Introduction

This book has a single purpose: to enable you, the experiencedrecruiter, to rapidly and substantially increase your production!

How can this be achieved by a professional with years in our business?

The reality is that almost all experienced recruiters follow a specific pattern in their learning curve. In the beginning, whether by talent, hard work, good training or plain luck, they progress rapidly. New ideas, new clients, exciting concepts!Success! But then what

Then, at some point, “newness” will change to ”sameness.”  The learning curve slows — a lot. There is a strong tendency to go on automatic. Improvement becomes gradual, marginal. Work a little harder. Plan a little better. Build the database of candidates. Pick up an extra client here or there to compensate for those accounts which fade. This can be somewhat effective — if your market does notchange.

Half Learning

But there's another reality that we have to acknowledge. The facts are that almost all recruiters, even the most successful, only half learn this business! Don’t resistthat statement.  It’s true.

Most recruiters do not thoroughly learn each element of our business. In many instances, they learn just enough to get by. And because they are hard-working and because we fill such a critical need for our clients, they mostly do well. But is that the best way to maximize your production?

Let’s take an example.

Suppose there were ten good ways to obtain new clients. (There are,  and they’re covered in my book Unlimited Clients!) Now suppose a  new person is taught fourof these techniques by his manager. Suppose he  discards one as ineffective, which leaves him with three ways to generate  new accounts. These three work, and he uses them to become relatively successful.

Will he be motivated to find and learn other methods to maximize client growth? Or will he think he “knows it all,” and lose the benefits he would see through more creative techniques? You know the answer.

Let’s take another example.

Suppose that same person starts in a strong economic climate, and  learns and practices what he is taught. He goes on to fame and fortune, and becomes successful. Then the market changes, and his billings drop significantly.

Will he analyze each step of the recruiting process to determine what changes he should make to adapt?

Or will he keep hammering away, working harder, longer, possibly better, bututilizing the same techniques with now progressively lesser results?

We could walk through a dozen examples just like this.

In point of fact, there are many innovative and effective ways to explode your production! Most of them require no extra time in the office and no extra phone calls.

Developing experienced recruiters is my business. In this new edition of Breakthrough 2.0!, you’ll find many new chapters as well as substantially updated sections. I’ve got stacks of letters – or emails, anyway – from recruiters in 33 countries attesting to the fact that this material works to increase the billings of top producers. It will do so for you.

The Topics Are Right For You!

Are you developing a new niche, or do you want to expand your existing  one? You’ll find the chapters entitled “Organizing and Developing Your Client Base” tobe extremely beneficial.

Is your market less-than-good, or do you worry that it may decline? Then you’ll find answers in the two chapters on “Achieving Strong Billings in Any Market.”

Having trouble with difficult clients? Try the sections on “Motivating the Client toSell” and “Testing the Search.”

Do you want a genuinely new thought process to increase your production? See the chapter entitled “The Dead Questions.”  

Is revenue inconsistent, up one quarter and down another? Try the chapter entitled“Managing the Process.”

In fact, that’s what you’ll get from start to finish. Not generalities or back-to-basics for new people. You’ll get original, proven advanced-level material that deliversgreatly increased production for you, the experienced recruiter.

As Peter Drucker wrote in his exceptional book Managing for Results,  “This is a ‘what to do and how to do it’ book.”

A Common Sales Phenomenon

Even if you’re not a superstar, if you’re experienced, you’ll probably be  makingsome pretty good money. The problem with making good money  is the tendency to believe you “know it all,” and,  if you don’t, that no one else does either.

I’d like to refer you to a phenomenon observed by a sales trainer in a different field, that of retail selling. His name is John Lawhon. His book Selling Retail is not only the best-selling book in his industry, but is a genuinely excellent book in any field.

Part of Lawhon’s research included a cross-country trip during which he interviewed hundreds of retail sales people. His ground  rules called for interviewing equal numbers of high and low-volume producers working for the same company on the same sales floor. Here is an observation he drew:

“I got a curious reaction from those sales people I talked to who  were low-volume producers. Whenever I mentioned a simple technique or two used successfully by high-volume producers, their reaction was always the same.‘That wouldn’t work for me!’ It was obvious that those who weren’t in the topof their sales organization often were unwilling to change.

However, my experience with the highest-volume sales people was equally revealing. Whenever I mentioned even the most minor fine-tuning, without exception they got excited and couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of itthemselves.”

The same observation absolutely applies to our industry!

Really top producers want to learn. Experienced successful people in our industry – or those wishing to become so – have been my most consistent clients throughout my career. They know effective material when they see it. They recognize it, learn it and use it.

Breakthrough!2.0 will not let you down! This book will truly allow you to explodeyour production throughout a long and successful career!

Finkel's new book is available in hard copy or digital download at his website, stevefinkel.com