Go back to the basics. I’m sure you have heard this line multiple times over your tenure as a recruiter, but what does it actually mean? It’s defined as returning to a simpler way of doing something or thinking about something.
Recruiting is hectic and chaotic. Most days you feel overwhelmed. There’s really no escaping this truth, but there are ways to shed the complexities and become more effective. Over complicating recruiting can be detrimental to mission success and your overall health. I firmly believe simplicity is the key. Recruiting can be extremely complex, but it’s also “easy” at its core. A recruiter needs to focus on three things:
Prospecting
Processing
Service After the Sale
I plan on diving deep into each of these categories in future blogs, but I want to keep it focused on the basics on this particular blog. So, let’s discuss each topic and how you can make these topics easier for you.
Prospecting: The activity of identifying and contacting potential customers to generate new business. These are your day-to-day activities that you have full control over.
Processing: A systematic, multistep approach that enables recruiters to close the deal and enlist a new service member into the ranks. This includes appointments, paperwork, and MEPS.
Service After the Sale: Any support provided to a newly enlisted service member after they have already enlisted into military service. At the end of the day, it’s caring for and taking care of your newly enlisted member.
So how do we get back to the basics? I have a 3 step solution:
Step 1- Identify the things that you do that add to the complexity and chaos of your day. Create a plan to reduce or to manage these things to better work in your favor. Do you really need to build an entire packet for a waiver? Do you really need to meet with a lead multiple times to commit to join or can it be reduced to less? Does area canvassing really produce the intended results or can it be improved? Essentially, get rid of or improve the task in your daily plan if it doesn’t fall into the one of the top 3 areas.
Step 2- Understand what makes the largest impact in your area and make it habitual. Habits are a usual way of behaving or a tendency that someone has settled into. The largest impacts should be a repetitive task in your day-to-day activities. If it’s not broke, then why fix it? But if it is broke then why are you still doing it? Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” Work on what works. As an example, tele-prospecting. You can make phone calls at 1000 and only connect with two leads, but the same phone calls at 1530 could result in 10+ lead contacts. Find what could work and modify it to make the largest impact for you.
Step 3- Simplify your approach. Prospecting has a multitude of paths that you have at your disposal. Tele-prospecting, social media, direct mail, email blasts, area canvassing, etc. Some of those paths will never work in your area. You can create a daily plan that fits in the largest impacts of prospecting and then simplify it by reducing the “noise” of the Army stuff and by becoming more organized. Same things with MEPS. There’s a process that MEPS requires. Certain forms and time hacks for projections. They tell you up front. Modify what you are doing to make it simpler. You can do this by becoming more organized or even managing your time more wisely.
I have created a path that turns recruiting into a checklist, in an attempt, to return to the basics. A recruiter will be successful so long as it is implemented properly. The next blog, on or around January 4th, will be 100% about prospecting and I will share the tools and checklists that I have implemented to make your life easier. I will post photos of the checklists into the app as well and I can also email them directly to you. You just have to ask. This next blog will be for members only as I do not want my tips and tricks to go to just anyone. Trust me… it’s worth the $5. Until next time.
BLUF: Recruiting can be crazy. It can be chaotic. I agree with those statements wholeheartedly, but as a service member, can’t we find ways to make things easier? The answer is yes. Focus on prospecting, processing, and service after the sale. The rest of whatever else you’re doing is simply noise. That “noise” is one of many distractions that takes your focus off the mission and over complicates recruiting.
~ Xpert Recruiting
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