Fanatical Military Recruiting: The Ultimate Guide to Leveraging High-Impact Prospecting to Engage Qualified Applicants, Win the War for Talent, and Ma (Hardcover)

Dedication 1

Foreword 7

I Go to BASIC 8

A Conundrum 8

Learning the Language 9

Military Recruiting vs Civilian Sales 9

Part I: Mission Critical 11

1 Military Recruiting is Facing a Perfect Storm 11

Qualification Standards Continue to Tighten 12

2 Nothing Prepared You for This War 13

On Most Days, Recruiting Doesn’t Feel Much Like Winning 14

Asymmetric Battlefield 14

Civilians 14

Rejection 14

Emotions 15

Independence and Mission Ownership 15

FMR vs. What You Learned at the Schoolhouse 15

3 Fanatical Prospecting 16

4 Stop Wishing Things Were Easier 17

There is No Easy Button in Military Recruiting 18

Get Better 19

Part II: The Ask 20

5 Effective Recruiting Begins with the Discipline to Ask 20

Conjuring the Deepest, Darkest Human Fear 21

6 How to Ask 21

Emotional Contagion: People Respond in Kind 22

The Assumptive ASK 23

Shut-Up 26

Be Prepared for Objections 26

Part III: On the Move 27

7 The More You Prospect, the Luckier You Get 27

The Universal Law of Need 27

The 30-Day Rule 28

The Law of Replacement 29

The Anatomy of a Recruiting Slump 30

Oscar Mike: The First Rule of Recruiting Slumps 31

Make Your Own Luck 31

8 The Three Ps That Are Holding You Back 32

Procrastination 33

Perfectionism 34

Paralysis from Analysis 35

Disrupting the Three Ps 35

Part IV: Battle Rythmn 37

9 Time Discipline 37

Twenty-Four 38

Leveraging Hortsman’s Corrolary 39

Time Blocking 40

Stick to Your Guns and Avoid Distractions 41

Concentrate Your Focus 41

Beware of the Ding 43

What Lurks in Your Inbox Can and Will Derail Your Recruiting Day 44

Driving is Not an Accomplishment 45

Protect the Golden Hours 45

Leverage the Platinum Hours 47

Adopt a Command Mind-Set 48

Part V: Targeting 49

10 Targeting—Leveraging the Prospecting Pyramid 49

Walk Like an Egyptian: Managing the Prospecting Pyramid 50

Powerful Lists Get Powerful Results 52

The Recruiting Information Support System Is Your Most Valuable Recruiting Tool 53

A Trash Can or a Gold Mine 54

Own It! 54

11 Yes Has a Number 55

Recruiting Is Governed by Numbers 56

It’s All About the Ratios 57

Changing Your Yes Number 58

12 Qualifying: Talking to the Right People 59

Don’t Swing at Nothing Ugly 59

Moneyball 60

The Balance and Nuance of Qualifying 61

13 Prospecting Balance and Objectives 62

Set an Appointment 63

Gather Information and Qualify 63

Build Familiarly 63

Prospecting is Not Pitching 64

Adopt a Balanced Prospecting Methodology 64

The Fallacy of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket 64

Avoid the Lunacy of One Size Fits All 65

Part VI: Pick Up the Phone! 66

14 Telephone Prospecting Excellence 66

Nobody Answers a Phone That Doesn’t Ring 67

The Telephone Is, Has Always Been, and Will Continue to Be Your Most Powerful Recruiting Tool 67

