No matter if you’re new in the business or have tenure under your belt, our industry makes you start over 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 swing for the fence and just do it!

Steps to Success:

Step one:
We all need to set some initial goals that will keep us on the phone, or as I call it "Smilin’ and Dialin’ for Dollars". Even if you think this is silly at first, try it. Put pictures up in your office or cubicle 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, put a small mirror on your phone or on your desk. This way when you look into the mirror and you don’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 higher level executives than before and start developing relationships with these top professionals. Working with higher level people is so much easier than with lower level technical people in any industry. You will find that senior level people 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 higher level 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. Even if you don’t have an exact opportunity for them or have never recruited this high before it will be your tone of voice and the confidence in your ability that will keep them listening and talking.

This business is a numbers game. I don’t leave the office till I have hit my goal for the day. These calls can be a combination of cold calls, reference checks and returned phone calls. 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 80 calls you will have 15-25 conversations in a day and out of those conversations you can make 3-5 "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. My 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 the recruiting industry and how it affects them in their position. I call this an expert article. Send a magazine article that has information about recruiting in it. You can find these articles in all the major publications. 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. 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. 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 I get about 70% of all my fees.

Step three:
Stop wasting time! Many of us have dealt with clients and candidates that are a pain in the posterior. Drop ‘em now and kick them to the curb. 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 to the curb. You may say, "Charles, but . . but . . but . ." Nonsense. 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. It won’t take long, but it takes effort, 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.

This business is fun, and just know you don’t have to deal with difficult people 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. Chances are 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. 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 don’t focus on the money, the money comes in because you have made lots of genuine friendships out 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 Jane Doe with a firm called Executive Placement 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, ask them if you could help them on an internal search. I like to use 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. Great, eh?!

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 and send that letter with a press release out to all of your clients, their clients, their Board of Directors, their service vendors, etc. Ask your client for their list of clients, vendors, and Board information. They will usually have no problem with you sending out letters concerning the recent success. Let you client know that you are doing this to leverage more business with a similar friend network. They will understand, because that is just healthy networking at its best. Board of Directors are great because they have a vested interest in your client and they are generally top CEO’s from other companies.

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. If you truly want to be a big biller (300K-500K and above), then come to a real recruiter who has done it and who is more importantly still working a desk today.

CRW Seminars offers national seminars for the beginner and the experienced recruiter in contingency and retained practices. For more information, please visit www.crwseminars.com

Charles Wadlow is touted by fellow recruiters as the nation’s leading educational speaker on executive recruiting. The majority of Charles’ practice is focused on a select few National Public Accounting firms and their preferred clients. Because of Charles’ reputation nationally with these clients his practice has grown to be one of the most respected independent search firms.