As a management consultant and trainer to the industry, I look at our industry and how it functions from a unique perspective.  I consider myself more of a student of the business rather than a trainer. I want to find out why things work so that I can develop a model that is duplicable among average people so that average people can achieve above-average billings.  It’s a unique way to teach the business and is  a different style compared to all the other trainers.  I know there are a lot of great trainers out there that are incredibly talented and use that talent to achieve success in the business.  The problem with this is that most people just don’t have that same level of natural talent.  Most of the people I have encountered in the search and staffing business are average people like me.  So if you weren’t born with the smarts of many of the industry gurus, how can you achieve success in the business?

You have to follow a system.  A system is a pattern or a model of doing something that can be replicated.  Consider it a recipe or a formula. If one person follows the recipe for making a cake and another person three states away follows it the same way, they will achieve similar results.

We can also incorporate reasons for failure into our systems thinking.  Look at what has kept other people from achieving in our business, and use those patterns as warning signs.

Recruiters fail because:

This might be the most important reason why people fail in recruiting.  Desire will always outperform natural talent.  If you don’t believe me, then remember the story your mamma told you about the tortoise and the hare.  Whoever wants to win the most usually does, especially in a recession.  If you want to win, then you never pay the price of success.  You enjoy the price.   It never ceases to amaze me how many recruiters expect their boss to spoon-feed them training and to pay for it all. Champions take responsibility for their own training and aren’t afraid to invest in it. Go to the book store today with a $100 bill and buy a bunch of sales books for yourself. Take ownership of your performance and it will start improving right away.

Hey, this one’s my favorite because it is one of my biggest personal challenges.  I try to solve it by writing down my weekly and daily targets.  Ask yourself, ‘If I only accomplished only three things this week/day and considered myself still a success, what would they be?’  You can also use the weekly tracking sheet on the free downloads section on my site to help you with this.