stand a good chance of making a
placement. When dealing with this type of candidate, it's best to use a classified ad script, in which you
outline the job specifications and benefits clearly and quickly. Be careful not to beat around the bush, or
your candidate will quickly lose interest and
whoosh
they evaporate in mid-sentence.
Candidates, like the rest of us, have our own DNA, likes and dislikes. What's important is that you play the
tune they like when you first make contact - or adjust your presentation to suit their preference.
Otherwise, you'll make a lot of calls with little or no results.

Follow Up and Cash Flow

Most recruiters ignore the huge fee earning potential of Follow Up.
The concept of following up gives most recruiters the impression of low-level tasks that can be delegated
to a paper questionnaire or an admin person. It is perceived to have no cash value because it does not
contribute to cash in t
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Consider this: following up with candidates and clients not only gives you credibility and helps to build your
brand, but it can be an easy way to get easy business.
Think in terms of low hanging fruit. Make contact with those who you already know and have relationships
with. Following up gives you an excuse to do just that. Following up has a prime spot on the selling tool
belt.
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s far as standard
follow-up forms and questionnaires, they wanted to use the information as a marketing tool and also as a
way to gather real data on the success of their placements and ultimately to have a business discussion to
get more information and possibly uncover a new position to work on.
I thought this was brilliant.
The concept of following up and using that information as a marketing tool makes not just good business
sense, but can help build a brand as well.
By following up with placed candidates (and with clients) after the placement, you show your clients and
prospective clients three things:

1) That you actually care about the long term success of the placement.
2) That you have a specific "system" integrated into your search process to
preserve their fee investment.
3) That you client feels like he or she is getting their money's worth out of
the deal: long-lasting value.
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.
1. Develop a formula for following up after the search. Give it a name so you can refer to in sales
pitches as part of the placement process you explain to clients
such as "Antal Follow Up Process."
Tell prospective clients that you will follow up with candidates on the following schedule:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

on the day they started

two weeks later
on their one month anniversary
every month for a quarter
every quarter for a year
and annually thereafter.

By having a specific system in place, it gives you credibility. Clients assume that you are a
professional and that you have a system. KERRR-CHING ! That simple follow up system, and the fact

that it is associated with my brand by having a real name that successful consultants put in their
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2. Compile a Client Service Review or Placed Candidate Review form that will be given to candidates
and clients. This is probably better to be done over a telephone call so that you can make real
contact, again helping to solidify your relationship and build your brand. Start with the following
questions:
Who did you most appreciate during this process?
Who were the other firms you talked with?
What impressed you most about our firm?
What impressed you the least about our firm?
What steps of the search process were most effective?
What steps were not?
What parts of our process could have been improved?
Was our feedback and response to your needs timely?
Did we expose you to the right opportunities / candidates?
Why did you choose to work with our firm?
Why did you choose to hire on with our client / What was the most important factor that made you
opt for the chosen candidate?
How could we have served you better?
And finally:
On a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, where would you rate our effectiveness in managing
the search process / meeting your needs as the selected candidate in this process?
You can modify these questions for clients and customise them to the needs of a client.
3. Keep records. Put your comments on the Database. Keep the information in your files to tabulate
and measure against your searches. Out of 100 placements, what percentage of satisfied
candidates did you have? How many were happy they made the move? This will then become a
critical marketing tool. This measured data of your outcomes will give third party credibility to your
prospective clients on how effective you are at managing the search process. You will then be able
to transition from a "selling" mode to a "telling" mode. "Let me tell you about what 98% of our
placement candidates said about our search process." "Let me tell you why 99% of our clients said
they would choose to work with us again."
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what others tell them about you.
With this concrete irrefutable track record of data, you can develop a "triple win" to following up:
1. Your client is happy. They are happy that you are preserving their fee investment.
2. The candidate is happy. They perceive that you care about them.
3. Y
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ng relationships with warm contacts, having a business "excuse" to keep
in touch with people, and assembling data that could potentially bring you more business with
other clients.
4. The client or the placed candidate could have other jobs to give to you
So the next time you grumble about "low-level activities" like following up, think in terms of how much it
could potentially impact your immediate cash flow.

Four Steps to Negotiating Higher Fees

About six months ago, one of our staff (Consultant A) was marketing an EMEA Senior Business
Development manager who was one of the top producers in his industry. He had personally brought in
several hundred millions in business the year before, and was making a move because of some leadership
issues in the boardroom. He was a hot prospect who would make millions in net profits for his next
employer.
Consultant A found a possible company who was interested in him. A called the EMEA President of Sales in
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interested in meeting with the candidate.
Time for the fee.

Inhale.

Hold breath.

Pause for four counts.

Exhale.
Relax.
Okay, now go. A said, "The way our fee structure works, John, is that if
you hire this c
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between the two of you."
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this market!"
Inhale.

Hold breath. Get a bit angry.

Pause for four counts.

Feel anxiety.

Blood Pressure and Temperature Rise

Exhale.

Relax.

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?

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t
that point, A had two options. The consultant could give in to his response, or I could sell value.
A followed these four steps to diffuse his objection and get him to agree to the full fee:
1. Build the relationship and trust through rapport.
First, A solidified the relationship between the two of them by creating rapport. A did this by using
humor.
John, it sounds like you just gave me the famou
s
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(Sharpe Intake of Breath
that common technique used by everyone, especially when on holiday
and buying a souvenir from a market stall in Cairo, when told the price)
A : Pause. Listen.
The client sort of chuckled. Yes, he had been caught. He was a very sophisticated and shrewd
executive, and one whose sterling reputation in the community was legendary. He knew A had
caught him in a gambit of negotiating. By calling him on it, A was building rapport. A diffused the
tension and solidified the relationship.
2. Take your eyes off of your needs and focus on what you can give to the other person.
A listened to his concern with the fee.
Client : "Consutlant A, honestly, why is it that you can charge me such a high fee when you and I
both know there are recruiters charging half of that amount right now?"

A:
"
T
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s
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.
"
Empathy. Listen and empathize from the heart.

3. Do not apologize for high fees. Be proud of them.

A made my high fee the exact reason why he should do business with me. In other words, A did
NOT apologize for the high fee. A did not give in to his request. Instead, A was proud of the fee. A
was proud of the fact that A could give him so much value and A focused on his personal and
professional benefit of the placement.
"
J
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,
"
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I charged you any less than a full fee, and that

s
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:
y
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pay for. You know it, your clients know it, and I know it. And instead of discounting my fee and
bringing you discounted and substandard candidates, I would rather keep my fees high and bring
you people that are actually worth a full fee. You and I both know that the difference between a
twenty-five percent and a thirty percent fee is seventeen percent of the fee, which on a thirty
thousand Euro fee would be just over Euro5,000. Is it worth jeopardizing the quality of your
company to save a few bucks for an inferior candidate? Full fee candidates can bring you a value
greater than that small delta between the two. Naturally I am prepared to be competitive, in regard
to the quality of my talent pool and m
y
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,
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x
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.

4. Maintain fee integrity.

A was willing to walk away from the deal.
If he said no, A was willing to lose the potential placement because A was looking at a list on my
desk of thirty other companies who were next. A could afford to l
o
s
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.
A

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full fee and met with the candidate two days later. A then agreed a reduction from 30% to 27.5%.
Recently a consultant asked me if he should pursue retained only work on his desk right now. After seeing
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-level contingency
search, ad chasing with good matches and normal APC candidate marketing
in other words good search
work that he could close quickly and get paid on quickly.
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level retained search in this market when the Rolexes on their wrists are fake and they live from one pay
c
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.

)
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when it comes to success in this business.
Deal Flow and Cash flow are more important than your model of search, and cash flow is also more
i
m
p
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your fees or changing your model or getting to the next level in recruitment. This business is intensely
c
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t
b
e
negotiating from a position of strength.
Follow these four steps to negotiating higher fees and higher margins. And by all means, quit watching
television at night and start investing in your own success through reading
have a look at books by
peoplke like Roger Dawson who has written about negotiating.
H
e
r
e

s
a
n
o
t
h
e
r
i
d
e
a
:
Call the TV company tomorrow to disconnect your cable service (yes, there is life
without rolling 24/7 news) and put that fifty euros a month into books that can help you win more

business. Quit drinking Starbucks and put that habit into your training budget and start investing in
y
o
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.
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picture.
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.
Y
o
u
owe it to yourself, and you owe it to our industry to win, and to win greatly. This industry needs sharp
aggressive recruiters who can keep their margins high, their fees healthy, and do it with clients who
eagerly see the value of the fees.

How To Be a "Big Biller" in Executive Recruiting

N
o
m
a
t
t
e
r
i
f
y
o
u

r
e
n
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w
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y
m
a
k
e
s
y
o
u
s
t
a
r
t
o
v
e
r
every time you pick up the phone. The first thing that you must set in stone is your passion for this
business. There is no other profession on earth that can help you reach your financial dreams like
recruiting can do for you and your family. So to borrow from Nike - Just do it!
Steps to Success:
Step one:
We all need to set some initial goals that will keep us on the phone. Even if you think this is silly at first, try
it. Put pictures up in your office or on your PC that represent your dreams; a new car, a new boat, etc. This
will be a constant reminder or why you need to keep you in the office longer and be more productive. Also,
p
u
t
a
s
m
a
l
l
m
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r
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s
k
.
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s
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m
i
r
r
o
r
a
n
d
y
o
u
d
o
n

t
see that phone connected to your ear then you know that you are not making money.
Step two:
Every day you have the ability and option to start over. So do it. Start calling more true decision makers
than before and start developing relationships with these top professionals. Working with decision makers
is so much easier than with lower level technical people in any industry. You will find that they are senior
level people and who actually do return phone calls unlike the lower managers or technical people. Maybe
that is why they are senior execs and others are not? These people also seem to be a lot nicer and more
willing to stay on the phone with you as long they feel you are a player and are not wasting their time.
E
v
e
n
i
f
y
o
u
d
o
n

t
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a
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a
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tone of voice and the confidence in your ability that will keep them listening and talking.
T
h
i
s
b
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
i
s
a
n
u
m
b
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a
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.
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o
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t
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T
h
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c
a
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a
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,
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s
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a
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d
p
h
o
n
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c
a
l
l
s
.
Your goal is to create "Buddies" while making these calls.
Not everyone is going to like you and you may not like them and that is ok.
Out of every 30-40 calls you will have 10-15 conversations in a day and out of those conversations you can
make 3-4 "Buddies". I define "Buddies" as individuals that you like and that like you a lot. It is someone
who you have an immediate connection with and who will remember you because of that affinity that was
created so quickly over the phone. These "Buddies" will become either candidates or clients in the future.
Most recruiters do a lousy job of staying in touch with people. The point here is not to stay in touch with
everyone, stay in touch with people you like a great deal and this strong relationship will produce fees. If
you recruit a senior exec and like them a lot then stay in touch with them every month. How you may ask?
Call them at least every 45-75 days after your first contact. Send a note in the mail about what is
happening in their industry and how it affects them in their position. I call this an expert article. Send a
magazine article that has information about recruiting or their industry in it. You can find these articles in
all the major publications and online. Both the expert article and the magazine article lets your "Buddy"
know that you are a player and that you are doing more than any other recruiter they know.
E
v
e
n
s
o
m
e
t
h
i
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g
a
s
s
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m
p
l
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a
s

d
i
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a
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F
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w
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s
p
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.
.
.

They will like you for this because you are developing a genuine relationship. After doing this for your
"Buddy" he/she will want to help you in the future. They will either give you leads on other good people or
will ask you to find a person for them in their department.
They may also ask you to market them to another company
they become candidates. All these things
produce fees. The goal is to build a large "Buddy" network. You will constantly leverage your "Buddy" in
meeting their "Buddies" for referrals. This way it is always a warm phone call rather than a straight cold
call. This is how top recruiters get about 40% of their fees.
Step three:
Stop wasting time! Many of us have dealt with clients and candidates that are a pain in the posterior.
Drop them now and kick them away.
Start separating your clients into different groupings. The good clients that are fun to deal with I will put
first on my list.
The second tier group are those clients that are ok to deal with and give you orders. Their not fun, but they
pay the rent.
Keep focused on these top two tiers and then figure out the companies who are draining every bit of effort
from you to make a deal happen and boot them out your pipeline. Put them on the CJR where ad chases
go.
Like Nike said, "Just Do It!" Start leveraging your top two tiers for their friends that work at other
companies to get some new relationships. Begin making lots of cold calls to replace those third tier clients.
I
t
w
o
n

t
t
a
k
e
l
o
n
g
,
b
u
t
i
t
t
a
k
e
s
e
ffort, attitude, and commitment. Make the decision and create a better
practice for yourself. This is a numbers game so keep calling until you only deal with the first two tiers of
business.
T
h
i
s
b
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
i
s
f
u
n
,
a
n
d
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o
d
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a
l
w
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t
i
m
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w
a
s
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rs or window shoppers anymore. This goes
for candidates as well. If a candidate is working with more than two or three recruiters at a time, wish
them good luck and move on. Recruit candidates that are not comparing other options and get them
focused on just one opportunity. This way they will either stay at their current job or they will go to your
opportunity. With more exclusive candidates there are higher chances that they will leave and you will get
paid.
If candidates sound "Flaky" in any conversation then put them on the spot and ask them why they sound
so flaky. Use that phrase
because if they came across as flaky at interview, they will blow your chance of a
fee.
Chances are there are some major obstacles that need to be taken care of before they can move forward.
The bottom line is if something sounds fishy like a problem could occur, it is fishy and problems will
happen. So, be a straight shooter with the candidate and they will respect you for your confidence and
your professionalism.
Step four:
Stop sounding so "cheesy" like you are reading off a script when you talk to people. I have found that some
people change their whole tone of voice when they talk to clients or candidates on the phone.
Do you sound like a sales person?

