“What a difference working with Mark Whitby can make! I contacted Mark because after 20 years in the search business, and slogging through the recession, I was in need of a boost. From our very first conversation, I felt more focused and motivated. Within 2 weeks of starting the programme, I was already getting more meetings and job orders. Within 4 weeks I had picked up a couple of retained search assignments.”

“I’ve now been working with Mark for 6 months and having just closed £150,000 worth of business in the last month (with lots more in the pipeline), I’m back on top of my game and enjoying major returns on a modest investment in coaching. Mark has done his time at the coal face and has honed his structured coaching programme having gained a deep understanding of what delivers results in a whole swathe of recruitment businesses. I have benefited greatly from his insights, wisdom and reinvigorating positivity. Thank you Mark!”

Struan Hall
Henderson Hall, London
Corporate Counsel Recruitment
http://www.hendersonhall.com

“As a former international sports person and current coach to several high level international performers I am often reminded that it is most important to develop and consistently maintain “good foundations”. One of the reasons top performers work with coaches is that it offers an independent insight into their own performance. No matter how successful you are, you can always do better.”

“Top performers make the simple things look effortless because they have great foundations. That is the simple reason to use Mark Whitby. As a coach he is expert in helping recruiters and organisations focus on simple improvements to their core activities. These improvements to your foundations can make a world of difference. I look forward to working with Mark again soon.”

Ben Hanley
Director
Enigma People, Glasgow

Executive Search & Selection Firm of the Year
Commendation – Recruitment Business Awards 2010

Recruitment Company of the Year
Recruitment Business Awards 2009

IT Recruitment Agency of the Year
Recruitment Business Awards 2008 and 2009

In this one-minute video, I’ll show you how to export your Contacts in LinkedIn (including name and email address) to a spreadsheet or csv file. Once you know how, it’s very simple. However the “Export Connections” button is hidden at the bottom of the Contacts page, so it’s not immediately obvious.

Exporting your LinkedIn Connections can be useful in order to import or merge the data into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or recruitment software. Then you’ll be able to contact your LinkedIn connections directly from inside your contact management system.

I created this video in response to a question that came up during my recent webinar “Email Marketing for Recruiters.” You can get instant access to the webinar replay for just $1 here.

(NB: If you plan to export your LinkedIn connections for email marketing purposes, proceed with caution. Most people probably won’t mind, however there will be a few who may react extremely negatively. This happened to me last year when I was promoting Big Biller Summit 2010. I sent an email to all my LinkedIn contacts and one person replied: “How does this enhance our relationship other than making me want to disconnect from you?” As it happens, the guy who sent the grumpy email was somebody who’s opinion I really respect: Scott Stratten, a social media guru with 97,600 followers on Twitter. I would definately think twice before sending an email broadcast to my LinkedIn connections again.)

I’ll be posting a lot more recruitment training videos in the coming weeks – watch this space!

Watch this Video and discover 3 simple steps to stand out from the competition, grab your prospects attention in the first 60 seconds and engage them in a meaningful dialog.

Bill Joy

“Mark has been working with me as a recruitment business coach. We are an experienced team and thought we were good at what we do but Mark has lifted us to a new level and has transformed our business.

“The financial results back this up with us achieving our best year ever. Thank you, Mark!”

Bill Joy, Director
Match 2 Technical Ltd
Wellington, New Zealand

Let’s face it. Canvassing is the part of our job that most recruiters hate.

In fact, we’ll usually do almost anything to avoid it! And yet we all know that sales activity is critical to success in recruitment. So why do we tend to procrastinate when it comes to prospecting?

Although we don’t like to admit it, the main thing that holds us back is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of the unknown. The truth is that fear is a normal and healthy emotion. It’s good to be afraid in dangerous situations – it keeps us safe. However, sometimes we experience an exaggerated amount of fear that is inappropriate to the situation. Think about it – cold calling is not a life and death experience!

