If you’re looking for the single biggest needle-mover for your billings and cash-in, that will skyrocket your practice while the rest of the market is running scared, read on…

Here’s the deal:

Back before recruitment became the huge industry that it is now, the concept of a direct hire fee was largely unknown to all but recruiters and their clients. Even many candidates didn’t know how we were paid.

Such was the air of mystery surrounding the industry that my first mentor in this business told me to NEVER tell clients how we recruit, and to only send resumes AFTER you set up the interview.

And as a ‘smile n’ dial’ recruiter who had only just learned what direct hire fees were, to learn of these shadowy recruiters who (according to legend) had clients pay them upfront before even getting out of bed to start the search…well, needless to say I was fascinated.

I wanted to learn this dark art for myself, and despite what trainers would tell me (“Know your worth, and tell them you only work with money upfront.”) I was never able to actually make it work.

Prospects have a lot of options, and I just didn’t know how to move a client from a contingency-based mindset to a retainer-based mindset without resorting to preying on their desperation to get their critical opening filled yesterday.

So I always wondered: how do retained recruiters get, well, retained clients? It wasn’t until years later when I grew more nuanced in my thinking when I realized that it’s not that hard to sell retainers.

…to clients who are already looking for a retained recruiter.

It seems obvious when you look at it from this angle; selling retained search isn’t terribly difficult when you work in a retained firm, working with clients who are already looking to work with a retained recruiter on executive leadership roles.

As a result, these retained recruiters compete against 3 or 4 other retained firms, and that’s an entirely different kind of ‘sell’ that’s not applicable to contingency recruiters trying to move their clients up into the retained world.

Persuading an executive that you’re the best choice when they’re already looking for a retained option, is miles different from persuading an executive to pay a deposit when they’re looking for a contingent recruiter.

….even if paying a deposit is the smart move in their case.

Selling the benefits of a retained model to clients who have a contingency mindset is a completely different animal.

Just to be clear: when I’m talking about retainers I don’t necessarily mean fully retained work (third deposit up front, another third at a mid-point milestone, and the final third upon hiring the candidate).

I’m talking about higher level search; going from contingency to exclusive contingency, or from exclusive contingency to engaged search where they pay an upfront deposit only with contingency on the back-end, or from engaged search to fully retained.

So why is this relevant to those of you hardening your defenses for a rocky economy in 2023?

The obvious answer is moving from a 10-20% fill rate to 80%+, and what it can do for your cashflow.

But for the insightful among you who see the true lesson, it’s about how to move from ‘order-taker:’ “You need a widget? I gotta widget!” to ‘real influencer:’ “You need a widget? Let’s see if that’s truly your best option.” …as you sell the client on a different product that better solves their problem than a widget ever could.

This means…