Honestly, I will start writing my own blog posts again soon. But I liked this one from Luke Schanche so much I just had to pop it up here.
“As my colleagues are always quick to remind me, I’ve been in recruitment a long time (about twelve years now) and doing anything for a long time means that certain activities become second nature. I’m involved in training people starting out in the industry and to do that effectively it’s important to remember what they’re going through; the fears, the reservations, the expectations and the challenge of facing the highs and lows of recruitment for the first time.
After spending some time with our trainees I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and remember what those first few months feel like. I thought of Jamie Panter as someone who could help me do it. Jamie runs City Therapy Partners, and he’s an interesting character. He’s fascinated by what makes people tick and that has led him to specialise in the psychology of performance, especially in salespeople. He’s realistic, acknowledging that human beings will always have inconsistencies, and pragmatic about what coaching can do to overcome this. He’s also creative, which led me to have one of the most bizarre conversations of my life.We started by talking about fear: of rejection, of not being in control, of picking the phone up. This led us to Dr Leonard Orr, an American spiritual writer with strong views on immortality who does most of his thinking in the bath. Orr has suggested that within all of us there are two people; the “thinker” and the” prover”, claiming that “What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.” (Think how often “I knew I was going to have a bad day” proved to be true!). I think this carries huge weight in sales; we all have those times when we feel “in the zone” or “on top of our game”. The person who expects success has a tendency to be successful; the positive mindset pushes them to greater achievement, ignoring (or not noticing) whatever setbacks they face along the way.
We then talked about the other end of the spectrum; the recruiter who, having already decided that what they are about to do won’t work, will do everything, anything – except pick the phone up. We’ve all seen them; neat desks, meetings planned, “I’ll just get a drink first..” – and zero activity. We talked about why some people don’t like getting on the phone and I asked Jamie what these people are afraid of. “It’s only starting a conversation, what’s the worst that could happen?”Ten minutes later I knew just how the person with fear of the phone must feel. Jamie had taken me outside and we were standing by a City shop selling suits, shirts and ties. “Go in there”, he told me, “and ask to put a bet on a horse.” He wasn’t joking. I had wanted to get out of my comfort zone but hadn’t expected this and I did not want to do it. Nervously, I laughed at him. What was holding me back? Fear of doing something ridiculous, embarrassing myself, making myself look stupid – everything the phone-shy recruiter goes through. Give me a phone and a hundred cold calls to make, but not this. But as Jamie reminded me, “what’s the worst that could happen?”…When you sell shirts for a living you probably don’t expect your next customer to ask you for the odds on the 3.20 at Newmarket. Understandably, the guy looked at me as if I was mad. Getting over my initial fear, I quite enjoyed the conversation; “No, I’m sure I can put a bet on in here, a friend told me about you guys, you gave him a great tip and he had a big win, he recommended you…” Once the salesman shook his head and walked away I guessed it was game over. I left the shop, walked round the corner and fell about laughing.
Although it was light-hearted, Jamie’s exercise had a point. I hadn’t wanted to go into the shop and start that conversation. As I walked in the adrenaline was flowing and I was definitely nervous, a loud voice was telling me not to do it. But I did it, I quite enjoyed it, when I walked out the world was still turning and I felt great. In fact I wanted to walk straight into McDonalds and ask for a pair of size 9 brogues.“What’s the worst that could happen?” Some people will put the phone down on you, some will swear at you, some will say you are the tenth call they’ve received that day. Some will do all three of these. But if you expect success, ask the right questions and listen, far more will engage with you, appreciate your approach and, in time, spend money with you – just because you weren’t afraid to pick the phone up.
Thank you Jamie for such a simple, creative but effective exercise. Next time you want to buy a suit I suggest you try Halfords.”
At Astbury Marsden Luke is responsible for identifying and hiring recruiters at all levels across the business, ensuring the growth strategy is met and arming the senior team with the resource they need to exceed their objectives.