Start sounding like yourself. Let your real voice tone come through and you will be much more successful
on every call. People want to deal with real people not "salesy" types. If you potential client or candidate
feels that you are genuine and that you truly care about their situation they will remember and respect
you. They will also want to do nice things for you like; job orders, leads, and referrals. This will occur
because you are not like the rest of those recruiters who are just interested in making fees. The more you
focus on the relationships you build and less on the actual fees the more money you will earn. When you
d
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their in the market place and these "Buddies" will want you to prosper too because you are REAL and not
like the rest. Your practice will change dramatically.
"Hi, my name is Joe Doe with a firm called Antal Intnernational and I just called to introduce myself and
what our firm might be able to do for you, can we talk?"
Sound familiar?
First of all, everyone and their brother does this and this type of old marketing is not successful because of
that reason.
Recruit everyone! You should try to recruit everyone to see if you can help them now or in the future.
Spend time finding out what is important to them and see if they are ready to leave for a new opportunity.
If yes, market them and make a fee.
If they say not they are not ready to leave and if they are senior enough ask them if you could help them
with anything in their company - more of a soft sell approach to get business. Many times they will give
you a search assignment, because they know that you called about them first.
Presentation is everything and making them feel like you truly care about them first is why they will give
you a deal over any other recruiter. Recruit everyone you talk to and you will find yourself as you build
your "Buddy" network not competing with other recruiters.
Step five:
Once you have made your first deal let everyone know about it. After your candidate has started with your
client, get a letter of recommendation from them
See if you can link with their press people about a joint statement regarding the new appointment. They
will usually have no problem with you creating some buzz concerning the recent success. Let you client
k
n
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.
These top five steps will help you to move forward in your career. These steps are not the end all to
recruiting, but hopefully you gained some insight to the patterns of a successful recruiter to get started.

How to Deal with HR (without getting a migraine)

"
Y
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'
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s
.
If you contact our hiring manager directly we will terminate your agreement"- does this sound familiar?
It is a common scenario that often occurs and hurts all parties: HR, the candidate, the hiring manager and
of course you, the recruiter.
The motivation level of a good recruiter will fall off the radar screen for this client when he hears this. Now
he will only send marginal people who happen to come across his desk rather than taking the search
seriously.
Generally speaking the bigger the company the greater chance that you will be dealing with increased red
tape and bureaucracy. The exception to this is if you are working on very urgent, important or regional
openings, which are almost always handled directly by the decision-maker and are often filled on a
retainer.
Firstly
who thinks t
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p
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?
DM = Decision Maker = HM = Hiring Manager = authority and not HR
So, what do you do if you get funnelled to HR and are forbidden to talk to the hiring manager? Here's the
short answer- don't spend much of your valuable time with a company like this. Are there exceptions- yes.
And you can still send a resume here or there if you are working with a competent HR person who can get
things done but generally you are better off finding a new client that will be more flexible.
Target small to medium size companies who don't have a brand name or huge internal recruiting machine
and will value your expertise and advice. These smaller companies haven't grown to a size where they have
enough internal human resources support and are used to having recruiters work directly with hiring
authorities. Companies new to a market
e.g. new investors wont have local HR knowledge or the need
for it just yet, so you become their knowledge. If you work with them when they are small and they do
grow and create new bureaucracy, you will be in a better position to be "grandfathered" in as the recruiter
who is allowed to work directly with hiring authorities based on your reputation and history with the
company.
Another way around HR is to work on higher level assignments
not Board level by Mid to Senior level as
opposed to admin and shop floor level. Much of the value that recruiters can provide is in assessing soft
skills that do not appear on a resume and cannot be screened by an automated database. These skills
include leadership, boardroom presence, ability to sell ideas, initiative and project completion skills. The
likelihood of working directly with the hiring authority increases if you are working on positions requiring
these skills.
If you want to make an effort to work things out with HR you do have some options. One thing to point out
to them is the fact that candidates will not take the position seriously if they ask you to describe the
managers personality and style a
n
d
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p
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,
"
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"
.
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s
hurts your ability to attract happily employed, high calibre talent for the company.
Another approach would be to ask very specific, tough, technical questions of the HR person you are
working with. If he or she cannot answer them and starts squirming you now have an excellent opportunity
to say something like this:

"What we have found to be the most productive method of conducting a search is when we are able to
work cooperatively with both HR and the hiring authority. If we only work through HR, our effectiveness
drops considerably because we don't have 1st hand information as to why a particular candidate did well or
bombed out that we can use to focus in on the best people. Also, our credibility with candidates we are
recruiting drops considerably if we cannot answer any of their questions about the process and the
personality of the players involved. This affects the quality of people that we are able to attract for you. As
you know, a big part of finding the right match is the 'soft skills' like chemistry and personality and these
are only gauged if we have contact with HR and the relevant departmental managers, team and reporting
line."
Tell HR that you want to work with them as a partner with them and will not go behind their back, but that
you do need access to the hiring manager in order to be effective. If HR is adamant that they do not want
to have you talk to the hiring authority, I would not put much focus on the search.

How to Even Out Your Placement Activity

Summary: Being a recruiter can feel like being an addict at times because you experience the thrill of
elation when you close a big deal and the agony of self-doubt when you lose one. This up and down cycle is
not unique to recruiters- all salespeople can relate to the pattern. So, how do you increase your chances
for more predictable results and fewer indigestion tablets?
Recruiters are notorious for going in bursts and slumps, highs and lows.
Over time this tends to even out but for many it is a repeating pattern that causes a lot of stress, agony and
wasted energy. The thrill of elation when you close a big deal and the agony of self-doubt when you lose
one or the empty pipeline afterwards.
Staying motivated after you close some big deals is also a problem for many in our business.
First, understand that a certain amount of variance is to be expected. Don't freak out if you are not making
the progress that you think you should be. If you have been doing this for any length of time you will have
had good periods and bad periods.
I
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emotion out of it and stick to the activity that you know will lead to placements.
Ask yourself, "How did I get out of the last slump I was in? What activities and methods helped me to get
back on track"?
Focus on doing money-generating activities without being attached to the placement results. Have a
simple system that makes it easy for you to track and evaluate your key numbers and ratios. A consistent
focus on generating quality activity (marketing calls, recruiting calls, new search assignments etc.) and
constant refinement of your methods will help you to improve your performance with less stress.
In terms of daily discipline, if there is a part of your day that you tend to dread, such as marketing calls,
then do this first.
Find several methods for introducing yourself to a company that feel authentic and that you will not dread
executing. Then you can relax a bit and move on to less difficult tasks such as sourcing and recruiting.
Another thing to keep in mind is having a balance in the activities that you focus on.
"To keep your commission and pay balanced, you must keep your desks' activity balanced. And, in order to
keep your desks' activity balanced, you must to a little bit of each part of the business everyday".
When you have a hot deal in progress it is easy to go into a "placement coma" and not do the other
activities that will keep your pipeline full after you make (or don't make) that hot deal. If you resist this
urge and continue to market APC Candidates, CJR work, cold calls, and follow up during and after the
placement process you will make business development easier on yourself.
Planning is essential when it comes to consistency.
When most recruiters hear about spending 30-45 minutes at the end of each day planning the next day's
calls they generally hit the snooze button but it is one of the key defining differences between big billers
and marginal ones.

It also helps to even out your emotions and to stay on course with the right activities when more urgent,
but less important, items come up during the day (as they always will!!!).
I
f
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a
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t
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a
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d
p
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see if you can plan your first 20 calls or plan from 8 AM to 12 PM. A little
planning done consistently is better that a lot of planning done sporadically. It has been said that,
"confusion is the chief cause of worry" and this is generally the case when a recruiter shoots from the hip
and works reactively. Having a plan takes much of the stress out of the execution of your day. When
recruiters look at evening out their placement activity it often has more to do with working smarter rather
than harder and staying focused on the small steps that lead to their goals.

How to Get Clients to Love to Pay Fees

Clients love to pay fees, at least they do when they feel they are getting a value that is greater or equal
t
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If you can show a cl
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.
Why should you? But everyone else is, you might respond, and they can hire people cheaper through a
competitor that works at a lower fee. Perhaps. But if they work through a competitor, then they
d
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e
t
YOU.
YOU are a very large part of the equation, more than you might even realise. YOU are the reason this
business never has been and never will be a commodity. It is an intensely difficult profession and an
intensely personal one.
The people placing business is indeed a people business.
And your clients are making a decision about working with you based on a certain hierarchy.
1. First, they are judging your competence. They want to know that you can do what you say you are
going to do.
2. Secondly, they are judging your character. In their minds you might be able to bring them a great
candidate, but are you going to stand behind your replacement if something happens to the
candidate during the time of the guarantee period? They want to know that y
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o
turn into a flake when you get called on.
3. And third, they want to know that they will enjoy working with you. Will they look forward to your
call, or are they dreading hearing the sound of your voice?
By understanding this hierarchy, hopefully you can resist the urge to drop your fee every time a client
hints at wanting to get a fee reduction.
Here is a six step process to give you a competitive advantage when a prospective client evaluates and
compares your search proposal to others:
1. Demonstrate your competence in the initial sales phase. Talk to your prospective client with a high
level of professionalism. When you say you are going to call back, call back. When you say you are
going to send an email or a brochure, then send it out, and follow up to make sure they received it.
From the very first time you make contact with a prospective client, you are being evaluated.
2. Show specifically how you have helped others. Mention companies, names, and satisfied client
responses. If your prospective client has a concern, honour and respect that concern, and give him
or her an example of another satisfied client that had the same concern.
3. D
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market. Blah blah blah. Of course the client wants quality suppliers ADDITIONALLY your client is
concerned with you personally and those people who are going to be involved in doing the
a
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a
l values are as it
relates to business, and why your values are important to you as a person and how they work with
A
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need to develop that sort of a strong rapport with your prospect.
4. Your client will either hire you or someone else. You have little control over the decision they make.
All you can do is put the odds in your favour. Sometimes the best thing to do once you have
presented your case is to say "Call me if I can help." Forget about selling and selling and selling it. If

you can show that you can meet their needs, and do it with a style that feels good to the client,
t
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.
By showing your core competency to the client as a way that can provide value, you are well on your way
to winning more business, keeping your fees high, and your margins healthy.

How to Identify Quality Search Assignments

Does anyone remember what saw us through the recess
i
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f
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e
a
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9
0

s
?
A passion for the business, a focus on maintaining client relationships and taking action to develop new
business.
In the end it came down to outlasting the downturn and making it through to better times.
In the New Economy boom o
f
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9
0

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we must work harder using time-t
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Economy.
Being able to determine the quality of a search assignment before you "work it" is more critical today than
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.
As many of us have learned the hard way, time is our most precious commodity.
Determining quality up-f
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maintaining earnings and survival.
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?
You could spend weeks, even months, before finding out that:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

the position was put on hold,

an internal candidate filled the job,
the company found the choice candidate through another source,
y
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another reason spent your valuable time, which could have been used to work better assignments.

To identify the quality of a new search assignment:

1. Ask the right questions up-front.
G
r
e
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.
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learning the position details, think "WIIFIM" -- a
s
k
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e
"
W
h
a
t

s
-In-It-For-Me" questions to determine the
quality of the assignment. Here are the most important questions to ask first:
Why is the position open?
How long has the position been open?
Are there any internal candidates?
Have you advertised for the position?
Are you working with any other recruiting firms?
Have you met any candidates to date?
Have you asked any candidates back for a second interview?
Ideally when would you like to hire and have the right person on board?
The thinking behind the WIIFIM questions is to learn:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

the true desire to hire,

the timing to hire,
your potential competition,
t
h
e
c
l
i
e
n
t

s
"
s
electivity,"
where the client is in the hiring process, and
the priority qualities the client is seeking in the right candidate.

