When it comes to success in the recruiting business, most of us KNOW what we need to do. We simply choose not to do it. We know the path to higher billings is using our working hours to connect with more prospects, clients and candidates. We KNOW checking email incessantly, updating our fantasy baseball team at 11 am, etc. detracts from our productivity significantly, and ultimately costs us money in lost commissions.
If we KNOW more client and candidate contact will increase billings, then why do we consciously choose to not do them in the quantity and at the time we know they need to be done? Because the rewards from our activity (placements and commissions) are off in the future, while the pain of planning, prospecting, and rejection are in the present.
As humans, it has been proven we are more likely to avoid pain than seek pleasure. We are all guilty of this behavior to one degree or another. One of the things I do is help my recruiting firm owner clients on strategies to get past this for both themselves and their recruiters. Once one implements some new tactics the results are sharp increases in productivity and revenue.
Having said this, I must make a confession about my personal life. I KNEW what it would take to be at a healthy weight — the advanced strategy proposed by many experts was “eat less and exercise more!” Kinda simple, isn’t it? Yet I chose not to follow that strategy for the same reasons — the reward of good health was in the distant future and the pain of exercise and hunger cravings in the present.
For years, not weeks or months, but YEARS I felt I could handle it myself without any help. Yet, for years nothing changed. A light finally went on that I needed a system. Instead of wasting more valuable time stuck, repeating the same failed strategies that led me nowhere, and, honestly, feeling like a bit of a hypocrite, I made a small investment in a proven system. Without boring you with the details, it boils down to “eat less and exercise more!”
The result: I dropped 15 pounds in less than three months. While the “eat less” part caused me to make some choices that took me away from what I was used to eating and the quantity I wanted, the “exercise more” component was significantly more difficult. I felt I didn’t have the time to exercise and I didn’t want to go to a gym early in the morning. Along the time I was conducting this internal debate on choice I happened to visit a client of mine.
The Trek Desk
When I toured the office, all the recruiters were standing at desks about four feet high with no chairs. They had done their homework, finding people are more productive, have more energy, and burn more calories standing up than when sitting down. Additionally, the owners said they were considering getting a couple of Trek desks for themselves.
Later, I did some quick research finding the Trek Desk is designed so it can be used with a treadmill. Getting the Trek desk was a no brainer, as I already had a barely used four-year-old treadmill at home whose primary purpose was to store decorative pillows and some occasional clothes.
Here is what I learned about using a treadmill desk: One can walk between one-half mile and one and one-half mile per hour without breathing heavily or sweating. With this innovative desk the dilemma of when to exercise was gone. I could exercise while I worked!
At these slow walking speeds one can easily type (I am doing this article on the Trek desk right now!), speak with your clients and candidates and take notes. This allows me to easily add two to three hours per working day of low impact exercise. I am now burning hundreds of calories each working day, losing weight and feeling great!
Sometimes the cobbler’s child has no clothes, sometimes the carpenter’s house is never completed and sometimes one who helps recruiting firm owners develop systems and strategies does not have one of his own… Until now!