It’s OK to feel a bit nervous about making cold calls. Any athlete will tell you that adrenaline can help you to perform at your peak! Besides, courage is about taking action in spite of fear. The key to getting yourself to take action is to change the way you FEEL about picking up the phone.

In this series, we’ll cover fifteen tips to defeat call reluctance and get dialling!

1. Stop worrying about being perfect. We put so much pressure on ourselves to perform – no wonder we’re reluctant to pick up the phone. We’ve got performance anxiety! Take the pressure off yourself!

As Woody Allan said, “80% of success is just showing up.” Just by getting yourself to follow through and make your sales calls, you’re succeeded! If you mess up on the call, who cares? I’ve made over 10,000 sales calls and I still screw up sometimes. The most successful people are the ones who are willing to make mistakes. The only way you can not make mistakes is if you never take action – and that’s the path to ultimate failure.

2. Focus on finding the Ace of Spades. I want you to imagine that you have a list of 52 prospects to call. Now among those prospects, there are about 12 jacks, kings and queens – about 20% of them are people who are don’t currently have a need, but are good prospects to stay in touch with. Most of the prospects you call are cards you can discard. Either they’re unlikely to ever have a need, or they just won’t give you the time of day. Who cares?

There are probably about 4 aces – companies who have an immediate requirement you can help them with and who are willing to use your services. That’s only about 7.7% of the prospects in the deck, but if you keep looking they’re bound to turn up. And of the 4 aces, one of them – the ace of spades – is likely to become a repeat client who you really hit it off with and who gives you lots of business. Remember that you can’t expect to win business from everyone, and the fact is you don’t need to. All you need is a few people to say “yes” to make this process worthwhile.

3. Accept that most of the companies you call are not ready to buy from you … yet. That’s OK! The purpose of prospecting is not to close a sale, but to open a relationship. You’re building a database of warm prospects who might buy from you in the future. Write this down: “No now is not No forever.” The first call is like sowing a seed. If you keep nurturing the seeds you’ve planted, you’re going to reap the rewards come harvest time. And remember, you only ever have to make one cold call. Because the next time you phone them it will be a warm call.

4. Ask yourself, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ Shakespeare said “the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man dies but one.” Usually the thought of the thing we’re afraid of is much worse than the actual experience. Listen, what’s the worst that can happen? Let’s say you call them and they’re not interested. Who cares? There are plenty of other prospects out there.

What if they’re rude or offhand? Listen, if you’re polite and professional, most people will respond in kind. But hey, occasionally you will come across people who are just plain rude! Once in a blue moon, someone may even hang up on you– that’s happened to me before too! Can you handle that? Listen, you probably wouldn’t want their business anyway. Remind yourself that,“You can’t lose what you don’t already have.” You didn’t have their business before you made the call, you still don’t have their business, what have you lost? Absolutely nothing! You’re no worse off for having tried.

5. What would you be willing to attempt if you knew you could not fail? Among other things, you’d probably be a lot more enthusiastic about prospecting, wouldn’t you? Well I have good news for you: there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Feedback is important. It lets you know if what you’re doing is working. And it helps you to improve so you get better results the next time. So there’s really no way you can fail – except to never try in the first place.

6. Decide to let every single call be a success. Huh? Well think about it. Who decides whether a call has been a success or not? You do, of course. So why not allow yourself to feel successful more often? Listen, people like doing things that make them feel good, and avoid things that make them feel bad. So make sure you feel good about canvassing.

Here’s how.

Make a list of primary and secondary objectives. Primary objectives are what you ‘ideally’ want from the call, for example to get a requirement or an appointment. Secondary objectives are the minimum you want to take away from the call. For example: to build rapport, to gather information, to raise your profile and get your name out there, to agree a date to call back, etc. Make your list of secondary objectives really long so that you’ll always achieve at least one of your secondary objectives. In fact, one of your secondary objectives might be to screen out any prospects who are not likely to give you business. That way every call is guaranteed to be a success, even if they hang up on you – because you’ve just qualified them out, and you’ll know not to waste time with them in future!

