How to Win at Recruiting When You Have 12 Other Responsibilities

So the big question is this, how do recruiting leaders like us who have 12 to 15 other job responsibilities win at this game of recruiting? How do we build a system that allows us to recruit effectively in a minimal amount of time while motivating recruits towards meaningful change? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Richard Milligan and welcome to Recruiting Conversations. Hey everybody, it's Richard Milligan, your host for Recruiting Conversations.

Recording this podcast in between Christmas and New Year's and what a cool time of year it is. And cool as in cold because where I'm at, I'm in my studio. I am, I'm not wearing shorts and t shirts. I'm in the Midwest. And so it's like a 20 mile an hour North wind and it's 30 degrees. And so I don't know what it feels like, but it feels cold. How's that? Excited to come to you today to share a recent conversation that I have with a recruiting leader.

And if this is your first time on this podcast, let me define recruiting leader for you. Recruiting leader is someone that actually manages a team, but is also responsible for recruiting to that team. It is a unique position. If you're in a sales manager role, a market leader role, if you're in a position where you are recruiting experienced sales people, could be real estate agents, loan officers, Could be insurance agents.

Those typically are the three industries that this podcast falls in is inside the mortgage, real estate and insurance communities. And so if you are responsible at any level of recruiting, this podcast was for you, but specifically if you're responsible for wearing the 12 to 15 hats that a leader wears in managing a team, and then has to throw that extra hat on for recruiting, then this is bullseye for you. The title of this podcast is recruiting conversations for a reason.

And it's that I share recent conversations that I have with recruiting leaders that I'm coaching. And so I want to share why I think it's very. Apropos to the time of year that it is, it's this time where everyone's evaluating where we've been, we're looking forward. It's that one window of time where everyone says, did I accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish in the last 12 months? And what do I want to accomplish as I look into the future?

And so we're leaving 2024 going into 2025 . And so more people now are saying, look at the last decade and what I want to accomplish in the next decade. I love that perspective, by the way.

I love that framework. I think that leaders that are casting vision or let's just start with this. Leaders who lead should cast vision. Okay. I find that most leaders don't. So if you're a leader, You really should be looking into the future and deciding where you want to go. Where do you want to lead your team? Inside my house one of the principles that we have that we talk about all the time with our kids is we call it the Lead Dog Principle.

And the Lead Dog Principle is this, is that when you understand how dog sled racing takes place, there's only one dog that's at the lead of that pack, and that pack never goes any faster than the lead dog goes. And one of the things that I'm aware of is that if you're in a leadership role, the people that follow you are never going to go any faster than what you lead them. They're never going to go any further than the vision that you cast.

And I would dare say in a lot of my seasons of being under leadership, that I wasn't being inspired. I wasn't being challenged. There wasn't a big vision being cast for me, for the people around me in the direction that we were going. It's our jobs as leaders to cast that clear vision. Just establish that is a great time to look at the next decade. Our company has a 10 year vision and every single year we sit down and we look at where we are in relationship to that 10 year vision.

And we set a one year vision, a one year plan of how we're going to further the vision. And what are we going to accomplish in that year? And we just went through this process. We have a new vision for 2025 . That's completely aligned with the 10 year vision that we cast in 2017 when we started this company. So the 10 year vision for this organization was in year 10, we wanted to impact in that one year, 10, 000 recruiting leaders.

Now that vision has been propellant for a lot of things that we've done. It's been a propellant for this podcast. It's a propellant for a book that's been written. It's a propellant for A number of things. It's repellent for a digital record. It's a recorded coaching class there's all kinds of things that are looking into the future to say, how do we actually get this message of we believe that recruiting is simple. How do we get that message to 10, 000 recruiting leaders in one year?

We would never be doing those things if we didn't have a large vision. That's the Power of vision, the power of being able to look in the future and see where you want to go. And then making plans for today that actually take action on where you want to be in 10 years. It forces you way outside your comfort zone. It forces you to do things that you wouldn't normally do.

So vision should be a big part of what you're thinking about and what you're planning around for the upcoming decade and specifically the upcoming year. But the recent conversation I had was around time management. So in time, this is one thing that most recruiting leaders struggle with.

So if you struggle with this, welcome to the club because I struggled with this for most of my career until about 2013 when I started doing some things differently. And so it's a conversation that I start a lot of my coaching with when I'm beginning with someone as a new coaching client and we look at their idea around how they're managing their time.

So in the conversation I was having with them, I was having this, Laying kind of the framework that they're going to have to manage their time differently. And I came to the end of that coaching session by making this statement. I said, you need to go Rick Barry on your time management. Now, because I do all of my coaching live, I could see the look on their face and the look on their face was It's the look on my six year old's face whenever I use a big word and they have no clue what it means.