The answers to WIIFIM questions will greatly assist in resolving whether you have a workable
assignment.
2. Monitor progress closely in the beginning.
OK. It looks as though you have a fillable assignment. Continue to watch how the hiring manager responds
to you in the initial stages of your working together. Try the following:
Call the hiring manager with additional questions about the position. How long did it take to get
back to you?
Send the fee agreement in writing for signature. How long did it take for you to receive?
S
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resume and gauge the response time and quality of feedback for the referred resume.
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actions will give you a strong indication of the priority to fill the position as well as what you may expect
going forward throughout the hiring process.
3. Consider how you obtained the assignment.
In addition to the first two points, think about how you originally obtained the assignment. Is it from a past
client, a current client or a new client? This will correlate with whether you have a quality, workable
assignment.
If from a past client, when was the last time you did business with the company? How has the
company and industry been performing? Is your fee agreement still valid? Can they pay the fee?
If with a current client, has the company been responsive and flexible to work with? Did another
hiring manager recommend and/or refer you? Do you think the information you have of the open
position is public knowledge? If not, you could have the making of a quality assignment.
If from a new client, how "easy" was it to get? Did it take one call? Where you referred internally?
Was your contact "difficult" in giving details of the open position or in negotiating the fee? These
could be red flags.
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clients
so this learning is vital.
Are you working with the hiring manager or human resources? Consultants usually prefer working directly
with the hiring authority and are most effective when doing this.
The hiring manager has the best understanding of the right mix of experience, technical skills and
interpersonal abilities to fill the position. The hiring manager has the need, not HR, and can also
provide valuable feedback to assist in pinpointing the right background of the right candidate.
Working through a third party usually "waters down" our effectiveness and slows down the
p
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because of increased competition. There are more recruiters and more available candidates for
fewer openings.

In summary, determining the quality of an assignment as quickly as possible is critical to ensuring you will
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s
In-It-For-Me" questions up-front. Then monitor progress carefully to see how the hiring manager responds
to working with you.
Also consider how you obtained the assignment in the first place. Is the open position public knowledge? In
t
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your wheels on sub-par, lower quality ones.
For this we have an excellent tool called the Central Jobs Register
CJR
any open role e.g. advertised in
the press or from a competitor website goes on the CJR
if you have a good candidate today, this week,
next month, the CJR will show you where you can send them that may end up making you money but
without you having to do a full search and start headhunting using your resources and time on something
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- bringing in new companies as clients who used to sue the competition and can grow the be major
accounts
use them wisely and consistently and allocate your new assignments into an order so you know
what to spend time on and what to capitalise on.

How to Increase Your Productivity & Earn More With Less

Successful consultants know that greater productivity has a direct impact on earning power.
The big question and bottom line:
How can we do more and earn more
in less time with less resources?
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s
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defines "productivity" as "the quality of producing results, benefits or profits
especially in abundance."
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.

First Consider Your Strategy

How can we be more productive?
A short-term strategy for many is to work harder by making more calls, working longer hours and
by simply doing more. Certainly, no one would question good old-fashioned hard work. Though
hard work needs to have smart work principles applied. If it did not work last month or last quarter,
what are you going to do differently this month or this quarter to get more success ?
Often its not what you are doing in activity e.g. cold calls that is the problem, the solution is in what
you do, say and HOW you do it when you do call / present / market an APC.
A medium-term strategy, many know well, is to create and work a plan -- daily, weekly and
quarterly. We all know it. But do we do it? Those who plan earn on average 35%+ more than those
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A long-term strategy is using leverage in our daily actions to produce extraordinary long-term
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get to specific examples later.
What if there were ways where we could work the same amount and yield significantly greater results?
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results in the same amount or less time. Think about what you do during your days to increase productivity
and obtain the results you are after.
Watch How You Spend Your Time
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to profit.
Action (1) We get into the office, read a newspaper, get a cup of coffee and talk to colleagues (15
minutes). Result: Needed energy booster and good rapport building (maybe). Profit: Small, since no
client/candidate contact. (Though, you may find a lead in the newspaper to call or you could talk to a coworker about a shared deal or referral.)
Action (2) W
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organise our day and whom we speak with as well as the number of people we speak with are keys to
productivity. The same is true about how we present ourselves and deliver our services. Are we speaking
to decision-m
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effectively to deepen relationships with worthwhile contacts? (More productivity ideas on this later.)
Result: New client contact. Profit: Potentially very high.
Action (3) Lunchtime. (1 hour). Do we work through lunch with a sandwich in hand? Or, are we taking a
long outside-the-office lunch? How about running errands, attending a client lunch or even working out at
a nearby gym? How we spend our "downtime" can be as important to productivity gains as how we spend
our time on the job. Exercise can have a great effect on clearing our mental hard drive. Result: No client
contact, but mental break helps future focus. Profit: Medium to high, if client lunch or increases mental
clarity.
Action (4) Candidate Sourcing. (1 hours). As we know, candidate sourcing is one of the foundations of
our business. The quality (i.e. accuracy) of the names, titles and phone numbers and eventual resumes we
obtain are as important as how fast we can get them. Result: First step to new client/candidate contact.
Profit: Very high, if accurate.
Action (5) Recruiting. (2 hours). How many people can we network with in the shortest amount of time?
Slaying the voice mail demon is one of the keys to productivity. Quantity and quality count here. Result:
New candidate contact, potential new client contacts. Profit: Potentially high.
Action (6) Planning. (1 hour). Whatever your role from associate consultant to client development to
manager, setting and working a plan in writing, will focus you on your work at hand. It will increase both
your confidence and your ability to achieve what you set out to accomplish. Set your sites high here
quality in, quality out. Result: The highest non-client contact. Profit: Very high, short, medium and long
term.
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action gives us the biggest bang for the buck?
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in a month? What would that do to your productivity and income? Or, what if your activity focus, rather
than interviews, were resulting in more clients, candidate referrals, client referrals, cross border referrals.
How would that change your daily activities? No doubt this would greatly enhance your productivity.
Measuring Productivity
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a
question: Would you rather have a 4:1 ratio
placing candidates on a fee of Euro7.5k or a 16:1 ratio placing candidates on a fee of Euro15k? The answer
might depend on the balance between your short-term tolerance for risk (and cash needs) and your longterm strategy.
4 Minimum Fee Interviews = 1 x E7.5k fee
16 Top Fee Interviews = 1 x E15k fee
4
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To increase productivity, we need to focus on any actions that increases our daily efficiency - where we get
the greatest return on our actions.
Secrets of Leverage

Ways to Increase Productivity

How can we increase leverage and productivity in our daily actions? Try the following:
1- Call Decision Maker executives. Though more challenging to get on the phone, their names are
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they have decision-making power, control budgets and have large staffs under their management.
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,
"change" your actions by calling decision makers and create your "advantage."
2- Focus on what you do best (client development being the highest value. Savvy managers and big
billers know this. Free up precious time and receive a big bang for your buck
share the assignment
work with others so you can focus on what you do best. Teams achieve more.
3- Gain exclusivity -- from both clients and candidates. Draw up specific agreements or verbally get
all parties to commit to your exclusive working relationship. Many recruiters know they spend
precious time and spin many wheels competing against one another only to have clients change
direction. On the client side, begin by asking for an up-front engagement fee
it is the principle of
the downpayment or an advert that helps. When Advertising get is agreed that ALL responses go to
you and state it on the advert
even internal candidates !
On the candidate side, the full 4 way methodology of advertising, database, networking and
headhunting in addition to screening out candidate interview activity will be an important step
toward gaining exclusivity and maximising results.
4- Maximize each call. A and APC marketing call can be flipped to a recruiting call (or vice versa)
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y simply asking. How many offices or countries do we operate in
get the
names and get referring.
5- Follow up is essential. Whether it be sending the cv and following up, posting your card with
marketing material to a client or an email to a potential candidate, follow up is essential to
distinguishing yourself from others. By writing a correspondence template, you can send the same - personalised to all others.
6- Get references in writing. Great references and testimonials from both client and candidate, are
worth gold. You can use them many times over (one action for the purposes of many uses) to gain
c
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direct competitor, they are much more likely to use your services over others.
7- Exploit the web for research and exposure. The web is a timesaving godsend and a tremendous
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Monster candidates are PUBLIC, so use ads as well.

Write search agents on cv databases. Create News Alert agents on Yahoo or Hoovers or Google so
y
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making your marketing call. Ongoing, well-timed, consistent messages will create results that will
also distinguish you from others.
All seven ideas have a positive effect on leverage in our productivity ratio. All save time (multiple results
from one action). All also increase the quality of our work, driving down interviews to placement ratios.
The big question now to give serious thought to: What do you do on a daily basis that increases leverage
and has a multiplier effect? Whatever it is, do more of it.

In summary, working smart is the key to productivity. By focusing on specific actions that offer the greatest
yield, we can effectively do more with less. Since time is our most precious resource, the ultimate goal is to
use leverage in our daily actions to reduce time spent, increase quality and create multiplier effects.

How You Can Get Past The Gatekeeper, Into The Executive Suites
Put pencil to paper and list every single sales-stopping-objection that spews from the mouths of
gatekeepers.
K
n
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w
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?
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is to look for sales pros who have products/services that her executive needs.
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Your success hinges on your ability to give those overturns as needed.

What words will grease the hinges and open the gates for your Top Dog sales calls?
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effective overturns be sure to write down the words you say when the gatekeeper gets in your face with
these overturns.
Compare those words to the overturns that follow
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effectiveness of these overturns at getting you past the gatekeeper and into the executive suites. Here we
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When you hear the words, "We have to cancel our appointment with you."
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like a puppy and say, "Oh, OK."
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:
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-scheduling power in these words.
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-level, Top Dog sales calls as
you commit to keeping effective overturns to predictable objections on the tip of your tongue.
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knowledge that the difference between getting into the executive suites and sitting on the outside panting
and howling at the gatekeeper is the words you speak during your prospecting call.
This is one type of example
within your office each of you have overcome different objections
you have
the solutions locked inside these doors. Lets write down your solutions
W
h
o

s
f
i
r
s
t
!

How to Succeed in a S-L-O-W Job Market

A recent Wall Street Journal article described the plight of a recruiter who, for several years in a row had
earned in excess of Euro200,000 per year. Faced with a downturn in the economy, the recruiter was forced
to take a Euro35,000 a year construction job to keep up his cash flow.
While I empathise with anyone who's fallen on hard times, I can't help but wonder how a recruiter could
be so poorly equipped as to lack the skill to make a few placements a year-the cash equivalent of a manual
labourer's wages.
If you're shooting fish in a barrel, who needs marksmanship?
Did the boom economy of the late 1990s produce a generation of recruiters so dependent on plentiful,
ready-made placements that they would starve if the silver spoon were removed? I would hope not.
Even during fitful economic cycles, there's still business out there-if you know how to find and cultivate it.
While others are struggling (or leaving the recruiting world altogether), here are some recessionary survival
tips to remember:
1. Adjust your attitude. Recruiting is a noble profession, not an entitlement to make millions of
dollars. If you work hard, provide valuable services and do good things for other people, the money
will come.
2. Don't rely on freebies. The days of getting paid recruiter wages for performing clerical work are
over. So you'll need to provide a greater level of value to your clients than mass emailing resumes
you found on Monster-or posting jobs online and calling it "recruiting."
3. Get your hands dirty. I know dozens of boom-market recruiters who've never made a cold call.
Well, times have changed, and in order to stay in business, you may need to bloody your nose by
making a few marketing and recruiting calls to prospects you've never met.
4. Consider your strategic options. The underlying foundation that no longer supports your business
may need to be replaced. For example, candidates that were hard to find a year or two ago (and
made you rich) may now be unemployable as skills have moved on; or the start-up companies that
financed your holiday may have evaporated, leaving you without any cash cows.
It is pointless to try to place candidates for whom there is no demand.
If you take a hard look at all each of the recruiting basics-from your desk specialty / discipline focus to your
client profile to the way you market your services-you'll discover that you have lots of room to manoeuvre.