7. Make it almost impossible to feel rejected. You never have to experience rejection again. Listen, the best salespeople never get rejected. It’s not because their prospects never say no. They just don’t consider it rejection. After all, what is rejection? It’s not an experience, it’s your interpretation of that experience. What has to happen in order for YOU to feel rejected? People often tell me, “I feel rejected whenever someone responds negatively to me – for example if they are abrupt, off-hand, or disinterested.” Why not change your definition of rejection to make it a lot harder to feel rejected?

8. Decide not to take it personally. You can’t control what other how people behave towards you. You can only control how you interpret their behaviour and how you choose to respond. If a prospect is not receptive, don’t feel bad about it. What else could it mean? Maybe you’re just speaking to the wrong person. Maybe they genuinely don’t have a need. Maybe they’re just having a bad day! It could be any number of reasons, none of which have anything to do with you.

So how can you respond from now on when a call doesn’t go as well as you would have liked? Use the “Fonz technique.” Remember the Fonz from Happy Days? He was pretty unflappable and almost immune to criticism. What was his favourite expression? Ehhhhh!

The next time you have a bad call, or someone is harsh to you, as soon as you put the phone down give yourself the thumbs up and say,“Ehhhh!”

9. Pick up some momentum. According to Newton’s laws of physics,“a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.” The hardest part is getting started! So make the first call of the day an easy one. Call an exiting client or someone who has given you business in the past. Then while you’re feeling good from the first call, move straight into your new business calls. Don’t stop until you’ve made your target number of calls. It really works!

10. Remember that your best clients were once complete strangers. Before you begin your next canvassing session, spend a few moments reflecting on your best clients – the ones you have a really strong relationship with. Remember the first time you called them? How did it feel when they actually gave you an opportunity? How many placements have you made with them since? Ask yourself the question, “Which of the people on my prospect list will become my next best client?”

11. Ask yourself empowering questions. Want to know the secret to positive thinking? Asking yourself the right questions is a fast and easy way to put yourself in a positive frame of mind. For example:

• “What do I want to achieve?”
• “Which of these companies will give me a vacancy?”
• “How many people can I help today?”
• “How can I use this time as an opportunity to serve others?”
• “How can I get the best result, and enjoy the process?”
• “How many people can I make smile today?”
• “What am I going to spend the commission on?”
• “What reward will I give myself once I’ve made my sales calls?”

12. To overcome call reluctance, use the carrot & the stick! The carrot is pleasure and the stick is pain. As Tony Robbins says, “All human behaviour is motivated by two forces – our need to avoid pain and our desire to gain pleasure. This is a survival mechanism that is hardwired into our nervous system.”

If you ever procrastinate when it comes to prospecting, it’s because at some level you associate pain to making sales calls. No amount of willpower is going to change that. Instead of trying to force yourself to do something you don’t like, you need to change your psychology so that you WANT to pick up the phone. We need to change our neuro-associations (the things our brain links pain and pleasure to) so that we associate pleasure to making sales calls, and pain to NOT doing it. Make sense? Great. Now this isn’t something you can achieve just by reading passively. It’s going to require effort and your part. If you’re serious about maximising your sales performance, then please take 5-10 minutes to do the following exercise. It’s important to write down your answers because it will reinforce the new feelings you want to create.

I want you to ask yourself two very important questions…

a) What will it cost you if you fail to canvass consistently? Write a whole paragraph right now…

What will it cost you financially – in terms of missed opportunities and lost commissions? If you don’t make as much money as you’d like, how does that affect your standard of living? What about your financial security and your ability to provide for your family? What about the lack of freedom – in the form of having fewer choices? And if your finances are suffering, what will that do to your self-esteem? What effect will it have you on your relationships? What about your career prospects? How do they look when you’re not realising your full potential? Project yourself 5 years into the future, having failed to take action in this area. Where are you in your career compared to where you could be? When you look at yourself in the mirror, who do you see looking back at you? How do you feel about that?

