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By Scott Wintrip, Staffing Industry Trainer and Coach

I love to hear the success stories of individuals that join the Staffing Industry. One example is of the music teacher turned restaurant manager turned recruiter. The first five months in the business was spent in frustration and fear. He closed only a few deals and barely made enough money to cover living expenses. Something shifted for him after that and during the next full year he made $80,000.00. His income in the second year jumped to $150.000.00 and to over $200,000.00 in the third. This individual's success story continued in the following years with higher income and increasing levels of responsibility.

What happened to shift this person's thinking in the first year? What did he learn that made his success possible? Was he just lucky? I doubt luck played into it. What did influence his success were drive, determination and creativity. First he decided not to operate in fear. Second he used his determination and creativity to find different and easy tools that catapulted him into the big leagues.

This story is not unique. There are staffing professional around the world that have moved their income into six figures in a fairly short period of time. Like many people in the industry, their drive and determination carried them far. But these attributes alone are not the makings of a "big-biller." The key, like for the music teacher turned recruiter, is in finding the right tools and techniques for your business.

I suspect that the majority of staffing professionals would like to join the ranks of the six-figure and up club. If that is something you would like to achieve, then it is time to add to or upgrade your skills. The simple formula for higher income is working smart. This requires resourcefulness and the willingness to think and act "out of the box." This is especially true when market conditions, such as the current shortage of quality candidates, makes our challenging jobs even harder. Because of the current market, a great place to start is in improving your ability to find more and better candidates.

Here are seven ideas to more efficiently find and attract the quality candidates that will increase your income:

1. Ask everyone, and I mean everyone for a referral. Several years ago, I met a seasoned recruiter who played a very profitable game. He refused to end a call before receiving two names of potential candidates. His attitude was that everyone knows other qualified candidates and that he intended to get the names of at least two. The power of his belief worked. His batting average was well over 90% and he remains the top recruiter in his firm. By asking for referrals from every candidate, client, contact, and center of influence you connect with, your pipeline will quickly swell with talent. Be sure to ask an open-ended question such as "Who do you know that would be qualified for this position?" Play this game for the next 21 days and it will become a very profitable habit.

2. Make the Internet work for you The wealth of documents on the Internet can translate into hours of time spent searching and sifting through the available resumes and other information. There are excellent tools available that will do much of this work for you. Look for utilities in the resume banks you use such as hot lists, agents and automated search capabilities that will send the candidates you want right to your e-mail.

Robots are also a fast and efficient way to find resumes and personal web sites of potential candidates. You plug in the search criteria and the robot searches thousands of sites for you. One example is WebFerret, a free robot available at http://www.ferretsoft.com..

3. Become a source for outplacement. A fact of corporate life is downsizing and layoffs. Often, the employees affected are top notch players that are highly qualified and very placeable. Communicating to your clients on a regular basis that you would be happy to assist displaced employees can create effortless referrals. A great way to ask for this is to get a commitment from your clients that they will call you first to assist any employees who are affected by a layoff.

4 The Secret of Seven - A simple, yet effective way to create great connections. The intention is to keep your name in the mind of the people you meet and want to have as part of your candidate base or as a referral source. The "secret" is to connect seven times with people within three to four weeks of meeting them. Here are the steps of the process:

1) First meeting by telephone or in-person
2) Write a personal note within 24 hours following the meeting using note cards or personalized stationary. People remember personal notes more than form letters or brochures. Be sure it is handwritten, hand-addressed and stamped with a real stamp versus a postage meter.
3) Follow-up by telephone to schedule another meeting
4) Meeting by telephone or in-person
5) Write a note (as in number 2)
6) You decide how to connect based on the relationship being established
7) You decide how to connect based on the relationship being established
Be yourself. Be sincere. Focus on mutually beneficial relationships instead of just trying to sell them something. There is magic in connecting with people this many times over the course of a few weeks.

5. Get the ultimate "thank you" from those you place. The best time to ask someone for something you want is when you have just done something special for them. After a placement is done and the candidate says "thank you," is a great time to ask for referrals. An example question is "I would appreciate you giving me a list of ten people with skills similar to yours." It is not uncommon for the candidate you just placed to fax to you the entire phone list for the department at the company they are leaving. When you start seeing "thank you's" as an opportunity to get what you need, you will begin to receive the gifts for your efforts.

6. Give away something of value In your market or niche, what is of value? Do the people you place enjoy attending free seminars? Are newsletters packed with tips and information a hot commodity? Staying in contact with passive candidates is easily accomplished by inviting them to workshops or conference calls that will provide them with ideas to positively impact their careers. E-zines or printed publications are an inexpensive way to provide interesting content while reminding the reader of your presence the next time they need your services.

7. Chunking - a proven method for greater efficiency in production When a runner works out, they do so in one chunk of time, without stopping. Even when they come to a street corner and wait for a stoplight, they will run in place. Stop and start, stop and start, stop and start in recruiting activities keeps you in a constant state of warm-up. By "chunking," you warm-up once and then get into a groove that makes you more efficient.

When planning your daily activities, create blocks of contact time to source new talent and to contact potential candidates. Ninety minutes to two hours of uninterrupted production will yield the greatest return on your time investment.

The key to implementing these new skills or improving your current abilities is to focus on no more than one or two areas at one time. Twenty-one days of consistent effort will turn that new technique into a habit. Within a few months, you will have completed the installation process of your next upgrade and reap the benefits and rewards.

I wish you greater prosperity and success in the months to come. With some focus and effort, you can turn this challenging market into one of the most profitable times in your career.

*** Note From The Editor: Scott Wintrip is new contributor of our newsletter. This article is written for agency recruiters but most of the information is applicable to Corporate HR recruiters as well.

Scott Wintrip is a leading trainer, coach and speaker for the Staffing Industry. His company, StaffingU, provides both in-house and TeleClass (telephone-based) training for staffing professionals at all levels of experience. Please visit http://StaffingU.net.or call (727) 467-9312 for more information.