6a010536babee3970c0120a5ab25ae970b I had the privilege of speaking at the California Staffing Professionals Owner’s Retreat 9/25 and 9/26 in front of a group of recruiting professionals commited to growing their firms.  The theme of the meeting and most of the speakers was HOW to start the process of rebuilding their firms and the power of a defined specific vision to get them their.

Patricia Drain opened the recruiting conference stressing the need for owners to work ON their business more instead of working primarily IN their business.  Those that work primarilyIN their business don’t have a business they have a J-O-B!

She also stressed the need to work with the “end in mind” and to create multiple streams of income such as coaching programs and/or teleseminars for candidates that we can’t help.

My presentation similarly stressed one of “Deadly Sins” recruiting firm owners make is that they do not have a specific and strategic vision of where they are taking their firms in 12, 24, and 36 months from now.  Coming out of a recession is a GREAT opportunity to get it “right”.

The 4 Key Strategies I discussed were:

  1. Define your vision, know what your firm looks like “done”.
  2. Measure key business metrics to make your revenue predictable.
  3. Hire people in non-traditional roles OTHER than just the traditional recruiter who markets and recruits.
  4. Build a plan that has trigger points, is specific and builds off of defined business metrics.  Include hiring dates and defined career paths for your team.

Similarly, Rick Lugash from One Coach discussed how the mind impacts performance.  He stated 98% of habits and behaviors are controlled by the NON-conscious mind, yet traditional goal setting is done in the CONSCIOUS mind.   However, when one becomes SPECIFIC on what they want and imprints that on the mind they engage the non-conscious mind thus significantly increasing the likelihood of achieving what they want.

Lastly,  Adam Peterson from Vipe spoke about vision and long term planning using new media such as Facebook, Linked-in, Blogs, Twitter and video.  Some interesting stats: 63% of video users are over 35 years old and that 78% of total US internet users view on line video each month.  Adam covered a ton of good stuff.  One quick take away:  Get video testimonials from some of your best clients and get them up on your web site or use them to email to some key prospects.  It’s easierthan you think, check out Vipe and they can show you how.

Thanks again to Julie Fleury and the California Staffing Professionals for the speaking invitation, the hospitality, and a superb owners retreat!

If you are interested in uncovering some more of the “deadly sins” recruiting firm owners make and how you can avoid them, you can receive a free mini-course on “The 7 Deadly Sins Recruiting Firm Owners Make and How to Avoid them”