It was, I have no clue what you're talking about. So let me give you some context around that statement, I need you to go Rick Barry. Why I make that statement, Is because for those of you that aren't familiar with who Rick Barry is, Rick Barry was an NBA player and in 1978, Rick Barry actually set a record for the percentage of free throws that he actually hit.

Now, most people don't remember Rick Barry for setting that record, which was like almost 95 percent of his free throws that he hit in 1978 to 1979. They don't remember him for that record. What they actually remember Rick Barry for and where most people go, Oh, I get it. is because Rick Barry shot his free throws underhanded. And in the history of the NBA, he's like the only person that has regularly, there've been a few people that have tried it. No one has stuck with it.

So most people will reflect back on that, um, underhanded free throw shooter and go, yeah, I know you're talking about. What's interesting is that, look, I've done a bunch of research on Rick Barry, and one of the things that I know is that Rick Barry is actually coached. He's actually tutored other bad free throw shooters after leaving the NBA.

Now in an interview, one of the things that they asked Rick Barry was around that people had known in NBA circles that he's taken a handful of bad, really bad free throw shooters, and he's tutored them. When they've interviewed him about this, he wouldn't actually say who it was that he worked with, Because they never actually had the guts, the people that he coached, never had the guts to go back to their team and to go back into regular season and actually shoot underhanded free throws.

Now, why is that? The reason why it is because it's weird. If you've ever seen that, it looks a little odd. However, you want to describe it.

I laugh because in a newspaper article someone was asking about this and his son, Canyon Barry, Who was shooting 85 86 percent of hitting 85 free throw shots Which is actually extremely well, the nba average is somewhere around 75 to 76 percent year over year in a moment Where his son who was at florida shooting underhand free throws rick berry happened to be sitting behind a fan And after rick's son canyon actually hit the free throw the fan made this statement.

That's embarrassing And Rick Barry said to the person, why is that embarrassing? Isn't the, isn't that basketball going through the hoop? And the fan goes, yeah. And Barry's response was what's so embarrassing about making free throws, right? It's, it doesn't make sense.

So what I know why I say why I use Rick Barry as an example of my coaching is this, is that. To a large degree, if you're going to be successful, you're going to have to be counter culture. You're going to have to go against the grain of what is normal, okay? If you want normal results, Then go do normal. I personally, and if you're listening to this podcast, listen, you are already in the 1%. You're furthering yourself. You're growing yourself. You're educating yourself.

You're looking for insight in ways that you can change your recruiting. If you're listening to this podcast, you're in the 1%. You're one of those people that's going to go most likely go against the grain. So you've got to go as I look at 2025 , I want you to really challenge.

Anything that you've done the status quo and I'm going to give you some stats around a handful of things here that are Extremely status quo when it comes to American culture and just culture in general, okay Let's just start with a stat here. The average american spends three hours and 58 minutes on tv every day Okay, so let's just, it's two minutes shy of four hours. Okay, the, let me just make that statement because it actually hurts my brain to think about this.

The average American spends almost four hours on TV every day. Okay, here's a, here's another statistical data point that's actually going to jump out at you. The average time that we spend on social media, Is an hour and 35 minutes. Okay. So let's just, we're going to start combining this. Now we're at four hours on TV where we'll just round it down to an hour and a half on social media. We're at five and a half hours per day between TV and social media. How about this?

The average person spends 102 minutes per day on radio. Okay. Is that's just begin another huge data set. That's just leaping out at me. We're spending 135 minutes on social. We're spending three hours and 55, 58 minutes on TV, and we're spending 102 minutes a day on radio. I took the time to just multiply those things out. What does that look like over the course of a year? Get this. Okay. On TV, we're spending 1, 460 hours. Okay. Or let's just quantify that differently.

If you are working a 40 hour workweek, you're spending 36 and a half work weeks on TV. If you're averaging an hour and a half on social media, that's 547 hours a year or 13. 68 work weeks. If you're investing 102 minutes a day into radio, which by the way, 97 percent of Americans say listen to the radio on their commute. Okay. And a lot of that data point just comes in the commute because the average commute is 45 minutes one way in the United States.

So that information makes complete sense to me, but that's 620 and a half hours per year or 15 and a half work weeks. Okay. So if we compiled all of that, we're actually investing more time in radio, social media and TV than we actually are investing in the things that we do in our careers. It's actually six over 65 extra work weeks that we could get back if we eliminated those. Now that's an overstatement, okay? And I'm trying to make a really big point here.

So the overstatement, I get the fact that no one's going to reduce their

TV time to zero, or it would be almost no one, because they might watch, you know, a show per week with a friend, or they might have a show that they love, one show they love on Netflix that they watch, you know, an hour here or there. I get that. Social media. Look, I believe in having a strong leadership brand on social media. So. I've got to be intentional with that time, but I am not going to spend an hour and 35 minutes a day In fact, I limit my time on social to 30 minutes a day on radio.

