One of the most frequent questions I get asked by those in the recruiting and staffing industry is how I achieved a million dollars in yearly production on a desk and more importantly, how I stayed there annually while I was running a multimillion dollar office? If you think the answer was because I was naturally talented, had exceptional salesmanship or was smarter than the average recruiter, nothing would be farther from the truth. 

The answer is really not rocket science; there is a definite way to achieve your goals and desired level of success in life. It’s simple, yet so powerful. My formula for success consists of two components, each of which is equally important and one without the other would not lead to the desired results. They are interdependent and both needed to achieve success. 

1. Set a goal and be willing to do whatever it takes to attain it. 

Setting a realistic goal of what you want to achieve is the first step in the process. If you stop there however, chances are great that you won’t achieve what you want. People often mistake the setting and defining of goals as the complete process and are not familiar with what it really involves. The better you are at goal setting, the better chance you have of achieving them. For the latest in research on goal setting and achieving all of your life dreams – go to www.rpmdashboard.com. Click on the ”Library tab” to download the free RPM Goal Setting Work Sheet. It will give you complete details on how to set and achieve any goal in life, not just recruiting stuff. 

Once you set a goal, you have to be “willing” to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. For me, that meant talking to other Million Dollar producers and really learning what they did in order to achieve that dollar volume. I talked to these million dollar producers in-depth. Every detail was important. I gathered information, compared the information, sifted through what I thought was the Pareto principles and put them to work. What was interesting is that there were many commonalities. I was encouraged knowing that it was a repeatable process but knowing what to do is only the first step. 

I knew in order to achieve my goal of billing over a million per year that not only did I have to know what to do, but I had to be “willing” to do it. That was the tough part. I knew it would be challenging and failure was not an option. I decided to go a step further to assure my success and I aligned myself with one of the most experienced people in the recruiting industry, Pat Scopelliti, and hired him as a my personal coach to teach me the recruiting business as a Manager as well as an individual producer. For two years we studied recruiting and the industry in detail, the entire sales process and the main concepts of maximum performance in recruiting. I then implemented the best practices in my own individual production as well as in my office. 

One of the main best practices and from my perspective, the most meaningful, was the relentless pursuit of the numbers. Without knowing where you are, you will never have any idea of how to get to where you want to be. This is the most critical step in goal achievement and leads to the second component of my success formula: 

2. Relentless Pursuit of the metrics 

Whether you are a professional baseball player, a company CEO, a world class sprinter or an Account Executive in recruiting, your success or failure will ultimately lie in the numbers. From day one I learned the importance of knowing and paying attention to all key metrics and ratios in recruiting. The Quantity metrics told us how much time we were spending in the market place and the ratios told how well it was being done. I am a firm believer that recruiting is not an art, it is a science. It is a numbers game and the better you understand the performance metrics and how to make adjustments to the numbers the faster you can see improvement and make an impact to your bottom line. 

It is not enough however to just track the metrics. To reach the higher levels of performance, it is also necessary to be able to evaluate the data in a timely manner to quickly spot trouble areas and to be able to make immediate corrections. My pursuit of the metrics over the past several years has led me to take it to the next level with the development of RPM, Revenue Performance Management. RPM is an interactive dashboard system that gives recruiters the ability to track, evaluate critical areas and tweak performance on the spot. If you are serious about achieving your goals and ultimate level of success, check out www.rpmdashboard.com for the latest in recruiting performance management. 

It’s not complicated to become a Million Dollar Producer. But from most people’s perspective, it isn’t easy either. Setting a goal is only the beginning, you then have to be willing to do what you need to do to achieve that goal and really pay close attention to your metrics. My advice to all who want to take on the challenge – be a student of the game – set your goals, align yourself with the top producers to be familiar with what they do to be successful, develop a thorough knowledge and understanding of the metrics and take advantage of the tools and resources that can make an impact in your performance over night. The rewards will be worth it!