Really put it on yourself. Do not hold back – let the emotion come out. The more strongly you can associate to these unpleasant feelings, the more powerful this exercise will be.

OK, you’ve done the hard part. If you’ve really gone for it and done this exercise to the best of your ability, you’re probably experiencing some pain right now. Pain can be good sometimes – it can drive us to new heights of success. Every time I do this exercise it has helped me to grow and become stronger. Hopefully we now have enough pain associated to not taking action. Let’s look at the flip side:

b) How will you benefit from canvassing on a consistent basis? What will you gain financially? How will that affect your sales figures, your commission, your earnings and therefore your standard of living? What will you have able to do, have, experience, contribute by improving your financial situation? What else will you gain? How about your level of job satisfaction? Or the sense of achievement? The acknowledgement and respect of your colleagues? What about the all new contacts you’ll make? Who knows what the effect of that will have on your ultimate destiny? The contacts you make now will repay you a thousand fold throughout your career! How will achieving in this area enable you to contribute to your family, your company, your community?

What other pleasure will you get – maybe it’s the buzz of winning a new vacancy, or the adrenaline rush of persuading another human being to your point of view? Maybe it’s the satisfaction of turning up to your next team meeting with tons of new vacancies to report. Or maybe it’s the satisfaction of making a call and really connecting with someone who ultimately becomes one of your best clients. Or maybe it’s the thrill of having contact with so many new people every day. What else will you gain – project yourself 5 years into the future. By virtue of having mastered this area, what else have you been able to accomplish? What other doors have opened to you? What people and opportunities have you attracted into your life? What’s been the impact on your self-esteem? How has the affected the quality of your relationships?

OK great job! If you’ve done this exercise properly, you’ve started stoking the flames of your desire. Now if you find that your motivation ever diminishes, you can come back to this exercise and do it again, and put even more emotion into it. The more emotion you put into it, the greater the intensity of desire you’ll experience!

The reality is that I can’t motivate you, nor can your boss, nor can anyone else. The only person who can motivate you is YOU. So here’s my challenge. Now that you’ve read my 12 tips for sales motivation, which of these ideas are you actually going to apply? Make a commitment to yourself right now. Choose 1-2 actions that make sense to you, and put them into practice immediately – as in today. In fact, why not start right now? Good luck!

About the Author

Mark Whitby is the leading sales performance coach to the UK recruitment industry. He’s the best selling author of 12 audio training CDs, and delivers in-house recruitment training seminars throughout the UK and Europe.

Mark has over 12 years experience of sales, marketing and business development in both the UK and North America. Since 1997 he has recruited and trained hundreds of salespeople from trainee to director level. His clients range from small independent recruitment companies to some of the biggest names in the recruitment industry.

Over 83% of Mark’s revenue comes from repeat business. That’s because he gets measurable results for his clients in the form of increased sales, higher profits, improved staff motivation and retention. And he’s the only recruitment trainer who offers a money back guarantee.

Mark is the creator of Big Billers ClubTM – the world’s first monthly coaching programme for recruitment professionals. Every month hundreds of recruiters dial into his popular teleconference training sessions from the convenience of their own office.

Mark also provides a telephone mentoring service for owner/managers of recruitment companies who want to “work less and make more.”

For a F.REE Audio Seminar called: How to Overcome Fee Objections: 23 Great Answers for when Your Client says ‘You’re too Expensive’ visit:

www.RecruitmentCoach.com

For more information about recruitment training and coaching, please call Mark’s personal assistant Julie today on 0800 019 8899. International enquires dial +44 131 664 8064.

