There is somebody inside your client who is paid to keep you away from the one you need. That is not a criticism of them. It is their job, and most of them do it well. And it is why good firms sit at the bottom of an account for years. Last episode was the first call. This one is the problem that sits in front of it, because you cannot run any of it at somebody who is following a process. WHAT IS IN IT Who is actually who. There is somebody who owns the problem: a division is short, a project is late, a leader has gone, and it is costing them. That is the budget holder, almost always a line director or above. And there is somebody who owns the process: a fair, compliant search, a tidy supplier list, the best price. Two different jobs, two completely different conversations, and firms send the same approach to both. What that looks like from the other side of the desk. You send your market view to the process owner. They are not comparing markets, they are comparing suppliers, so the only part of your message they can act on is your rate. You get added to the list. Nothing happens for five months. Then a brief arrives, already written, already priced, already with four other firms. And the firm concludes that account is hard work. It is not hard work. It was entered at the wrong floor. The mistake most owners make, which is to go round talent acquisition. That gets you one conversation and then it gets you blocked, and in a small market it follows you. The answer is not around them. It is above them, openly. Three ways up. One, a trigger: a contract win, a funding round, a new site, a leadership change. You go to that director with what it means for their hiring, not with your credentials. Who is available within reach of that site, what those roles pay there now, how long the last three searches like it took. A trigger is public, so the advantage is never knowing it happened, it is being the only one who turns it into something useful inside a week. Congratulations is not a reason to reply. Two, the search that has already failed. The process owner is managing it, the director is living with it. You say plainly why it is not filling: the pay band sits below where the movers are, the location rules out the pool, the title means something different in that market. Uncomfortable, which is exactly why it works. And you need to be right, so it only goes out when you have genuinely counted that part of the market. Three, being known before you ever get in touch. The one that takes longest and is worth the most. That is what the publishing is for. Not likes. The entrance it buys your team eighteen months later. The rule that sits over all three, because it is what keeps you in the account. You tell the process owner what you are doing. Not permission, information. Then you ask where they want the work to sit. Done that way you have not gone round them, you have brought them something they did not have. Two things never to do. Never criticise the process owner to the director, it comes back and it marks you as hard to work with. And never let the director hand you straight back down without a named next step and a date. ONE THING TO DO THIS WEEK Take your three largest accounts. For each one write down two names: who owns the process, and who owns the budget. If you cannot fill in the second name, that is the whole lesson, and it is not an unusual answer. Most firms cannot. Then look at which of the three ways up applies to each of them right now. A trigger. A failed search. Or neither, in which case the answer is the long one, and it starts this month. NEXT EPISODEWhat a firm is worth when it sells, and why a busy desk is worth so much less than an owned market. BOOK A CALLhttps://theapexrecruiter.com
