Sometimes we forget that independent representatives are not employees. Recruiting is different from hiring employees. Understanding the differences is important.
How You Find Them
Most employees are hired by placing an ad (online or in a printed publication). Recruiting is most often done in person, with people talking with people.
The Approach
Hiring most often requires a response from a candidate who may be looking for a job. Recruiting is approaching a candidate and selling him or her on the benefits of becoming a representative with your company.
Selectivity
While recruiting for direct selling companies, the focus is on numbers. The majority of companies will allow anyone to become a distributor or consultant. This is not a bad thing. A recruit who has never done sales previously or may not seem to be an ideal candidate could turn out to be a star performer. Recruiting is less selective than hiring which is focused most often on finding the “best” individual for the position.
Self-Employment
When recruiting, you talk about the benefits of being self-employed. When hiring, you talk about the benefits of being an employee.
Your Expectations
Expectations of recruits should be different from that of employees. When you hire, you expect every employee to be productive. You don’t expect anyone’s performance to be poor. When you recruit, you shouldn’t have this expectation. Not all recruits will be productive. In fact, the majority of them won’t be active in the business a year later.
Specificity
When you hire an employee, you are looking to fill a specific position with specific responsibilities. When you recruit, you are seeking to find people who will grow, motivate others, and become great achievers.
Geology
Hiring employees is like looking for one rock. Recruiting is like collecting thousands of rocks, and looking for a few that will contain gold.
Jay Leisner, the President of Sylvina Consulting, is a top compensation plan and direct selling expert, a trusted adviser to new and established network marketing and party plan companies. For more than 30 years, Jay has enjoyed assessing and improving network marketing, party plan and referral marketing companies across the globe.
Leave a Reply