Maintaining Focus in a Strong Recruiting Market

Every market, strong or weak, creates problems.
The difficulties inherent in a good market are far preferable to those encountered in a poor one.
Nevertheless, to proceed as though a booming market is totally free of problems is to reduce income in an
excellent market and to develop habit patterns which will be very difficult to correct should the market
turn sour.
The most obvious strategic trap is simply a reduction of effort.
Every long-tenured manager has seen this phenomenon. Transferring his observations to his staff,
however, or even avoiding the trap themselves may be a different matter.
In a solid market of demand-for-talent-exceeding-supply, it is (relatively) easy to produce acceptable or
more than acceptable billings. However, there is an appropriate banking saying that applies to our industry
as well: "Don
t
c
o
n
f
u
s
e
b
r
a
i
n
s
w
i
t
h
a
B
u
l
l
M
a
r
k
e
t
!
"
While our industry actually contains its fair share of brains, there is an area where many of us do come up
short
a strong work ethic in good times! Farmers work harder in good times and plant and sow more
crops than they do in bad times.
It is part of a sales personality to be optimistic and confident. While this is clearly a positive in terms of
tenacity during difficult times or situations, there is an accompanying negative to this trait. That negative is
the belief that good times will last forever and a tendency to "coast" in a buoyant market. This is no time to
"coast!" Rather, it is a time to work hard, stay focused, improve skills, and reap all INCREASED rewards that
we deserve.
The following quiz will take less than five minutes to fill out. And it will provide a strong indicator as to
whether you are maximizing your market
or letting the market carry you along!
"Work Ethic Daily Quiz"
(To be filled out at end of every day)
1.
2.
3.
4.

Did you arrive on time in the office this morning (No later than 9:45 A.M.)?
Was your Daily Planner filled out thoroughly from the day before?
Did you make at least five business calls before 10:45 A.M.?
Do you have a slightly addictive "reward program" set up for five early presentations? Did you earn
the reward early today?
5. Did you receive or make no more than 3 non-business call during office hours? (Calls under 30
seconds do not count.)
6. If business (your market) is good, did you make Marketing Calls / APC presentations to at least 6
new prospective clients today?
If the market is only fair, did you make
APC calls / presentations to at least twelve new potential clients today?
7. Did you achieve at least 15 fairly extensive business conversations today?
8. Did you set up at least one first interview (including phone interview) today?
9. Did you arrange at least one face to face client meeting today ?
10. Did you generate at least one referral for the network / colleagues ?
11. Do you have a sign/note on your phone that is less than a week old to remind you to improve habit
patterns?
12. Is your Daily Planner thoroughly and logically filled out for tomorrow?

13. What time are you leaving the office to go home? Is it at least 6:15 P.M.?
14. Do you have plans to improve skills at least slightly this evening? Examples: Reading business book,
critiquing previous call, watching part of a training video / reading the training manual/ checking
out a company website. (Should be done at least twice a week for an hour each time.)
Deductions
1. Did you do general reading (such as newspaper) or industry reading (such as magazines in your area
of specialisation, or industry books or newsletters) in the office during working hours 9-1 and 2-6 ?
2. Did you participate in non-business discussions in the office during prime working hours ? Be
honest
more than 10 mins in prime time answer yes.
3. Did you allow yourself to be distracted by pointless "business" conversations? More than five
minutes is too much!
Scoring
10 points for each "yes" answer. If you answered yes to either of the "deduction questions," deduct 10
points each.
Results
110 or more points

Terrific! Combined with good skills, you are doing what you must to be successful

90 points

Signs of problems ahead. Long-term, this will affect your productivity.

80 points

Not good. This will lead to sporadic performance and more-than occasional
slumps.

70 points

Poor! How serious are you about succeeding anyway?

60 points or less

Quit fooling around! This is not acceptable!

If this test seems difficult to you, or unrealistic in some ways, note that a "no" answer to any of the main
questions, or a "yes" to either of the deductions, will absolutely reduce your concentration and production.
Moreover, this test is more flexible than it seems. 14 correct answers would give you 140 points. You could
effectively miss four questions and still score 110 points!
How long should this quiz be taken? 30 days will be more than enough to identify long-term areas of
concern. Anyone can have an occasional unproductive day. But if you find yourself missing the same
q
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that you are skating on thin ice.
Success in our business in not measured solely by annual production. Rather, it is measured by billings as it
relates to the general state of your market. Good production combined with poor focus is an eventual
recipe for disaster! You will find it very difficult to suddenly change habit patterns in a deteriorating
market.
The above test will identify areas where you may have drifted away from a serious concentration on
business. When combined with solid industry specific selling skills, a consistently good score will enable
you to maximize your income
in any market!

Maintaining Focus in Turbulent Times

What does it take to do well in a slow market?
With companies hiring less, downward fee pressure, classified ads yielding better results, and internet
candidates readily available to your clients, can a recruiter maintain or even increase production?
Heck, yes! If the nine Post World War II Recessions have shown us one thing, it is that industry
practitioners can prosper even in a down market-if they are willing to make some changes.
What alterations must be made? Changes in methodology and the manner in which consultants work a
desk, are primary. The same emphasis, the same skills, the same techniques which yield good results in a
boom market will no longer result in solid production in a downturn. It is self-evident that skill
improvement is mandatory.
All the improved technique and methodology in the world, however, will not serve if enhanced focus does
not accompany.
In a strong market, it is easy to drift, getting good results from less and less time, concentration, and effort.
In a slow market, however, things change. Enhanced focus will yield more substantive impactful time on
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down market.
Let's look at some ways to achieve that.
Eliminate Time Theft
Wal-Mart, perhaps the most successful retailer in history, warns their employees of "Time Theft"; this
refers to time taken during the working day which reduces accomplishment of the results for which they
are paid. Wal-Mart equates "Time Thef
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this attitude. Wasting time in the office on totally non-productive activities is thus the equivalent of
stealing from your own income, your own family, and your own future. In a slow market, such
inefficiencies cannot be tolerated.
Personal Calls
For many, a major impediment to success is personal phone calls. The real cost of such calls goes well
beyond the quantative expenditure of time. Rather, it is the reduction of critical intensity that hurts. Just as
an athlete must remain focused and alert throughout the entire competition, so too must a recruiter
remain concentrated throughout the entire working day. If Babe Ruth had to step out of the batter's box to
take a call from his mother, friend, or wife, he might find it difficult to get "psyched up" again! You might,
too.
Surprisingly, it is relatively easy to greatly reduce such calls. Presuming that no emergency requires instant
action, just say, " Bob/Mom/Honey, you've caught me at a bad time. I do want to talk to you, but I'm right
on the verge of an important meeting. May I get back to you this evening?" Repeat as needed. If utilized
every time you get a non-urgent personal call, this will stop this particular "Time Theft" without offending
the caller.
Intra-Office Chat
As the economy slows, there will be a clear separation in the response of consultants to that situation.
Some recruiters will tighten up, become more focused, work both smarter and harder, and will ultimately
succeed. Others will slow down, complain, become unwilling to make calls, and engage in pointless time-

wasting conversation to avoid getting on the phone. Look around your office, and see these two camps
begin to form.
The difficulty is that the latter group-those who will not adapt to a changing market-will make a definite
effort to interfere with their tough-minded co-workers. Conversation about personal matters, complaints
about management and the market, irrevelant erroneous "questions,""suggestions" and "ideas" will all
increase dramatically. While it is indeed the job of the manager to weed out these bad apples early, it is
your job to ignore them and go to work with a renewed dedication. And that is not always easy.
The best way to avoid these impediments to your success is simply to be busy. When they walk into your
office/work area and attempt to engage you in pointless conversation, just say "_____, I'd love to talk with
you, but I've got an assignment I've got to find people for. Let's talk after work." Then pick up the phone
and make a call. Repeat a modified version of the same thing when they try to side-track you away from
your desk.
These people may be nice, but in a slow market, your primary function other than improving skills is
staying on the phone-regardless of well-meaning distractions.
The High-Tech Time Waster
Once upon a time, the internet as a means of identifying potential candidates and clients may have had
some merit. That, of course, was before net growth slowed dramatically, before unemployed candidates
started flooding the for-free and for-fee job sites, and before job boards realised that your corporate
clients would pay better than you, and started focusing on helping your clients avoid paying your fees.
"The internet honeymoon is over. The internet cv database is now known to yield second-rate candidates
However it still remains, like press advertising, a useful advertising medium but with mass market reach
leading to more unsuitable applicants than would apply if they had to write a letter, address an envelope,
buy a stamp, lick the stamp, walk to the post box and mail it to you. With more corporates buying access to
cv databases, the talent there is either thick or deserves to be unemployed.
S
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!
!
!

The problem is that the once-trendy but now-faded concept of internet hustling has left us with a major
handicap in achieving our financial goals, especially in a slow market-that
That handicap is often that
mechanical box on or under your desk
Your PC !!
Even if you have avoided getting involved in playing computer games like solitare, there is a real probability
that you have not escaped other addictions relative to the internet. Consider the following:
70% of all internet porn traffic takes place during business hours.
70% of all stock trading occurs from 9 to 5.
A Nielsen Survey found that the majority of on-line shopping, auctions, and news reading take place
during working hours.
47% of email that you receive is junk, personal or non business related
You are o
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A recent survey found that 60% of executives said that time spent accessing the web for non-business
purposes was undermining their employees' effectiveness on the job.

It is noteworthy that the Recruiter Message Boards which infest our industry have seen a drastic reduction
in messages and traffic since the start of the last downturn because those who once had the time to
peruse and add to the chat boards are, perhaps as a consequence, out of business.
So what's the answer to this modern high-tech time waster?
Easy; get off it! Turn it off.
First, change your computer so it does not automat
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until after 5 PM. What do you think would happen without the internet during working hours?
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How much time can you save ?
Chances are, with all that extra time and reduced distraction on your hands, you'd pick up the phone and
make phone calls-L
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Outwork the Market
Among experienced consultants, it is not true that the hardest-working are the most successful in our
business. To the contrary, most people (though not all) who work extremely long hours in our business
have to do so, because their lack of intensity during normal office hours and unwillingness to improve their
skills force them to compensate.
Sure some big billers stay later or arrive earlier but the thing is they never slack
if they wanted to they
could go earlier. If you effectively plan and stay focused during business hours, keep proper numbers and
analyse them, and strive to take full advantage of proper initial and continuing improvement areas, you
don't need to be a workaholic.
But there are two exceptions to the "focus, planning and discipline plus continual improvement equals
going home on time" formula.
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focus. You have to break your neck through extra effort and hours then.
The second exception is in a recession. Consider that an additional five hours per week of concentrated
effort, besides doing everything else as well as possible, may be necessary to do well, or probably even to
get by in a poor market.

Can you out-work the market? In a good market, an experienced consultant or manager shouldn't have to,
if he's willing to continually upgrade his skills. But in a bad market, it will certainly help. In Turbulent Times,
"going the extra mile" is sometimes the best way to get by until the market comes back. And it will.
Maximising your Commute
If you must commute to work, you already know that it is not the most exciting time of the day. Yet there
are benefits to doing so.
Rather than listen to some daft breakfast or drive time DJ or top-40 music, take this opportunity to start /
roll out and roll up the day with the right attitude or to improve your skills. Take your planner with you and
take your business press and industry magazines like Personnel Today, Accountancy Age, FT, Computer
Weekly etc.

A 30-minute morning commute amounts to a solid ten hours a month of time spent driving or being driven
to work. A 15-minute commute equals five hours a month. If driving, you may wish to take the time going
home to "de-compress" from a hectic day and mentally plan the next day, writing it up when you get
home. The drive to work, however, is a different story. Especially in a slow market, it will be critical to "hit
the ground running." Listening to business news or rehearsing your role plays and calls will allow the
morning drive to contribute to your maximising the time spent in the office.
Measuring
"if you can't measure it, you can't improve it!"
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to success in our industry, and this subject has been addressed throughly in the training manual. However,
in a slow market with results declining on a per-call basis, the tendency is simply to make fewer and fewer
calls. This cannot be allowed to happen. Without a daily quantitative summary of the number of calls
made, there is simply no objective way of maintaining call volume.
So what sort of summary is needed? First of all, keeping track of the old SOD's ( spins of the dial) i.e., the
number of times you push the buttons on the phone, is pointless. What counts is not button-pushing, but
solid business conversations. So not number of calls made but quality
i.e. duration
of those calls
(business calls only).
How many Business Conversations? Minimally, 30 per-day. Short one-minute calls or messages left do not
count. And there should be at least six presentations of either your services or a specific candidate to new
prospective clients.
It may be necessary to plan and make 60 calls per-day to get in your 30 substantive conversations. But on
an accumulative basis-when combined with improving skills-this number will yield the results needed to
excel.
Early Start
Multiple sales surveys have shown that the majority of sales are made before noon. This applies to us as
well.
If you're in the habit of arriving a few minutes late in the morning, reviewing and adding to your Daily
Planner (which wasn't quite completed the night before), organizing your desk, greeting your co-workers
one by one with comments to each, having several cups of coffee and then picking up the phone-you're
missing out on the best selling time of the day. In a slow market, you just can't afford to do so.
Look around your office at the formal starting times, and see who is at their desk and on the phone-and
who is still wandering around. Which one are you?
If you're not on the phone-or at least pushing buttons to get through-early, you'd better make some
changes. Especially in today's market.
The Two-Front War
It is no exaggeration to view dealing with a tough market or a Recession as a (bloodless) war. And if you are
to prevail, this war must be fought on two fronts.
First, of course, is changing and improving skills, techniques, methodology.
To do so, however, is only half the job. The other half is to work equally hard at improving your focus, your
concentration, and your work ethic. The reality is that to survive in a tough market or survive a recession,
you must endure some pain by pushing yourself beyond the boundaries of what is comfortable for you.

