Recently made the jump to a managerial or directorial role? Are you seeking to grow your very own dream team? Have you considered the various ways on how you can build on your expansion through recruitment leads? If yes, you’re at the right place and time.

Similarly, we caught up with Bryce Chan to uncover his goals and stumbling blocks which we will share further. (Be sure to read up on how he made the leap from being a street canvasser to an MDRT qualifier!)

Who is Bryce?

As an NUS graduate, Bryce joined banking because he knew it was every student’s dream to own a title in the prestigious industry. After 4 years in backend banking, he dropped out of the glamorous corporate life and delved into self-employment. Upon graduating from MAP in 2018, we are pleased to know that Bryce managed to clinch the honourable MDRT! Well done, Bryce!

At this very moment, Bryce is building his advisory team! He is looking to mentor like-minded talents who are actively in search for avenues to make a difference in the trade.

Thereafter, we got to the heart of the discussion by extending Bryce the opportunity to voice out some of his newfound hurdles. Let’s see what wisdom Coach Chris Chan has got to offer.

“As a new manager, how do I generate recruitment leads as I build my team?”

First and foremost, we must understand that generating leads is one of the primary processes in all forms of recruitment. Remember, no leads equals to no new possibilities. Now, ask yourself, have you refined your lead generation process in your sales? Are you able to gain a consistent stream of leads that meet your sales expectations?

There are many sources of leads: from placing ads in the job portal and campus recruiting to digital marketing and the all-time favourite – referrals.

Let’s do a quick exercise…

Now, give yourself a rating out of 10: Currently, what are some lead generation methods you are good at? Say, let’s go for referrals.

9-10: You have more than enough leads every month for yourself – in fact, there’s a spillover. 

7-8: You have enough leads every month for yourself in order to meet your sales target.

5-6: You have occasionally enough quantity of leads, but they lack in quality. In other words, the profiles of your leads do not match your ideal candidate avatar. Similarly, you may occasionally have enough quality leads, but they are insufficient in quantity. 

3-4: Consistently not enough quality and quantity

How did you fare?

You’d ideally want to start off by optimising on areas that you’re good at, instead of splurging to try on new methods. Previously, Chris, along with a fellow manager, managed to grow his 2-member team to a whopping 80-member alliance.

For our MAP graduates, you would know that the same referral-based practice in sales is highly applicable to the recruitment process.

Roll it off with this simple question…

Assuming you’re on a casual meet with your buddy, John, of whom you’re trying to get potential candidate leads from. How would you get the ball rolling on this matter of recruitment?

“Hey John, can you see that I’m very happy with my work?”

“When we talk about our contentment at work, different factors fall into place. From workplace engagement and financial security down to the simplest of feeling respected at work, these are elements that contribute to the overall happiness scorecard of a typical employee.

John would most likely respond yes without hesitation, fully aware of the SHIOK life of self-employment you’ve been living all this while. Now’s the time to add on what you really want to fulfil on top of stabilising your practice – “to utilise your expertise to personally mentor another 5 people this year.”

“You have a lot of friends in your circle, right? Do you know of anyone who is currently unhappy with their job?”

Avoid asking questions that would eliminate possible groups of people like for instance, “Do you know anyone who is interested to join insurance or financial planning?” On the other hand, there ARE a lot of people who are unhappy with their job which would widen the scope of potential candidates. In a fundamental sense, questioning someone about their satisfaction in their profession can be tense. But, let’s be frank and narrow down on their pain points.

“John, as long as you have friends who are unhappy with where they are and are hungry for success, I’ll be happy to meet them and give them some pointers…”

TA-DA! You’ve just planted a seed into John that you’re someone who is happy and successful. Be sure to point out that you’re not assuming their interest to join the financial planning industry and neither are you promising them a position in your firm.

In essence, you’re drawing it clear that you’re finding a good candidate but you’re NOT desperate.

Can’t give an immediate answer?

At the very least, you’re going to be someone whom John will think of the next time he hears or knows of someone who is dissatisfied with work. At the end of the day, your clientele is your biggest asset. It all boils down to your brand positioning.

1. Mentor, not hire!

Remember, you need to bring across the message to John that you’re intending to groom and mentor potential candidates (Keyword: ‘Mentor’), not just seek new recruits. In fact, demonstrate that you’re genuinely keen in helping others to accelerate their path to be financially free – by building passive income and having more time freedom. Subsequently, work on your ability to communicate your Passion Pitch for recruitment along with the referral-asking approach.

Once you’re confident in your own process, take the lead in training your team of advisors in referrals! As a manager, the power is in your hands to drill them into the habits and mastery.

2. Integrate other lead generation strategies!

Of course, there are other lead generations strategies to help you generate a higher volume of recruitment leads. Our favourites include offering lead magnets on a landing page dedicated for recruitment! Lead magnets help you qualify prospective candidates instantly in exchange for their contact information. For instance, you could pique their interest through a career quiz – or even bolder, an entrepreneurial-readiness quiz.

Moving forward, you’ll have an integrated O2O recruitment leads generation practice – from offline to online and leading back to offline as they eventually come to meet you face-to-face!

3. Mind the 80/20 rule!

Invest 80% of your time in lead generation strategies that you’re good at, while sparing 10-20% of your time to explore new ways. That way, you can still stay focused, but not narrowly tied down to one single source.

“As a new manager, what is one final thing you should not overlook?”

You should never treat recruitment as a sales process. While you aim to please the customer in sales, recruitment managers on the other hand ought to establish a robust candidate selection process! The alarming fact is that a lot of team leads and managers do not have such a structure in place. As a result, you face a lot of mismatched hires who come in search for immediate work-life balance and expect work-life to be a walk in the park.

Think of your agency as a football team. Do you want to run a recreational or professional football team? At a club, inter-school or national level? Your failed hires? Yes, they were hooked to the idea of being able to taste the 6-figure income within the next 3 years. But, ideally, you’d want to acquire and invest in recruitment leads who demonstrate genuine commitment and tenacity to actually working towards it.

Look out for our next case study so you’ll always be in the know of present-day strategies in financial advisory!

Alternatively, contact our growth consultants to find out more about our upcoming masterclasses and programmes. We are committed to creating real change in the community in our in-class sessions, and hope to see you and your teams’ breakthroughs!