Qualifying a Recruit

The Art of the Interview with Its Q&A Filters

An important distinction between a seasoned veteran and a rookie is the recruit’s knowledge base and the length of time it will take for them to generate revenue. There’s a point of diminishing returns where you need to terminate the relationship, review your hiring practices and make adjustments to the recruiting process.

There’s a key characteristic among financial professionals that you’re searching for. Is the potential recruit a producer, i.e. a revenue generator? Is the recruit more than a professional student? The financial industry is overrun with academics who pontificate on their knowledge but are incapable of producing revenue. It is possible that a knowledgeable person could be a team member for support, but not for revenue.

Lead junkies are first and foremost looking for free leads. They’re not concerned with your acquisition cost, they believe that you owe them free prospects. And even if they are willing to pay for leads, your cost to generate them may outweigh the overrides you receive from their sales efforts.

Anyone who has ever presented a dinner seminar or workshop has run into professional plate lickers, attendees whose mission in life is to exploit your practice for free food and education. It’s actually worse when you have financial professionals attending your free luncheons, who hijack the Q&A session and waste your time after the seminar expounding on their vast knowledge base or bringing up some piece of irrelevant information.

You need to be rather courageous and walk away from a recruit who doesn’t fit your profile. Don’t hire out of desperation. Hire out of qualification.

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