Selling Exclusives And Retainers
Three types of retained search: 1) Fully engaged retainer search. 1/3 1/3 1/3 plus expenses 2) Performance-based retainer search. Fee (1/3) Accept Start Date 3) Engagement fee (partial fee paid, balance is contingency). Don't ever tell your clients it's 'Container' or 'Retingency'
Two Types of Exclusives: 1) Exclusively you and no other sources 2) Exclusively you and no other recruiters.
When it is appropriate to sell a retainer? 1. Difficult search. 2. Risky client. 3. You have high activity and this is a new client. 4. You can walk away from the search and know that it won t hurt you.
S P I N: Situation Problem Implication Need / Payoff
Professional Personal Positive Grow office revenues by 25 % I m next in line for a promotion and I ll probably get it. Negative Our competitor will get the business and we lose marketshare. I ll probably have to send you my resume because I will be out of a job.
Once you have followed this model, you can't sell anything unless you can know they believe you can solve your problem and that they trust you. Explain your process so it 'stacks the value'.
"For that we charge a one-time fee of 30% of first-year's guaranteed compensation, and we charge an up front engagement fee which is deducted from the balance of the search once the candidate starts. Our engagement fee for this search would be $7500, and like I said, that amount will be deducted from the total fee once the candidate shows up."
Listen for: 1) Agreement. Okay. What happens next? Take charge and lead them forward. STOP SELLING. 2) At this point we will need to schedule some time to go over the specs of the search in great detail, probably about thirty minutes worth of your time. 3) I will email you our retained fee agreement and put our fedex account number on there so you can go ahead and process payment quickly and we can get started on this right away. Once we receive the retainer we will commence the search.
Listen for: 1) Concerns. Well, we ve never paid a firm a retainer before. 2) Concerns: Well, we ve had a bad experience by doing this once before. 3) So what happens if we pay you a fee and you don t find us a candidate? 4) Question -- Isolate -- Close -- Move forward
Overcoming concerns / Benefits: If you partner with me on this exclusively, that does three things for you: 1. First it gives you accountability. If you give a contingency search to several firms, you have no idea who is really working on it or even if they really are working on it. When you hire me on this, I am actively working on it and we have progress reviews as we to through the process.
2. Second, it gives you access to the best candidates. The best ones aren t on the job boards. They are the ones that most people can t get to. If I call them up and tell them that I m working exclusively on this, then if they are a good candidate and are concerned about confidentiality and are hesitant about going forward, then they feel safe with me. They know that I am not going to give their information to anyone else.
3. Third, it makes your opportunity sound more appealing. Because I tell them I am working on it exclusively, it elevates the perception of your opportunity, and sometimes that s just enough to open up the mind of a superstar, and if I can do that, then you have better odds of getting them in your office for an interview.
More Word tracks - Verbiage to Sell Retainers or Exclusivity: I want to give this search out to multiple recruiters. Michael, you re probably thinking that if you give this search to multiple recruiters, you think that with the more people looking, the better the odds are of finding a candidate, right? Sure.
If I were in your shoes, that might make sense to me, too. But that s kind of like setting up a long line of fishing poles along the side of a river. A better strategy would be to partner with a single professional fisherman who knows where the fish are, where the really good ones are, what time of day to chase them, how to catch them, how to maneuver the lure and how to land them in the boat. Landing a good candidate is my core competency, to actually get them to come on your team. Does that makes sense? Uh huh.
The problem with having so many recruiters work on your assignment is that there is a finite universe of potential candidates and they re going to cross over each other. You ll have one recruiter talk to a candidate on Monday about your job, another one talk to that same candidate on Tuesday, another one on Wednesday, and by the time I reach him he thinks that something is wrong with your company because nobody wants to work there. That might not be the case, but that s what he s thinking. He s thinking that nobody wants to work for your company.
Other Issues We ve already given this to another contingency firm. 1. How many candidates have you received? How many are viable? Are you interested in any of them? How long have they had the assignment? Do they communicate regularly with you? 2. Engage us in the search, if they still have candidates, have them present the candidates to us and we split the fee 50/50. You don t slow down the process and they are still compensated for the work they do.
Your Action Plan: Everything is situational! 1. Deal Flow and Cash Flow must be in place!!! 2. Next assignment you come across with new client, present retainer. 3. Continue making consistent placements with existing clients. 4. Policy: all new clients are retained. 5. Convert old contingency clients to retained.
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