While there will be no injuries in this war, there will very definitely be a fight.
And the fight will be with your own motivation and discipline.
By establishing the needed habit patterns, you will maximise your results from the other improvements
that must be t
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always will. The two-pronged approach of skill improvement plus increased focus will guarantee you
conspicuous success in the roaring boom market that is sure to follow!

Making the Most of Your Time

Time cannot be managed. It ticks on regardless of any effort we try to exert on it. We do have a choice
about how we spend the minutes and hours allotted to us during our life. Here are ten ideas for making
the most of the gift of time you are given each day.
1. Take extra good care of yourself
Just like a car that is tuned up, taken care of and given quality fuel, you will operate more efficiently
the better you take care of yourself. Time spent on healthy eating, quality sleep, exercise and other
personal care activities will help you get more out of each hour.
2. Do activities in chunks
When a runner works out, they do so in one chunk of time, without stopping. Even when they come
to a street corner and wait for a light, they will run on the spot. Stop and start, stop and start, stop
and start in our activities keeps us in a constant state of warm-up. By "chunking," we warm-up once
and then get into a groove that makes us more efficient.
3. Eliminate distractions
Distractions often rob us of the time we need to get work done in a efficient manner. Having
someone hold your non-client incoming calls during calling sessions (or take a message) or going to
a place where you will not be interrupted will help you maximum your efforts.
4. Less is more
Another way to say this is quality versus quantity. By putting less on your calendar each day you
give yourself more quality time on each activity and allow yourself some space to deal with those
"unexpected" activities that tend to pop up.
5. Use a daily planner
There are many different paper and paperless planning tools available today. You may even want to
create your own! Morning 9-12 Clients, 12-1pm Follow up 2-3pm call backs, start sourcing, 3-6pm
Candidate sourcing
6. Say "No" as a means of simplification
Oftentimes, maybe really means no. By saying no more often, you automatically cut your workload.
7. Create more time
Find at least one activity in your schedule that is not giving you the pay-off you want. Remove it and
enjoy the time you get in return.
8. Automate
Benefit from technology. From telephone systems to computer software, there are many choices of
ways to automate tasks in your day that can take up time. Keyword News Alerts, Job Vacancy Alerts
from job boards / competitors. Especially those activities that you may not enjoy. Calendar
scheduling and alarm alerts.
9. Delegate
There are often activities that need to be done, but you do not necessarily need to be the one to do
them.
10. Integrate
This is especially helpful when you combine an activity you enjoy with one you do not. An example
is playing music in the background while making cold calls.

11. Refer
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or another office work not in your core focus area. This has added benefits of bringing work back to
you!

Marketing is a continuous process

One of the most critical facets of being a Big Biller is candidate marketing. Big Billers continually expose
their services to new potential clients. They never rely on one successful account. They continually market
to keep their funnel full! ABM
Always Be Marketing APC candidates to clients.
In order to ensure the success of all of our marketing efforts, we developed and supported what we
termed the 4-PRONG MARKETING APPROACH. This approach entails 4 marketing methodologies, that, in
conjunction with each other, will ensure that you will expose yourself to clients you never would have
reached just by smiling and dialing. The four prongs include Marketing an APC Candidate, developing and
accessing a Portfolio Network, maximizing in-house CDMM capabilities, and Strategic Key Account
Planning.
Marketing a Star Candidate
This is the fastest way to uncover alternative needs. This is a very targeted, high-activity approach, and
probably the best way to initially build a desk. It is critical that you develop credibility with your APC
candidates in order to market them. Otherwise, you probably will not be able to deliver when you reach
the interview stage. You must have the star candidate in agreement before proceeding. This ensures that
expectations are understood from both perspectives.
Portfolio Networking
Surveys show that it is five times harder to capture a new client than to do business with an existing client,
so take advantage of all of your efforts, time on the telephone, and technology at your disposal and
maximise every relationship you currently have in place! A Portfolio Network is a list of candidates and
clients that you have established a relationship with and keep active. Utilise this list to maximise
communications efforts and keep candidates and (potential) clients alike aware of possible business
opportunities. Make contact monthly or bi-monthly, depending on how large your network is. You can
stagger the list to hit different geographic or categorical areas at different times. This will keep your name
in front of those people consistently. You will expose yourself to referrals and opportunities you may not
have heard of if you did not ask at the right time.
CDMM
Direct Mail via Printed Bulletins, Sector Shots and E-Mail shots
The objective here is to maximise exposure with clients
existing and potential new ones.
Bulletins reflect your opinion within your discipline and sector matrix. They show you as a knowledge
worker in your market and offer a solution to a problem or an opinion on a trend / market. Once every 3 to
4 weeks, send bulletins to the discipline decision makers in your market
circa 2000 plus.
Every 3 weeks Sector shot via letter or e-mail a targeted group of contacts within your market and share
with them your best talent that you have available that suits their sector / industry.
This will help you to maintain continuous name recognition, gain credibility, and create future
opportunities. Another benefit is that they may know someone else who is recruiting and refer you on.
They may realise that you are the firm of choice for an assignment they are about to launch. Timing and
exposure are everything. Always Be Marketing.
Strategic Key Account Planning
You need to identify large firms within your market (20-30 to start) that have multiple needs and develop a
strategic plan to penetrate those accounts. This is a long-term, ongoing process and should include the
three previous methodologies combined with face-to-face visits.

Remember, success is not determined by how hard you work, but how intelligently your efforts are applied
to your goals. Utilise the tools around you in the best manner possible and you will reach those goals and
beyond.

Marketing Through the Back Door

Many recruiters have felt beaten up over the last two years and are wondering how to keep motivated in
the current economy. Between the rise of monster boards, the increasing entrenchment of HR
b
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through some tough growing pains, and many recruiters are still trying to get their bearings.
Many recruiters are making the same marketing calls that they have made for years, and often the calls
have very little life left in them.
Generally speaking, the marketing of services is not as successful as it was in a candidate short market. If
everyone calls and says, "We will find you the best candidates," the phrase starts to lose relevance in the
client's mind because they have heard it so many times. Put yourself in your client's shoes; they are getting
loads of calls from your peers, who are saying very similar things, and they have fewer positions that
require outside help. So, the question for the smart recruiter becomes, "How can I engage this hiring
authority in a conversation where they see me as a human being and a solution provider rather than just
another sales person?"
Many firms diligently work to position themselves well in the mind of their potential clients before they
ever make a sales call. This is a relationship building method as opposed to a transactional sales method. It
takes more time, but it builds more loyalty and profitable referrals over the long haul. Referrals are the
very best marketing method that a consultant can develop, and these come only through a relationship
built on trust.
The survey as a marketing call:
One way to build trust with high level people is to ask for their participation in a survey or interview for an
article that you are writing. What are the trade journals and publications that your target market reads?
Contact those publications and tell them that you are thinking of writing an article on a topic of interest
(current hiring trends, management's perceptions of recruiters, etc.) and ask if they would be interested.
Most will say yes as you are an expert in your specialty area, and they are usually eager to get outside
material. If you cannot get a response from your industry publications, try writing for a recruiting
publication on a topic such as "What our clients really think of us." Between print, online publications,
newsletters and e-zines, finding a place to accept your article will not be difficult.
Once you have decided on a venue for your article, you then want to construct a brief presentation and
questions for your target contacts. Your contacts should be high level hiring authorities that you want to
do business with. The call needs to be sincere in that you are actually doing research for your article, but
on the other hand, you are also engaging in a business conversation (rather than a sales conversation) with
somebody that you want to build a relationship with. Start the conversation by introducing yourself and
saying, "I'm not calling to do business with you but rather to see if you would be able to share some
knowledge about ____ for an article that I am writing. We would probably need about 10 minutes." This
way, you take the pressure off of him (and you) and also set an expectation for how long it will take. You
can ask if he is available now or if he would prefer to schedule another time.
At this point, many hiring authorities would ask, "Who are you writing the article for and when does it
come out?" It is important that you have done your homework and can answer this question. Once you
have permission to go ahead with the call, you are then able to demonstrate your professionalism to this
potential client in a non-t
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a bulletin your are sending out about the market - a free service you provide to clients.

The best selling takes place by asking excellent questions. You are judged by the quality of your questions.
If you ask an intelligent question you are perceived to be intelligent, if you ask a mediocre question you are
seen as mediocre. Be sure to stay within the time frame that you stated initially, or if you are going to run
over, to acknowledge it and ask if he has time to continue. This demonstrates, in a subtle way, that you can
be trusted to deliver on what you promise.
Here is a sample script that you could use with a potential client:
"The reason for my call today is that I'm going to be writing an article for______ on ________ and I'm
conducting a brief survey with a select group of people who I thought may be able to shed some light on the
subject. If you could grant me about 10 minutes of your focus to answer a couple of questions it would be
very helpful. Are you able to do that now?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What methods do you typically use to locate exceptional staff?

What have been your toughest challenges with either finding or retaining employees?
What % of your searches do you use retained vs. contingent?
How would you describe your level of satisfaction with each?
How has the current economic climate affected your business?
What innovative ways have you found to reward your staff or inspire greater loyalty?
How do you define excellence in your team's performance?"

Other areas to think about are:

Salary Surveys are always a hit
speak to 250 people and you have a representative sample. Forecast
hiring activity ? Do they envisage hiring, yes, no. If so how many ? When, next 3 months, 6 months, year ?
Where in the company, in sales, admin, finance, production, marketing, HR, IT ? What level ? Grads, 2-3
years experience, 3 to 5 yrs, 6 to 8 years, board level ? where do they expect to find difficulties ? What
disciplines/ skillsets , functional areas ?
When you finish the interview, be sure to thank them, and engage in any business-related discussion that
he seems receptive to. Offer to be a resource by stating something like the following: "Feel free to call if
you need to keep a pulse on what the market looks like for certain skill sets or if you would like us to
research salary comparisons for your current staff. I provide this for my clients at no charge and would be
happy to do this for you as well. I will contact you when the article comes out and will get a copy to you".
This builds rapport and trust and opens the door for future conversations.
Follow Up:
You now have the perfect follow up method, which is to contact him when the article comes out and to
send him a copy. You may even quote him in the article if it makes sense (people LOVE this). Pre-meditated
follow up is the most important part of this method. During the follow up call you can move toward more
of a sales question by asking, "What does the rest of your quarter look like with regards to adding staff?"
Send the client other articles that you have come across that may be of interest to him, and stay in touch
regularly. There are many other back door methods that you can use besides a survey, and the point is to
give yourself as many options as possible to position yourself well in the mind of your potential client.
When there is an opening, you want to be seen as a trusted ally that he will call on first to offer an
exclusive contract.

Negotiate for Higher Recruiting Fees

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agents representing highly-paid athletes.
But in reality, all recruiters participate in varying forms of negotiation a hundred times a day; in our family
and social lives, among our co-workers, and in our business relationships. Negotiating is simply the process
of helping people get what they want. And a skillful negotiator is someone who achieves a settlement in
which everyone is happy.
An effective negotiator (or selling professional) can improve the quality of his life through using common
sense and a little ingenuity.
The Recruiter as Negotiator
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These concessions can appear as discounted fees, low-quality job orders, or the unwillingness to preclose
(or disqualify) reluctant or counteroffer-prone applicants. Such unnecessary sacrifices are usually made in
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-productive. And sadly, the cost to
us in terms of lost billings, increased anxiety, and weakened business credibility is enormous.
We have so much to gain and so little to lose by improving our negotiating skills. And the good news is that
negotiating is neither painful nor difficult, once a few simple techniques have been mastered.

W
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by Bill Radin
My high school history teacher fought in the South Pacific during World War II. He explained that during his
basic military training, the U.S. soldiers were told countless stories of the savagery and courage of their
Japanese opponents. The type of combat our troops were to expect would be fierce, relentless, and
suicidal.