I eliminate that completely There's no time on radio that I would spend on radio I want to give you some ideas around this to just say What if 2025 is a year where you become rick barry? In rick barry ish in a couple of places you become a little bit weird If you get really intentional with your time in this, let's just talk about some ways that you can utilize that time First of all, it's you don't have to listen to the to music in the car.

I love what brian tracy said Back in the 80s, it called radio bubblegum for the years you look with audio books today, you can if you use audible or whatever, Kindle or whatever app you use, if you're taking a podcast, right, the average book that I read is some I listen to I say read that's a That's not actually true. I listen to about probably 95 to 98 percent of all the books that I take in the day.

But if there's 620 hours that I can capture it by not listening to the radio, my average book is somewhere around six hours long. I could digest a hundred books in a year. Now, I don't digest a hundred books in a year, but I digest north of 50. A lot of people say I don't understand how you do it. It's because I'm being more intentional with my time.

I'm saying no to things that don't matter, to say yes to things that actually do matter, to things that actually allow me to grow, and to become more. So, the bottom line is this. I think everything is in play. I want to be counterculture in this space as I go into 2025 . One of the, one of the things that I have looked at as I'm evaluating where I want to go in this next year is I've asked myself this question, where can I double down in terms of my own efforts?

Where can I double down in terms of my own efforts that will actually allow me to exponentially grow? So I evaluated in 2024 . What are the, some of the things that I've done? One of the things that I did well in 2024 was LinkedIn.

I'm looking at LinkedIn and what I'm thinking about is what has the power of my leadership brand been there? And it's been, the results have been phenomenal. I mean, just telling you, I'm probably somewhere between 10 and 15 appointments a week. Simply from what I'm doing on LinkedIn, which is delivering daily content delivering consistent ideas and thoughts and videos and memes and these things to the platform.

But I'm going to double down on that in 2025 . I got an email today from someone that was inviting me to be their speaker at their sales rally. I've never met the person. And I'm being invited to do that simply because I have a strong leadership brand. They know what I believe. And they believe that I understand recruiting and recruiting is the topic that they want discussed at their sales rally. So I will be the person to talk around that.

But that was all tied directly to the things that I'm doing on LinkedIn. I will double down there. I will take some of this time that is laid out in front of you and I will go to that place. I'll deliver more articles. I will do more videos. I will. Get creative in some of the things that I'm, that I will be delivering there.

There's a handful of creative ideas where I'll be actually changing and shifting and actually improving some of the deliverables of what I'm bringing to the platform by saying no to things that don't matter. I'm able to say yes to things that do matter, and I'm able to go from being good or average to being, becoming great. And I'm not there, but I do want to get there. Okay. How many people could I influence with that time? I just laid it out for you.

It's more time than investing if I'm working 40 hours a week. How many people can I influence at that time? That's a question you got to ask yourself. How many ideas could you implement around your recruiting efforts? If you were to do something weird with that time, how many more people could you make contact with? If you were to go counterculture in some of this, I share this with you just to grab you and to create some tension. Okay. I'm trying to create some tension here for you.

And the reason why I want to create some tension here for you is this, is that I am more aware now than ever. Okay. That time flies by. I'm also aware that each of us, not me. Not just you. Everybody that's listening to this podcast has been created for something specific that's been created with a purpose, with a plan, that's been created for greatness.

I love what Ed Milette says. He says he's convinced that when he gets to heaven, that he'll get to meet the version of himself that he could have been. And that's some perspective, something that gives him perspective that allows him to stretch himself. I want to stretch myself in 2025 . And I'm going to go grab some of this time, some of the space that I'm giving away and letting disappear.

I'm going to execute in it on some of the areas where I believe that if I doubled down on my efforts, I'll get more results. We have one life to live. I want to make the most of it. And my prayer for you is that you will make the most of it as we head into 2025 . So with that said, I hope everyone has a, as a new year, this will come out on New Year's Eve. Hope everyone has a new, an awesome new year. Look forward to coming back here in the next podcast.

We'll come to you right after the new year. I would be honored if you wrote a review if this podcast has brought some value to you Would you please do me a favor and go out of your way to actually do a review? On, whether it's Google Play or whether it's um, iTunes, wherever you listen to this, um, it would be the biggest gift that you could give me. Going into the new year, we're gonna, we planned on cutting 52 of these in 2024 . We cut 51 of these. So we were one shy.

Of what we said we were going to do. And so as we go into the next year, our objective with this podcast is to break two hundred total in number. That'll be our objective is to continue to bring you value here and to help you. understand best how to grow yourself, how to become the best recruiting leader that you can be. So Happy New Year's everybody. I look forward to seeing you again on the next episode here at Recruiting Conversations. Have a great New Year.

Want more Recruiting Conversations? You can register for my weekly email at 4crecruiting. com. If you need help creating your own unique recruiting system, you can book a time with me at bookrichardnow. com.