I am often asked to identify for prospective members or our Board of Directors why some split fee partners succeed while others fail.  New recruiters come into a recruitment network to expand their reach, build their revenues, and to better serve clients and candidates.  Not everyone “makes it” to the point of success.  Globally, most successful split trading partners are:

· Learners:  The most successful are learners.  They ask lots of questions and want to understand how they can do the right things to succeed.  They look to see what others are doing and they model the behaviors of others.  Rarely are they “I do it this way” kind of recruiters. 

· Seeking Feedback:  They are open to feedback and seek it out.  They want to know what they are doing that is good and do more of it.  They also want to know what is not helping and they want to stop doing it. 

· Experimenters:  Successful recruiters will often try things that they have not done before if they think it might produce a better result.  They are open to change and experimentation on process.

· Trusting and Trustworthy:  They are willing to offer trust.  They are also doing all the right things to make themselves trustworthy.

· Productive:  They do not waste time on worry or complaining.  They take action on good ideas rather than waiting for perfection to move forward.

· Accepting of Technology:  They may not be the most high-tech people but they are willing to use technology when it is a tool that saves time and is used by others. 

· Committed:  They do what they plan to do and do what they say they will do.

Those that fail are often doing these things:

· Defining Success Wrong.  Sometimes recruiters define success by the ease of achieving it.  Only easy wins are successes.  Splitting fees is tough work and requires that you do at least half the work to get half the fee.  Still others view success as a competitive win-lose proposition.  Neither of these will lead to long-lasting success in an environment that requires give-and-take or cooperation. 

· Defeating Themselves.  On occasion recruiters can take on a negative attitude about others and about the challenge ahead.  Not working hard, not doing what you say you will do, looking for shortcuts, not communicating and a host of other negative approaches will defeat the potentially successful recruiter before they reach the point of success.  It will cut short blooming relationships and end others before they start. 

· Thinking of Failure as Final.  Recruiting is like selling.  Every “NO” gets you that much closer to a “YES.”  Successful split partners know that every deal will not go their way.  That 3 out of 5 attempts end in no deal for either party to a split.  You need to be attempting many deals to get one.  So taking failure personally or accepting it as final will ensure failure and prevent success.

Think about the most successful people you know in our industry.  Try to model their styles and behaviors more often.  Think of all the great trainers we have in our industry.  Those folks represent a collection of people with great approaches to work and to life.  I am certain you have a favorite.  They are doing the things that would make us all successful if we were willing to commit to doing them.  Time to recommit to success in splitting or just in recruitment.

Here’s to your success!