Nobody Likes It; Get Over It 69

The Ultimate Key to Success Is the Scheduled Phone Block 70

15 The Seven-Step Telephone Prospecting Framework 71

Seven- Step Telephone Prospecting Framework 73

Get Their Attention 73

Identify Yourself and Say Why You Are Calling 74

Bridge—Give Them a Because 74

Ask and Shut Up 77

Qualify 77

Confirm or Flip the Call into a Referral (if not qualified) 80

Practice the Framework 80

16 Just Eat the Frog 80

17 Leaving Effective Voice Mail Messages That Get Returned 82

Five-Step Voice Mail Framework to Double Callbacks 83

Develop Compelling Voice Mail Messages 84

Part VII: Objections 85

18 Objections Are Not Rejection, But They Feel That Way 85

Not the Same 86

But It Feels the Same 87

19 The Science Behind the Hurt 89

A Biological Response 89

The Most Insatiable Human Need 90

20 Rejection Proof 91

The Seven Disruptive Emotions 92

Develop Self-Awareness 93

Positive Visualization 94

Manage Self-Talk 95

Change Your Physiology 96

Stay Fit 97

Obstacle Immunity 97

Adversity Is Your Most Powerful Teacher 100

Leveraging Adversity 100

21 Prospecting Objections 101

We Feel, Then We Think 103

The Rule of Thirds 104

RBOs 105

Reflex Responses 105

Brush-Off 106

True Objections 106

Prospecting RBOs Can Be Anticipated in Advance 107

Planning for Prospecting RBOs 109

The Three-Step Prospecting Objection Turnaround Framework 110

The Ledge 111

Disrupt 112

Pattern Painting 113

Ask 115

Putting It All Together 115

Part VIII: In-Person and Digital Prospecting 116

22 In-Person Prospecting 116

The Four-Step In-Person Prospecting Conversation Process 117

First Impressions Making an Emotional Connection 118

Triggering the Negativity Bias 119

The Five Questions That Matter Most in Recruiting 121

Likability: The Gateway to Emotional Connections 122

Pitch Slapping 123

Keys to Being More Likable 124

Preparing for Effective In-Person Prospecting 125

Put Your Recruiting Goggles On 126

23 Text Messaging 126

Familiarity Is Everything with Text 127

Use Text to Anchor In-Person Conversations 128

Use Text to Nurture Prospects 128

Use Text to Create Opportunities for Engagement 129

Seven Rules for Structuring Effective Text Prospecting Messages 129

24 E-Mail and Direct Messaging 130

The Four Cardinal Rules of E-Mail Prospecting 130

Rule #1: Your E-Mail Must Get Delivered 131

Rule #2: Your E-Mail Must Get Opened 132

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution 133

Rule #3: Your E-Mail Must Convert 134

A Good Prospecting E-Mail Begins with a Great Plan 134

The Four Elements of an Effective Prospecting E-Mail 136

Hook 137

Relate 137

Bridge 138

Ask 138

Here are a couple of additional examples: 138

Practice, Practice, Practice 139

Pause Before You Press “Send” 140

25 Social Recruiting 140

Social Recruiting Is Not a Panacea 140

The Social Selling Challenge 141

Social Recruiting Is About Nuance 141

Choosing the Right Social Channels 142

Five Objectives of Social Recruiting 142

Personal Branding 144

Building Familiarity 146

Marketing Through Insight and Education 146

Trigger-Event Awareness 147

Research and Information Gathering 147

Outbound Prospecting 147

The Five Cs of Social Recruiting 147

Connecting 147

Content Creation 148

Content Curation 149

Conversion 149

Consistency 150

Social Recruiting + Outbound Prospecting = A Powerful Combination 150

Creating Obligation and Leveraging the Law of Reciprocity on Social Media 151

26 The Law of Familiarity 152

Familiarity Reduces Friction and Resistance 152

5 Levers of Familiarity 153

Persistent and Consistent Prospecting 153

Referrals and Introductions 153

School Activities 154

Events and Networking 154

Personal Branding and Marketing 155

Part IX: Charlie Mike 156

27 Mission Drive 156

The Four Pillars of Mission Drive 156

Optimism 157

Competitiveness 158

Need for Achievement 158

Purpose 158

Embrace the Suck—You Have to Grind to Shine 159

The Enduring Mantra of Ultra-High Performing Recruiters 160

The Mantra of Fanatical Military Recruiting 161

Charlie Mike 162

About the Author 163

Acknowledgments 164