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either overestimated or irrelevant. The important issues are your factual preparations, your mental
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So before you pull up a chair at the bargaining table, get a grip on your own needs, and what you think is at
stake. In terms of fees, a good way to begin a discussion is to examine the arithmetic behind your own fee
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from 30 percent to 25 percent represented a discount of nearly seventeen percent, not five percent.
Translated into real money, on a placement of a $50,000 position, the difference is $2,500. In retrospect, I

p
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-- giving away bits and pieces of money -- can cost us dearly over the long haul. After all,
a thousand dollars here and a thousand dollars there can really start to add up.

Negotiation Tactics for Recruiters

Everything is not negotiable! I recently tried to leverage one bank against the other when applying for a
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Later, I found out that his bank had one of the highest ratings in the industry, and was one of the most
profitable institutions in the country. And eventually, because of other value-added services they could
provide me, his bank became my lender, even though they had a somewhat higher rate.
Negotiating: A Way to Satisfy Needs
Price, of course, is only one aspect of any sale. If the transaction involves a commodity (such as rice, or
soybeans, or crude oil, for example), then price may very well be the predominant issue.
Recruiters often find themselves in a position of trying to negotiate for a standard fee when others are
discounting. The most successful recruiters know that the only way to offset a concern surrounding price is
to build value. Otherwise, the service provided is viewed as a commodity, with the recruiter assuming the
role of a vendor, or supplier.
The way to distinguish your service and its value-added dimension is to probe for the needs of the
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in a position to hold the line, or at least reach an agreement in which both parties feel satisfied. (If you are
unable to discover a compelling reason why your service warrants the full price you charge, then
unfortunately, you may have to settle for whatever you can get.)
The loan officer at my bank was able to secure my business, even though he charged a higher rate of
interest than a competitor. The reason? There were other important considerations which I considered to
be of value that led to our settlement.
Achieving a Successful Settlement
You can sharpen your negotiating skills by following these four steps.
First, measure what the other side wants. Before you begin a fee negotiation, for example, find out exactly
what the employer is asking for. I
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What good does it do to settle for a reduced fee with a prospective client in the first five minutes of taking
a job order only to find out twenty minutes later that
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Third, probe for pertinent information.
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to negotiate with you), try and gather
every bit of information you possibly can.

What has been his previous experience with search firms? With whom has he worked? How did they
operate? What did they charge? Has he been happy with the results? Why is he now talking to you? What
are his expectations? What value-added services are important? Is price an issue? Are terms an issue? Is
time an issue? What hidden forces, such as ego, pride or fear are at play?
In other words, take a careful look at what the empl
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a critical hidden agenda, which will prove to be the pivotal point of a negotiation.
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filling his job orders? What will you gain from making concessions? What will you lose? How much anger or
disappointment will result from making concessions? Do you actually need to make any concessions? If you
do make concessions, what will they be?
You are now ready to reach an agreement, but remember that you can always delay if you feel you have
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Persistence Over Pressure

When do your salespeople give up on a prospect? Recent studies indicate that 50% stop trying after the
first call. That percentage increases to 65% after the second call and to 80% after the third call. A whopping
90% of all salespeople throw in the towel after four calls.
Now here is the real difficulty with these percentages: professional relationships don't normally begin to
grow until you've communicated at least six times with a potential customer. In many instances, prospects
decide to talk to you only after 10 or even 12 contacts have taken place.
So what can you do? Forcing sales people to make more calls isn't the answer. And for staffing firms,
increasing call volumes may actually be counter-productive-by irritating potential customers and
frustrating sales reps.
For staffing firms, sales success results from carefully nurturing prospect relationships, which takes a wellcrafted blend of persistence and gentle persuasion.
Pressure Won't Work
As we begin the 21st century, stress has become a dominant attribute of most corporate cultures. People
are busier than ever-constantly being asked to do more with fewer resources. Time has become our most
precious commodity. And for sales professionals, this represents a significant challenge.
Despite the explosion of new communications products, people are harder to reach, especially prospects.
And even when you manage to get hold of a prospective customer, he or she rarely has the time for a
meaningful conversation.
So what happens instead? Sales people spend their time leaving voice mail messages. Sales cycles
lengthen. And prospective customers settle for current suppliers rather than investing the time to find new
ones.
For staffing firms, the implications are obvious. Increasing the "numbers" won't work. Aggressive sales
tactics may even back-fire, causing prospects to raise their defenses and discredit the salesperson's
message. There's an old saying that people love to buy, but they hate to be sold.
Staffing firms must discover new ways to break through the clutter and get the attention and interest of
prospective clients. The tactics you use must create the perception that you're an ally-a resource to help
get things done and make life easier. You must make people want to do business with you. You have to
take the pressure off!
Persistence Wins the Race
Who are your best customers? The ones who demand the lowest price? Of course not. Your best
customers are the ones who view you as a valued and dependable partner. They don't haggle about price;
they rely on you to deliver great results. Your best customers are also most likely the ones with whom
you've built the strongest relationships.
Your challenge is to create more relationships with more customers. It's not about selling, it's about
nurturing. It's about gently and persistently demonstrating the value you can offer. It's about developing
trust.

To develop trust, say little, but do a lot. In today's overly stressed and overly competitive market, staffing
buyers are being overwhelmed. Every day they're bombarded by calls from staffing sales reps. They're
hearing unending claims of service excellence. It's getting to the point where buyers won't believe anything
you say.
But they will still believe what you do. Only your actions can demonstrate that you are worthy of
someone's respect and trust. By consistently doing the right things, you will build relationships.
Characteristics of a Persistent Effort
There's a difference between being professionally persistent and irritatingly pesky. That line becomes
especially difficult to walk when you have to communicate 10 or 12 times with a typical prospect just to
begin a relationship.
To avoid being pushy, keep the following guidelines in mind:
Show Respect
Treat people the way you would like to be treated. Respect people's time. Forget the
unannounced drop-ins and time-wasting cold calls. Instead, focus on communicating
in a more professional and courteous manner. Personal letters, e-mail, and even
voice mail can all be powerful ways to grab attention and position your business
while demonstrating respect for someone's time.
Deliver Value
Every time you communicate with someone, you're interrupting his or her day. Make
the interruptions worthwhile by sharing information the recipient will value. People
want to be more successful. They want their lives to be easier. Show them how you
can help accomplish these goals.
The best information to share may have little to do with your services. But it should
have a great deal to do with the problems, challenges, and interests of your
prospective customers. For example, you know that recruiting and retention are
significant challenges in today's market, so share ideas to help people retain their
employees. While this type of information doesn't directly sell staffing, it does
illustrate your caring, your concern, and your understanding of the issues that are
most relevant to employers.
When you talk about your services, focus on the problems you can solve and the
benefits you can deliver. For example, describing your temporary employee training
capabilities probably means little to a prospect (no matter how terrific that training
is). On the other hand, explaining how trained temporary employees can decrease
the learning curve and increase productivity will almost certainly pique a company's
interest. Selling results keeps the focus of your conversation on the customer-right
where it should be!
Make it Personal
People do business with people. Make your communications appear personal.
Address people by name. Provide information that is relevant. Sign your letters. Get
to know your prospects and their businesses, and use that knowledge in your
communications.

The more you know about your prospects, the more common ground you'll discover,
and the easier it will become to develop relationships. By building rapport, you build
bridges to new customers.
Nurture Over the Long Term
Staffing will never be a business of one-call closes. Relationships get developed
through continuous effort. Communicate with prospects and clients on a regular
basis (but remember to do it in a way that adds value and shows respect). Your
communications can have many goals, such as:
o
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Positioning your company

Teaching people how to use staffing
Building credibility (proving your ability to deliver)
Adding value
Obtaining feedback

Ideally, you should develop a program of regular contact-one that adds value, differentiates
you, and keeps you top-of-mind. Over 90% of all companies use staffing services. And while
many companies may be satisfied with their current vendors, you know that at some point,
those suppliers will make a mistake. It's at that moment when you want to ensure your
organization is the first one that comes to mind.
When 5% Equals 25%
A CEO once challenged his marketing manager to be just 5% more persistent in her dealings with potential
clients. At the end of the year, that increase in persistence translated into a 25% increase in the company's
bottom line. Not every business sees such dramatic results, but it is nonetheless clear that persistence is a
vital component in the sales and marketing process. Consistently trying to prove to prospects that you are
helpful and trustworthy builds credibility. And over time, communication channels with many of those
prospects will open, opportunities will arise, and your sales will increase.

Playing Hide and Seek with Clients

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The staffing game can become a real struggle when clients do not provide you with prompt feedback or
take too long to make important decisions. Yet, many professionals in our business continually tolerate this
and, thus, send the message that this is okay. The justification I often hear is that "with market conditions
like we are currently experiencing, we have no choice but to grin and bear it."
You do have a choice! Every minute spent on an unresponsive, uncooperative client is time that could be
focused on one that treats you like the professional you are. Instead of continuing to struggle, use your
time to strengthen relationships with your top clients and position yourself for the upturn in business. The
staffing industry has been through several economic downturns before. And in the last 30 years, the
industry has experienced the most significant growth during the first stages of recovery. Now is the time to
reinforce and deepen your bond with your very best clients.
Another use for your time is to prospect for new clients. A number of staffing and recruiting firms have
closed during the past six months, so as business picks up, clients may be open to letting your firm take
their place. Once you find what looks like a strong prospect, ask for what you need and deserve. One way
you can do this is by giving and getting a commitment up front when taking a job order. Tell all of your
clients that you know their time is valuable and you will contact them for only one of three reasons. First,
to present an outstanding candidate. Second, to get necessary feedback after an interview. Or third, to ask
a mission-critical question. In return, let them know that in order for you to do your job effectively, you will
need a return call or email within 24 hours if you are unable to reach them directly. Ask for a commitment
that they will do this. If they are unwilling or unable to give you what you need, this may be an indication
of what you can expect when they are faced with the really big commitments, such as making a decision on
which temp or candidate to bring on board.
Create a clear and simple strategy
I remember watching a friend who was very good at the game of hide-and-seek. He was very methodical in
the way he went about searching and covered a complete area before moving on to the next. A systematic
approach to our business also produces better results and allows you to cover more ground more
efficiently.
If you currently are in the habit of planning, take this opportunity to make your plan even better. Get
creative and find a way to add one or two more appointments each week to visit clients in person. Upgrade
your activities by carefully picking and choosing what you spend your time on. Protect and respect every
minute of your time.
If you are not currently planning on a consistent basis, start by writing a detailed plan for tomorrow at the
end of each day. As part of the plan, make a list of the prospects you want to contact and their telephone
numbers (if contacting by phone) so you can easily and efficiently make one call after another. Remain
flexible with your schedule, but don't let distractions keep you from getting done what you know must be
done.
Spend some extra time to find where they are hiding
Just like looking behind a few extra bushes, making at least a few extra calls each day could uncover a very
responsive client. Five to ten more calls a day quickly turns into 100 to 200 extra calls in a month's time. If

your first response to this idea is "I just don't have enough time," the truth is you can't afford not to in a
tight market.
To create space, remove something from your schedule that is no longer paying off. This could include
activities such as groups you participate in or tasks that can be delegated to someone else. Then, schedule
all of your calls in one chunk of time and do not allow any interruptions, unless they are truly urgent
matters that need your immediate attention.

When you find where they are hiding, ask for their help to find others
A variation on the game of hide-and-seek is when you find someone, they help you find the others who are
still hiding. And just like in that game, clients often know where others clients are "hidden."
A great book by Joe Girard, "How to Sell Anything to Anybody," illustrates why this works. In the book,
Girard shows that each and every person knows at least 250 people (he came up with this number by
looking at attendance at weddings and funerals). So, in essence, when you talk with one manager, you are
actually connecting to 251 or more people. Since work is such an important of our lives, chances are that at
least a few of these contacts are potential prospects. Ask for help from every person you speak with by
asking a question like "who do you know that could benefit from my services?" If they tell you no one, you
know that's probably not the case because of the Law of 250. Help them search their mental Rolodex by
giving specific information such as industry, job title, or geographic location of the type of company you
would like to service. Also, remind them that helping you now increases the odds that someone will do the
same for them when they need it the most (what goes around, comes around).

Power Recruiting
"Top billing search consultants or recruiters are always in the rght place at the right time."
Is this an accurate statement? Sometimes it seems so. However, the most successful and powerful people
in the history of the world are always in the right place at the right time with the insight necessary to
succeed. The most successful and powerful search consultants seem to share in that same advantage of
"being in the right place at the right time."
Does this all depend on being lucky? In a word

NO! Successful search consultants make their own "luck."