Download the PDF version of this article

	You have taken a detailed job order.
	Terms of business have been agreed, ideally at full fee!
	You will get a reasonable reward (fee value) for the time & effort required.
	The vacancy exists, and has been signed off.
	The vacancy is URGENT.
	The candidate exists – i.e. the client has realistic expectations.
	You have decision-maker contact.
	Co-operative employer – will return your calls, provide good feedback, interview your candidates, etc.
	Client is committed to the process, and to YOU. Preferably this involves limiting the competition, e.g. exclusivity, head start on the competition, agreed interview dates prior to sending CVs, etc.
	Mutual trust and respect.

Comments:

• These 10 characteristics set the conditions for success in your favour and maximise your chances of filling the position. Evaluate every vacancy against the above checklist. If it does not meet your criteria, contact the client and address any deficiencies prior to commencing work on the assignment.
• If you are unable to resolve any of these issues to your satisfaction, you need to ask yourself “is this project worth working on?” Your time may be better spent finding another vacancy to work on.
• Ideally the Job Order should be taken face to face. This gives you the greatest opportunity to influence the above characteristics.

About the Author
Mark Whitby is the leading sales performance coach to the UK recruitment industry. He’s the best selling author of 12 audio training CDs, and delivers in-house recruitment training seminars throughout the UK and Europe.

Mark has over 12 years experience of sales, marketing and business development in both the UK and North America. Since 1997 he has recruited and trained hundreds of salespeople from trainee to director level. His clients range from small independent recruitment companies to some of the biggest names in the recruitment industry. Over 83% of Mark’s revenue comes from repeat business. That’s because he gets measurable results for his clients in the form of increased sales, higher profits, improved staff motivation and retention. And he’s the only recruitment trainer who offers a money back guarantee.

Mark is the creator of Big Billers ClubTM – the world’s first monthly coaching programme for recruitment professionals. Every month hundreds of recruiters dial into his popular teleconference training sessions from the convenience of their own office. Mark also provides a telephone mentoring service for owner/managers of recruitment companies who want to “work less and make more.”

For a F.REE Audio Seminar called: How to Overcome Fee Objections: 23 Great Answers for when Your Client says ‘You’re too Expensive’ visit: www.RecruitmentCoach.com

For more information about training and coaching, please call Mark’s personal assistant Julie today on 0800 019 8899. International enquires dial +44 131 664 8064.

Download the PDF version of this article

Would you rather make 100 calls with a 5% success rate – or 25 calls with a 20% success rate? Before you invest any more time & energy cold calling, make sure you’re being as effective as possible. Which of the following mistakes are you making? Be honest with yourself, and make a decision to do something about it. Don’t try to completely change what you’re doing … instead focus on improving one thing at a time.

1. Not making business development a priority. Schedule time for business development every day ideally – or at least 3 days per week. Stick to your schedule, even when you’re “too busy.” Consistency is the key. Remember – just 10 new contacts per day is 2400 per year!

2. Not putting yourself in a positive mindset: Your success in canvassing is at least 50% psychology. What state must you be in to be effective at canvassing? Confident? Enthusiastic? Motivated? Resourceful? Cheerful? Energetic?

It’s not good enough to ‘canvass when you feel like it.’ You must be able to access those positive emotions on cue. Start with your physiology – sit how you’d be sitting if you felt energized and unstoppable. You might need to stand up for this! Breathe how you would breathe if you felt relaxed and confident. Put a smile on your face!

Now focus on the results you want – imagine clients being warm and receptive. Think of a time when a cold call turned into one of your best clients.

3. Calling the wrong prospects: Rather than making random canvass calls, be strategic about who you call. Decide who your target market is. What is the profile of your ideal client? Identify companies who fit that profile. Prepare a prospect list made up of companies who you know have a requirement, and/or companies who are likely to have future potential.

Call your hottest prospects first! At the end of each day, invest 15 minutes to create your call list for the following day.

4. Not setting clear objectives: Unless you know what you’re aiming for, you’re unlikely to hit the bullseye. What are your primary and secondary objectives? Is it a vacancy? A client visit? An interview? Get clear on your objectives before picking up the phone.

