#409 Be The Doctor, Not The Farmacist

Walk into a doctor's surgery and tell the doctor what treatment you want. No questions, no examination, just exactly what you asked for. You'd never accept that. Yet that is how most recruiters run their client calls. In this episode, Terry breaks down why recruiters who hand over a pitch and a fee on request get squeezed on price, while the ones who diagnose first rarely have to defend their fees at all. You'll hear: The "pharmacy with the phone" mistake that kills your credibility on the first call How a small agency owner went up against two other agencies on a £22k contingent search, asked one question, sat through the silence and walked away with it on retained Why whoever asks the questions controls the meeting, and how to set that agenda in the first 30 seconds The questions that make hiring managers talk about the real cost of getting the hire wrong, so fees stop being the issue Why the knowledge you pick up from daily client calls gives you more market data than most of your clients have Terry's rule: no talking about your service until you've asked at least five questions If your last client beat you down on fee, ask yourself honestly whether you were too expensive or whether you showed up as a pharmacist. Listen, then take one number from your last client call: how many questions did you ask before you pitched?