To gain the necessary insight in a situation, a search consultant must do several things. First, ask the right
questions. Second, have the judgment to effectively discern the answers or "read the green" as duffers say.
If you distill everything we have to sell in the placement business down to its essential elements, you only
have time and information to sell. Given that time is a static reality providing all of us the same 168 hours
each week

the obvious variable in success or failure must be the element of insight. Insight is simply
INFORMATION, in the possession of the individual at a certain time that enables that individual to proceed-- and make their OWN LUCK by exploiting the INFORMATION appropriately. Those are the ingredients
required making a success of a circumstance and an event in time. Therein lies the power!
Nearly every placement that failed can trace the cause of its demise to a critical piece of information of
which we were not aware, should have asked for, or worse, glossed over in our efforts to "hustle." Hustle
is very critical in a time sensitive business like ours. Hustle for the sake of speed without direction reminds
me of a speedboat without a rudder. Knowing how to evaluate and use the information we gain is the
insight that brings success.
The sources of information are many and vary from deal to deal. No one answer is correct for every
situation we encounter. The information we require IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE. The basic information given by
our client in the form of a job description always falls short of what we need to help them solve critical
talent requirements. Suppose, for the sake of argument, we take the best qualified candidate and we
simply read the "job description" to him or her. Gauge their reaction! Do they fall all over themselves to
leave work for an interview? Put their home up for sale? Leave the political inner-circle at their employer
(they have sweat blood to be accepted into)? Relocate their children? Convince their working spouse to do
the same? Completely change their lifestyle just because you and your client want it? Obviously, they need
to know a lot of information to accept the offer.
Serious candidates need to know why the job your client wants to fill is an opportunity for their career and
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quality of life rules
the hearts and minds of our candidates, not greed. Some one grumbles, "Well, it used to be that way." And
it was! This adage is getting enough age on it to be called an "old adage." Nine out of ten candidates turn
down offers for reasons other than money." Candidates will accept an offer of employment if the "money
is right," but only after personal, career and family issues are satisfied. They also lean very hard on the
excuse of inadequate compensation when rejecting an offer. The truth, in many cases, is that hidden issues
left unsatisfied or ignored often causes the "turn-down." In other words, a lack of INSIGHTFUL
INFORMATION killed the deal.
How do you find this golden information?
Start with the search assignment. Probe your client contacts thoroughly to learn every single advantage of
the position. Know what the recent history of the position reveals. Did your client promote the
predecessor? Is the manager on an upward track and about to leave an opportunity for advancement in his
or her wake? What side roads exist to other technical or professional advancement opportunities in the

company or its divisions? The insights as to why the job is an opportunity must be discovered when you
take the search. What must the successful candidate do in the first thirty days, sixty, ninety days, six
months or first year to succeed? These nuggets lead to the main vein of gold.
You need to understand why a candidate would leave their current situation. Determine everything they
would love to see in the right position, employer, community and manager. Once your candidate feels you
understand these things, you then align the specific advantages of the "opportunity" to the needs and
desires of the candidate. Do not fall back on the weak tactic of using clichs. Do not tell them it is a "great"
opportunity with a "really good" company. Tell them why the opportunity is great and why the company is
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gaining control over the decisions and actions of the candidate.
Candidates rarely do what we tell them to do because we want them to do so. They will do far more for us
if we first make them feel understood. Many minor candidate concerns vaporize once they fully
understand how a position can address their perceived needs and value system. Learn it! Once we have
clearly aligned the advantages of the position to the needs of the candidate, the candidate will start
demonstrating emotional attachment to the opportunity. Candidates must show this level of desire or they
cannot be closed!
Why go to all this trouble?
The majority of our candidates have families or significantly positioned people in their lives when we call.
This reality poses a challenge to search consultants. This challenge lies in the fact that our candidates rarely
make totally autonomous decisions in considering an offer of employment. A partnership-based decision is
typically the norm. We need to find out, from the "other partner" what is most important to them as well.
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honest interest in the needs and wants of the "other" person in this decision process. Stay in touch with all
parties involved. Find out whatever they need to know and care about having. Information overload is an
essential practice of the best billers. The "other" person, once sold on the opportunity and its advantages,
becomes your advocate not your nemesis.
Search consultants do not employ the services of fortune-tellers or mediums to succeed. Therefore, we
must learn everything possible in advance of the cold call to our prospective candidate. We first establish
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community as a place to relocate to and live. We then "mine" out the additional facts as our probing
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knowledge is indisputable in our business. The top billing search consultants learn what they can in
advance. They cultivate further sources of information as required. They probe clients and candidates early
in the process. They have the required insights and information as objections arise or questions arise. They
are proactive, not reactive.
When we pick up that phone to call a prospective candidate and possess an in-depth understanding of why
this really is a "great opportunity," we are infinitely more effective at recruiting the best-qualified people.
Our knowledge becomes belief and belief is very compelling to the listener. Real power lies in knowing
what we need and settling for nothing less than professionalism. Do not be led astray by the heat of battle,
the infatuation of a search or the pressures of commissioned income. To become a top billing consultant,
find the GOLD in the information you acquire and the insights it provides you to be in the right place at the
right time.

Stand Out from the Crowd: Techniques for Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage
What differentiates you from the competition? Quality? Service? Price?
Over the past 5 years, I've asked that question of hundreds of staffing company owners. Want to know the
response I most often get? It goes something like this: 'We're not like everyone else. We out service other
staffing firms.'
Please don't take offense to this, but your service does not differentiate you.
Here's why: When it comes to service, anything you can do, your competitors can copy. And anything they
do well, you're going to copy. As a result, all the best staffing companies tend to do things in a very similar
manner, making it nearly impossible to differentiate service quality among the top performers. While
exceptional service will distinguish you from the average staffing companies, it won't separate you from
the top 10 or 20 percent of staffing firms in your market.
So what can you do? Oh, the possibilities...
How can you make your company stand out from the competition? Consider these 17 potential areas of
differentiation:
- Speed - response time/time to fill
- Accuracy - quality of fill
- Price
- Specialty - niche services
- Reliability - consistent service
- Unique service processes
- Payment terms
- Guarantees
- Location - convenience
- Sales methods
- Technology
- Recruiting capability
- Innovation
- Problem solving capability
- Persistence
- Size
- Range of services

The challenge is to pick the one thing you can do better than anyone else--all the time. And, of course,
whatever you pick must also be highly important to your customers!
*The #1 Source of Competitive Advantage
The problem with the above list is that it's almost impossible to outperform every competitor, all the time,
on any of the items on the list. However, there is one sure-fire way to truly separate yourself from the
competition. You possess an invaluable asset that no competitor can copy...
What's your unique asset? It's your people. And, more importantly, the ability your people have to build
relationships with prospects, customers, and candidates. Strong customer relationships are an unbeatable
source of competitive advantage. As I'm sure you recognize, strong customer relationships allow you to
close more business, charge higher prices, gain first access to new opportunities, retain customers longer,
and even recover from those occasional mistakes that occur in
providing staffing services. But, here's the question I have for you:
Are the people in your company doing everything possible to build irresistible relationships with customers
and prospects?
*Creating Irresistible Customer Relationships
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for creating irresistible relationships with your customers.
However, maybe we can learn a few secrets by studying the reasons why companies lose customers.
To create irresistible customer relationships, we must eradicate indifference. How? Here are 17 ideas:
1. Communicate, frequently - strong relationships are built on trust, which develops through regular
dialog.
2. Remember to say 'thank you' often.
3. Solicit feedback - ask for candid appraisals of your service and suggestions for improvement.
4. Proactively seek problems and propose solutions - don't wait for problems to come to you.
5. Emphasize continuous improvement - and tell customers what you've done to improve your
services.
6. Look for ways to save your clients money.
7. Look for opportunities to help your clients improve their productivity.
8. Give something away for free once in a while - saying 'this one's on us' makes customers feel
special.
9. Support the causes that are important to your customers.
10. Encourage social interaction with customers.
11. Keep accurate profiles of top customers - so you know what's going on in their business and their
industry.
12. Get service people into the field - meet with customers to gain a better understanding of the
customer's needs.
13. Invite customers to visit your offices to learn more about your capabilities.
14. Train sales and service reps how to solve business problems with staffing services.
15. Keep score - document the tangible benefits you've delivered for your clients.
16. Follow a program of 'planned spontaneous recognition - develop a process to systematically remind
clients how important they are to you.
17. Nurture relationships with multiple forms of communication - include sales calls, phone, mail, and
e- mail.

Want another idea for creating irresistible customer relationships? Expand your network of contacts. If
your business hinges on a relationship with one or two decision makers, you're likely to lose the customer
at some point.
Strive to nurture relationships with as many different people as you can--and on as many different levels as
you can.
Relationships = Success
Service has and will continue to be the most critical element of every successful staffing organization.
However, great service must be viewed as a basic necessity: a building block of success.
To truly stand out from the crowd and ensure your long-term success, leverage great service into great
customer relationships. Enhance your current servicing process to include more relationship building
activities. Develop a deliberate program to continuously nurture irresistible customer relationships. And
through effective implementation, you will create an unbeatable source of competitive advantage!

Tell Me About Yourself

IMPORTANT NOTE: This article should NOT be shared with your candidates. It has been written and
designed for RECRUITERS EYES ONLY.
P
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your candidates.
After years of trying I finally gave up.
Why is it that interviewers still need this crutch question to begin their interviews? Some use it from
habit, some because they didn't have time to prepare, and some because they don't know any better. But
despite trying to prep my clients away from the dreaded opening interview question "Tell me about
yourself?" I have never been successful in getting them to stop using this question. They use it, and I have
resigned myself to this recruiting truth: A vast majority of interviewers still start their interviews with some
version of this insipid opening question.
F
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ready with a loaded gun to answer it. If we prep candidates to answer this question properly, we can
make our candidates look prepared, confident, and focused right from the start of their interview.
Furthermore, they will make a great verbal first impression. No longer will we have to suffer through client
debriefs where they tell us our candidate rambled on and on after being asked this question, nor will we
learn that our candidate countered this question with a question of their own like "What would you like to
know?"
Don't think this is a big deal? Let me share just one story about this opening interview question that cost a
recruiter I know a mighty big fee. It is a perfect illustration as to why you must add the following
information to your interview or prep process, or both. The scenario was this: A recruiter had a Financial
Services client that was looking for a 125k base + 25k bonus for a VP position. The recruiter located an ideal
candidate whose initial impression was that the job was perfect for her. The client joked that when she
came to the interview the recruiter should send her with an invoice for the fee because they, too, thought
she was the perfect fit. Good thing the recruiter didn't spend the $50k fee before closing the deal.
You can more or less guess how the story ended. The recruiter didn't get the fee, but please pay attention
to why, because that is the part of the story that matters most. To start the interview the candidate was
asked the dreaded "Tell me about yourself?" question. Thinking that it was an inconsequential icebreaker
question, she retorted, simply intending to cause an opening chuckle, "Well as you can obviously see, I am
15-20 pounds overweight."
Scream loudly here.
The candidate was only joking! Yet, due to the impact her answer had on the client, for all practical
purposes the interview was over. That "amusing" answer to what the candidate viewed as a seemingly
innocuous question convinced the client that this $150k VP had an image or low self-esteem problem.
D
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the candidate an offer.
Her retort was just a joke! But not really. It was no joke to the recruiter who lost the $50k fee. And it sure
wasn't funny to the candidate who didn't get her dream job. This candidate attempted to humorously
break the ice, but the interviewer misinterpreted her intentions and became convinced she was not their
VP.
Scream loudly here, too, because the whole fiasco could have been avoided if the candidate had just
been taught a very simple formula for answering this question. Sure, we know this question is a stupid

and unnecessary question with which to begin an interview. But because interviewers open interviews
with this question, we as recruiters need to know how to have our candidates respond to it intelligently.
T
h
e
f
o
r
m
u
l
a
I

v
e learned has worked wonders for me and for hundreds of other recruiters I have shared it
with over the last few years.
Recruiters know that most of their clients will open with some form of the "Tell me about yourself?"
question. T
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a
n
s
w
e
r
w
e

d
i
d
e
a
l
l
y
like our candidates to give would be a prepared and well thought-out
initial marketing statement of themselves and their skills, which are applicable for the open search. This
sounds pretty straightforward, but if you have ever asked this question of your candidates, no doubt your
experience matches mine. It doesn't matter if the candidate makes $25k or $200k per year, the very best
candidates will typically respond to this question by answering with "What would you like to know?" L
e
t

s
get one thing straight: It is extremely poor form to answer the opening interview question with another
question. But that is how your BEST candidates will likely answer this question due to its ambiguous
nature. We can prepare them to do better.
We need to teach them to answer this question with a three-part pre-planned marketing statement that
can more or less be reused from interview to interview. And even if they are not asked the dreaded
question, preparing for it usually sets the candidate up to open the interview confidently, intelligently and
impressively. Part one of that three-part marketing statement is always a one-sentence summary of the
c
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:
"I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN Admin and Systems Engineering with substantial
experience using Novell, NT, Cisco, and Lotus Notes/Domino."
You get the picture; their whole career needs to be condensed into one pithy sentence that encapsulates
the most important aspects of their career, which they want to leverage in order to make their next career
step. Good recruiters are accomplished at doing this, but very few candidates are. Our coaching can be of
tremendous help here for our candidates.
Part two of the pre-planned marketing statement will be a one, maybe two-sentence summary of a single
a
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should be one that the client will be interested in hearing, one that is easily explained or illustrated, and
one that clearly highlights the candidate's bottom line impact. When done correctly this will build
interviewer intrigue about the accomplishment so that they inquire further, giving the candidate an
o
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were:
"Recently, as a long-term contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned they were
about to install Lotus Notes/Domino and were planning to use outside consultants for the
project. I let them know I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how
we could get the job done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $5565k less than it would have cost with outside consultants."
Part three, the final piece of the marketing statement is probably the most fluid piece. It needs to be a
one-sentence summary of specifically what the candidate wants to do next in their career. The reason
this third part is difficult is that it needs to specifically address what the candidate wants to do next, AND it
needs to change from interview to interview to make sure it matches exactly what the client will be
interviewing the candidate for. Continuing with the above example of one of my past candidates, two of
his final sentences, which were used for two different clients, follow:

"For the next step in my career, I would like to move away from contract work and find
myself as a direct employee of a large firm where I could join a substantial IT team and be
involved with a group that focuses on email and network security applications, while having
access to the knowledgebase that would come with a large, diverse, IT group."
B
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differing opportunities, to:
"For the next step in my career, I would like to find myself as a direct employee of a small to
medium sized firm that was looking to hire an in-house IT generalist so I could continue
growing my career by getting exposure to multiple IT areas, such as networking, help desk,
s
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rew,
I would love to apply my past team project management skills to managing the second or
third members of a small growing IT team."
These were two very different endings that perfectly matched two very different client needs. Clearly
you can see why the f
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simple revising, we made sure that each client heard from my candidate that he was interested in doing
exactly what they were interested in hiring him for. That revising is what makes the third piece fluid and
s
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be. With your coaching, they will soon see the benefit to targeted third sentences in these pre-planned
opening statements.
If prepared properly, with your expert guidance, it will be apparent that your candidate is a prepared and
serious player right at the beginning of the interview when they answer the "Tell me about yourself?"
question with this memorized, brief marketing statement, which combines their career summary, an
exceptional accomplishment, and client-specific career goals as in this example:
"I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN Admin and Systems Engineering with substantial
experience using Novell, NT, Cisco, and Lotus Notes/Domino. Recently, as a long-term
contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned they were about to install Lotus
Notes/Domino and were planning to use outside consultants for the project. I let them know
I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job
done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $55-65k less that it would
have cost with outside consultants. For the next step in my career, I would like to move away
from contract work and find myself as an direct employee of a large firm where I could join a
substantial IT team and be involved with a group that focused on email and network security
applications, while having access to the knowledgebase that would come with a large,
diverse, IT group."
Clearly you can understand how a candidate who opens with this type of prepared response to the "Tell
me about yourself?" question will make a significantly better first impression than a candidate who
responds to this question by answering, "What would you like to know?" or worse yet, "Well as you can
obviously see, I am 15-20 pounds overweight." A candidate you prepare in this manner is confident at the
i
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pression, gives a clear indication of their
interest in making a career move, and forces the interviewer to get past the icebreaker questions to the
parts of the interview that will help both parties begin the process of seriously determining if this is a
solid match.
As recruiters, these three simple steps of summarizing what a candidate is, sharing an impressive career
accomplishment, and summarizing what would be an ideal next career step, is second hand. We do this
daily, often extemporaneously, as we verbally or electronically present candidates to our clients. But for

c
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difficult preparation. With our expert advice and input on their pre-planned three-part marketing
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ending we want, a good match that successfully concludes yet another search for a fee.
REMEMBER: This article should NOT be shared with your candidates. It has been written and designed for
RECRUITERS EYES ONLY. Please feel free to share the companion article Answering the "Tell Me About
Yourself" Question which follows, with your candidates.

Answering the "Tell Me About Yourself" Question

Your Guarantee for Making an Impressive Interview First Impression

Lets face it, interviewing is stressful enough without having to answer stupid interview questions. But
unfortunately, many interviewers, because of habit, lack of preparation time, poor training, or yes, even
laziness, often ask stupid interview questions. Of those, one of the most challenging is the oft used "Tell
me about yourself?" interview opener.
What most candidates ask me about this insipid interview question is "What do they want to know?" They
want to know about you the candidate as a potential employee. T
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family, your last vacation, your hobbies, your religious beliefs, that you like the Cubs, or that you are a
proud member of AA. Yes, I have had candidates give each of those responses to the infamous "Tell me
about yourself?" q
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s
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.
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m
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yers who interviewed
them.
Interviewers also think it is improper, a sign of your lack of preparedness, or even rude, for you to answer
their "Tell me about yourself?" question with a question like, "What would you like to know?" If you are
prepared, and seriously thinking about making a career change, you will have a prepared and thoughtful
answer to this question BEFORE you begin interviewing.
Why? I am glad you asked, and I think one example should convince you I am right.
Let me share just one story about this opening interview question that cost a candidate a job they
REALLY wanted. It is a perfect illustration to make you understand why you must plan a response for this
question whether you are asked it or not. The scenario was this: The candidate was a financial services
professional, a recruiter had a financial services client that was looking to fill a VP position for a 125k base
+ 25k bonus. The candidate had an ideal background and skills set, and the client thought they were a
perfect fit. The candidate knew the client and was thrilled to interview with them. The client joked that
when the candidate came to the interview the recruiter should send the candidate with an invoice for the
fee, because they thought they might make an offer on the spot.
You can more or less guess how the story ended. The candidate didn't get the job, but please pay
attention as to why, because that is the part of the story that matters most. To start the interview the
candidate was asked the dreaded "Tell me about yourself?" question. Thinking that it was an
inconsequential icebreaker question, they retorted, simply intending to cause an opening chuckle, "Well as
you can obviously see, I am 15-20 pounds overweight."
They were only joking! Yet, due to the impact this answer had on the client, for all practical purposes the
interview was over as soon as they said this. That "amusing" answer to what the candidate viewed as a
seemingly innocuous question, convinced the employer that this $150k VP had an image or low self-

est
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the candidate an offer. The retort was just a joke! But not really. It was no joke to the candidate who lost
the $150k dream job. It was no joke to the recruiter who had invested so much time in finding the
employer this ideal candidate. This candidate attempted to humorously break the ice, but the interviewer
misinterpreted the response to a stupid question, and became convinced the candidate was not VP
material.
This whole fiasco could have been avoided if the candidate had just been taught a very simple formula
for answering this question. Sure, we know this question is a stupid and unnecessary question with which
to begin an interview. But because interviewers open interviews with this question, candidates need to
k
n
o
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hundreds of my candidates, and those of thousands of recruiters I have shared it with over the last half
dozen years.
Many, in fact a sad majority, of interviewers open with some form of the "Tell me about yourself?"
question. It would be an easy question to answer if candidates answered with a prepared and well
thought-out initial marketing statement of themselves and their skills, which are applicable for the open
job. This sounds pretty straightforward, but few of the thousands of candidates I have interviewed in the
last 15 years have EVER been able to answer this question in this intelligent manner. The best candidates
typically respond with a narrowing question like: "What would you like to know?" B
u
t
l
e
t

s
g
e
t
o
n
e
t
h
i
n
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straight: It is extremely poor form to answer the opening interview question with another question. Yet,
that is how the BEST candidates do typically answer this question, due to its ambiguous nature. Though it
seems to be a logical approach, you must prepare to do better.
Candidates must teach themselves to answer this question with a three-part pre-planned marketing
statement that can more or less be reused from interview to interview. Part one of that three-part
marketing statement is always a one-s
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"I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN Admin and Systems Engineering with substantial
experience using Novell, NT, Cisco, and Lotus Notes/Domino."
You get the picture; your whole career needs to be condensed into one pithy sentence that encapsulates
the most important aspects of your career, the aspects that you want to leverage in order to make your
next career step. Few candidates seem to be able to condense a career into one sentence, but it must, and
can be done. Ask any recruiter for help here, this is what we do.
Part two of the pre-planned marketing statement will be a one, maybe two-sentence summary, of a
single accomplishment that you are proud of that will also capture the potential employers attention. It
immediately follows your initial career summary sentence from above. This accomplishment should be one
that the employer will be interested in hearing, one that is easily explained or illustrated, and one that
clearly highlights a bottom line impact. When done correctly this will build interviewer intrigue about the
accomplishment so that they inquire further, giving you an opportunity to further discuss a significant
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"Recently, as a long-term contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned they were
about to install Lotus Notes/Domino and were planning to use outside consultants for the
project. I let them know I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how
we could get the job done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $5565k less than it would have cost with outside consultants."

Part three, the final piece of the marketing statement, is probably the most fluid piece. It needs to be a
one-sentence summary of specifically what you want to do next in your career. The reason this third part
is difficult is that it needs to specifically address what you want to do next, AND it needs to change from
interview to interview to make sure it matches exactly what the INDIVIDUAL employers will be
interviewing you for. Continuing with the above example of one of my past candidates, two of his final
sentences, which were used for two different employers, follow:
"For the next step in my career, I would like to move away from contract work and find
myself as a direct employee of a large firm where I could join a substantial IT team and be
involved with a group that focuses on email and network security applications, while having
access to the knowledgebase that would come with a large, diverse, IT group."
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interests in differing opportunities, to:
"For the next step in my career, I would like to find myself as a direct employee of a small to
medium sized firm that was looking to hire an in-house IT generalist so I could continue
growing my career by getting exposure to multiple IT areas, such as networking, help desk,
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third members of a small growing IT team."
These were two very different endings that perfectly matched two very different employer needs.
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some simple revising, the candidate made sure that each employer heard that they were interested in
doing exactly what the employer was interested in hiring them for. That revising is what makes the third
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job interview to job interview. Most tend to be generalized, hoping that a shotgun approach will work. But
it is the rifle sharp shooters, those who get specific in what they want from interview to interview, who get
the best results. With some simple planning BEFORE an interview, you, the candidate, will quickly realize
the benefit of a targeted third sentence in these pre-planned opening statements, as employers feel you
are perfectly suited to do just the job they are interviewing you for.
If you take the time to prepare this way as a candidate, it will be apparent to an interviewer that you are a
prepared and serious candidate right at the beginning of the interview when you answer the "Tell me
about yourself?f" question with this memorized, brief marketing statement, which combines a career
summary, an exceptional accomplishment, and employer-specific career goal as in this example:
"I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN Admin and Systems Engineering with substantial
experience using Novell, NT, Cisco, and Lotus Notes/Domino. Recently, as a long-term
contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned they were about to install Lotus
Notes/Domino and were planning to use outside consultants for the project. I let them know
I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job
done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $55-65k less that it would
have cost with outside consultants. For the next step in my career, I would like to move away
from contract work and find myself as an direct employee of a large firm where I could join a
substantial IT team and be involved with a group that focused on email and network security
applications, while having access to the knowledgebase that would come with a large,
diverse, IT group."
Clearly you can understand how the candidate who opens with this type of prepared response to the "Tell
me about yourself?" question will make a significantly better first impression than a candidate who

responds to this question by answering, "What would you like to know?" or worse yet, "Well as you can
obviously see, I am 15-20 pounds overweight." Plus candidates who prepare in this manner are typically
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clear indication of their interest in making a career move, and force the interviewer to get past the
icebreaker questions to the parts of the interview that will help both parties begin the process of
seriously determining if this is a solid match. As you can see, there is a great deal of bang for your
preparation buck.
Clearly these three simple steps of, summarizing what your experience is as candidate, sharing an
impressive career accomplishment, and then summarizing what would be an ideal next career step for you,
one that matches what the employer is looking to hire, is the key to beginning your interview with a
competitive advantage. Candidates who take the time to do this, significantly improve a their initial
verbal impression, get their interview off to a confident and focused beginning, and more often than not
get called back for second interviews, or better yet, for offers of employment with employers who are
impressed.