5. Lack of preparation: The best way to reduce the pressure of cold calling is to decide in advance what you want to say. There’s a big difference between reading a script and working from a script. A carefully thought out word-track gives you a framework to fall back on. So rather than worrying about what to say, you can focus your attention on listening to your prospect and building incredible rapport.

6. Not speaking to the decision maker: Don’t bother selling to secretaries – they have the power to say ‘no’ but not the power to say ‘yes.’ Unless you’re dealing with the real decision-maker, your ability to influence the client’s buying behaviour is minimal. And don’t assume you must go through the HR department. Target line management first. Don’t be afraid to start from the top down. If you call the Managing Director and she tells you to speak to line manager, you can call the line manager and say “your MD suggested I call you.”

7. Not setting yourself activity targets: In order to stay focused, it’s critical to set yourself targets – targets for number of call attempts, decision makers contacted, new vacancies, client visits arranged, etc. These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will help you help you stay on track. They give you a benchmark against which to measure your success and help you identify areas for improvement. Record your daily activity and review your progress weekly.

8. Having a weak opening statement: Your opening statement must capture the prospects attention in the first 10-20 seconds. Craft an opening statement that generates interest and reduces resistance. Don’t try to sell your service in the opening statement. The sole purpose of your opening statement is to grab the person’s attention and move them quickly to the questioning phase of the call. This should include your name, company and the key benefit or result you provide.

9. Asking too many closed questions: In order to have a meaningful conversation with someone, you need to ask them plenty of open questions. If you met someone at a party and wanted to make an impression, would you a) tell them all about yourself and how great you are, or b) demonstrate a genuine interest in them by asking them questions about him or herself? Obviously the answer is B! So write yourself a list of at least a dozen open questions that you can ask your prospects.

Hint: Most of them will begin with the words “what” and “how.”

10. Giving up too easily: The biggest cause of failure among sales people is giving up too soon:

48% quit after the first contact
20% quit after the second contact
7% quit after the third contact
5% quit after the forth contact
4% quit after the fifth contact

And yet 80% of customers say “yes” after the sixth contact! Many clients will not buy from you on the first call. And that’s OK! At least they are aware of you now and you’ve started to build a relationship. However they will very quickly forget you! Unless you follow up, your call has been a complete waste of effort. You’ve already done the hard work of cold calling. The next time it will be a warm call! Keep them in your sights and stay in touch by phone, letter and email.

About the Author
Mark Whitby is the leading sales performance coach to the UK recruitment industry. He’s the best selling author of 12 audio training CDs, and delivers in-house recruitment training  seminars throughout the UK and Europe.

Mark has over 12 years experience of sales, marketing and business development in both the UK and North America. Since 1997 he has recruited and trained hundreds of salespeople from trainee to director level. His clients range from small independent recruitment companies to some of the biggest names in the recruitment industry. Over 83% of Mark’s revenue comes from repeat business. That’s because he gets measurable results for his clients in the form of increased sales, higher profits, improved staff motivation and retention. And he’s the only recruitment trainer who offers a money back guarantee.

Mark is the creator of Big Billers ClubTM – the world’s first monthly coaching programme for recruitment professionals. Every month hundreds of recruiters dial into his popular teleconference training sessions from the convenience of their own office. Mark also provides a telephone mentoring service for owner/managers of recruitment companies who want to “work less and make more.”

For a F.REE Audio Seminar called: How to Overcome Fee Objections: 23 Great Answers for when Your Client says ‘You’re too Expensive’ visit: www.RecruitmentCoach.com

For more information about recruitment training and coaching, please call Mark’s personal assistant Julie today on 0800 019 8899. International enquires dial +44 131 664 8064.

Download the PDF version of this article

1.  Statistics show that if you accept a counter offer, it is highly probably that you will be back on the job market within 6 months.

2. The underlying reasons that caused you to consider a change are likely to repeat themselves in the future.

3. What kind of company waits until you threaten to resign before they agree to pay you what you’re worth?

4. Where is the money for the counter offer coming from? Could it just be an advance on your next rise? Are you ever likely to get another
rise again?

