There’s a ton of buzz going on about the elephant in the room. You know what I mean...let’s not kid ourselves. Not one recruiter or placer I know is not at least concerned about what they are hearing and reading.

Ninety five percent of our effectiveness in this business is the direct result of how we think. There’s a Biblical passage which says “as a man thinketh...so is he” (of course, this applies to women also). Few occupations exist where this has greater application than in ours. If you live in fear...you will be afraid. If you live in confidence, you will be confident. If you think of yourself as effective, you will be effective.

I remember sitting in a morning meeting in 1990, the day after it was officially announced by our government that we were in a recession, and would be for quite a while. All ten of our $200k (+) annual cash in producers (great production for that time) were afraid. This was where managerial leadership played a big role in our not experiencing a single hiccup in our production over the next twelve months. Our manager had worked a desk during 1973...where cars lined up for gas and mortgages were at 22%...and he gave us what we needed, and what his manager had given him before that:

“All you need to focus on is the call you are making right now, and the person with whom you are speaking during that call.” He was one hundred percent on target. We continued to bill great numbers and even had a record month.

When it’s all said and done, the only thing that really counts in our business is who you are selling to at any specific moment in time. The person on the other end of the line could be looking to hire, looking to lay off workers, or looking for a new job, all of which we provide services for. Even when there’s many “laying off” and “looking for work” responses, the “looking to hire” responses are out there. The problem is you will miss the opportunities if you are not prepared for them...if your thinking is not straight.

People fail because they allow their thinking to be influenced by all the “noise”...all the negatives they hear. Turn on any news program, all you will hear is noise...and most of it bad. Turn off the noise! You will have a much better day if you never watch television, listen to the radio, read the papers, or surf the net. This isn’t “rah rah” motivational stuff here...it’s factual. If you listen to the noise, it will affect your productivity in a negative way. If you ignore the noise, you will be more productive.

Success is always assured if you simply pick up the phone and call people...and sell them one at a time. Tune out the noise...and keep your number of calls up.