One Question Recruiters Should Ask Themselves Every Day

Gary Stauble is the principal consultant for The Recruiting Lab, a coaching firm that helps firm owners and solo recruiters become more productive. And one of the major areas that Stauble stresses to clients is that of planning.

According to Stauble, planning is something that’s very simple to incorporate into your everyday activities. However, some recruiters avoid it like the plague.

“For many people, planning is a snooze-inducing topic that they’re tired of discussing,” said Stauble. “In a way, it’s like losing weight. If you want to lose weight, you need to do two simple things: eat less and exercise more. Planning is the same way. It’s so simple and straightforward—plan meticulously and you’ll bill a lot more—that many people overlook it.”

Even how you execute your planning can be very simple, proving that effective planning revolves more around the proper mindset than it does anything else.

“I know of a $1 million producer who used legal pads, index cards, and a simple database for planning and contact management,” said Stauble. “But he meticulously planned each and every call in advance.”

The important thing to realize about planning is that you can apply it to just about anything. You can plan your year, your month, your week, your day, or even your next hour.

In fact, when it comes to success in recruiting, planning by the hour is a good idea.

“If you make 10 to 15 calls in an hour, that was a well-planned hour, generally speaking,” said Stauble. “If you’ve planned well, you can make one call after another with virtually no paper shuffling in between.”

The question recruiters should ask is . . .

According to Stauble, when you’re planning your calls, there’s a particular order they should be made. In other words, they should be planned in a certain fashion.

“The first calls of the day must be your ‘money calls,’” said Stauble. “These include referrals, debriefings, preps, closing, and follow-up.”

No matter how you approach your planning, though, whether it’s more general (monthly or weekly) or more specific (daily or even hourly), there’s one question recruiters should ask that is central to the planning process: “What’s the fastest way to a send-out?”

“What leads to placements? Quality send-outs,” said Stauble. “When planning, this should be the central question on your mind.”

In short, this is the one question recruiters should ask themselves every single day!

— — —

Gary Stauble, a guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog, is the principal consultant for The Recruiting Lab, a coaching company that assists firm owners and solo recruiters in generating more profit in less time. For more information or to schedule a complimentary coaching session, visit www.therecruitinglab.com or call 408.849.4756.