5. Your employer is now aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.

6. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal, and who was not.

7. When times get tough and your employer makes cutbacks, the people with inflated salaries and a perceived lack of commitment will be the first to go.

8. Your company is likely to being looking for your replacement immediately, in case you decide to resign again.

About the Author

Mark Whitby is the leading sales performance coach to the UK recruitment industry. He’s the best selling author of 12 audio training CDs, and delivers in-house recruitment training seminars throughout the UK and Europe.

Mark has over 12 years experience of sales, marketing and business development in both the UK and North America. Since 1997 he has recruited and trained hundreds of salespeople from trainee to director level. His clients range from small independent recruitment companies to some of the biggest names in the recruitment industry.

Over 83% of Mark’s revenue comes from repeat business. That’s because he gets measurable results for his clients in the form of increased sales, higher profits, improved staff motivation and retention. And he’s the only recruitment trainer who offers a money back guarantee.

Mark is the creator of Big Billers ClubTM – the world’s first monthly coaching programme for recruitment professionals. Every month hundreds of recruiters dial into his popular teleconference training sessions from the convenience of their own office.

Mark also provides a telephone mentoring service for owner/managers of recruitment companies who want to “work less and make more.”

For a F.REE Audio Seminar called: How to Overcome Fee Objections: 23 Great Answers for when Your Client says ‘You’re too Expensive’ visit: www.RecruitmentCoach.com

For more information about training and coaching, please call Mark’s personal assistant Julie today on 0800 019 8899. International enquires dial +44 131 664 8064.

Download the PDF version of this article

There are only 3 fundamental ways to grow your recruitment desk:

1. Generate more vacancies
2. Convert more vacancies into placements
3. Increase the average value of each placement

If you run a temp desk, your average fee value = [weekly margin] x [average number of

weeks the contract lasts]. Obviously if you manage a division, there is a fourth dimension

to this model – you can also increase your billings by hiring more recruitment consultants.

Illustration

Assuming a consultant deals with 100 vacancies in a year, and turns 25% of them into

placements worth £4,000 on average, she will produce £100,000.

Big Results from Small Improvements

A small 10% improvement in any one of these factors produces a £10,000 increase in total
revenue. This example shows a 10% increase in conversion of vacancies into placements:

The Secret of Exponential Growth

A 10% improvement in all three factors produces a massive 33.1% increase, or £33,100.

Exercise

a) Fill in your own numbers below:

b) Now increase each of your numbers by 10% and see what happens to your total

revenue:

About the Author

Mark Whitby is the leading sales performance coach to the UK recruitment industry.

He’s the best selling author of 12 audio training CDs, and delivers in-house recruitment training seminars
throughout the UK and Europe.

Mark has over 12 years experience of sales, marketing and business development in

both the UK and North America. Since 1997 he has recruited and trained hundreds of

salespeople from trainee to director level. His clients range from small independent

recruitment companies to some of the biggest names in the recruitment industry.

Over 83% of Mark’s revenue comes from repeat business. That’s because he gets

measurable results for his clients in the form of increased sales, higher profits, improved

staff motivation and retention. And he’s the only recruitment trainer who offers a

money back guarantee.

Mark is the creator of Big Billers ClubTM – the world’s first monthly coaching

programme for recruitment professionals. Every month hundreds of recruiters dial into

his popular teleconference training sessions from the convenience of their own office.

Mark also provides a telephone mentoring service for owner/managers of recruitment

companies who want to “work less and make more.”

For a F.REE Audio Seminar called: How to Overcome Fee Objections: 23 Great

Answers for when Your Client says ‘You’re too Expensive’ visit:

www.RecruitmentCoach.com

For more information about training and coaching, please call Mark’s personal assistant

Julie today on 0800 019 8899. International enquires dial +44 131 664 8064.

Download the PDF version of this article