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Articles tagged 'referrals'

Ask Barb

Ask Barb: Should I Offer Referral Fees?

by on Oct. 26, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

I recently listened to a podcast you did and want to thank you or all your good work. I believe I heard you mention something about referral fees becoming difficult due to recent regulations and therefore you might have suggested to stay away from offering them, or you might have suggested an alternative, but I didn’t quite catch the entire point of your statement.

Can you expand for me on what you said about referral fees? Or alternatively, can you direct me to some documentation I can read to get a better understanding of how I can or cannot engage in offering/paying referral fees?

Katie W., Paramus, NJ

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Fees, Relationships

Approaching Referral Fees With Your Business In Mind

by on Dec. 20, 2010


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As we finish the fourth quarter of 2010 and enter a New Year, I encourage you to consider a New Year’s resolution around the idea of generating more business and candidate leads through referrals. That being said, a question arises that has been asked for as long as recruiting has been a profession: Should we pay for referrals?

More and more executive recruiters are being faced with the question of “referral fees” by professionals we are contacting in our day-to-day recruitment campaigns. I know my firm has seen a real increase in the past year or two and this raises many questions. As an industry, how do we want to respond to this dilemma? As a recruiting firm owner, how do I train my Account Executives and Recruiters to respond to this question? Is this ethical? How do I capture this expense in my accounting? Do I need to file a 1099 when I pay someone a “referral fee”?

This is kind of a “HOT” topic with many in our industry.

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Uncategorized

Spark & Hustle with Tory Johnson

by on May 26, 2010


Tory Johnson

The Fordyce Letter recently chatted with Tory Johnson about her Spark & Hustle conference, scheduled for July 29-31 in Atlanta.

As the CEO of Women For Hire and Workplace Contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America, she has a significant following among career management professionals. She is offering Fordyce Letter readers who may need help turning their ideas into cash a discount to attend (use code FORDYCE to save $200; leave a note that you’ve registered so she can flag it for her staff and she can include you in the after-hours get-togethers).

Tell me more about the agenda and “inner circle” of experts. Also, is this designed mostly for female business owners?

While the contents of the three-day conference would apply equally to men and women, our market is primarily women. Don’t get me wrong, we love men — and they’re welcome to register to attend — but truthfully it’s largely a women’s event by default!

The core focus of the agenda is turning passion and potential into PROFIT. The current and aspiring small business owners and solopreneurs I meet are generally really good at what they do. Where they fall short is how to SELL their services. How to PROMOTE their businesses. How to EXPAND their platforms. This isn’t an event to come discover your passion. Our attendees will arrive knowing exactly what their passion is—that is their SPARK. And they’ll leave having gained the tools and tactics for turning that passion to profit—that’s the HUSTLE part! It’s all about making money right now.

Readers of The Fordyce Letter are motivated by becoming or maintaining their status as “Big Billers”; along those lines, what tactics do you teach at these events to MAKE MONEY NOW?

That’s my kind of crowd!

In no particular order, attendees will learn how to build their digital identities, how to overcome sales objections, how to write compelling copy that sells without being sleazy, how to generate media coverage that’s for profit not just for vanity, how to form complementary alliances, how to generate multiple revenue streams to enhance the core business, and so much more. All of these things can be put to work Monday morning after the event.

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Uncategorized

The Breakfast Club: How to Start a Face-to-Face Networking Group

by on May 5, 2009


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So much attention has been placed on social networking lately.

Everyone seems to be using sites like LinkedIn and Twitter to network. And while social networking provides some excellent opportunities to build your network, look for a job, and stay current with industry trends, let’s not forget the importance of traditional, face-to-face networking.

A Breakfast Club is Born

It was 2002, right at the boom of the dot-com era.

My desk was inundated with resumes, and I felt terrible because there was no way I could refer all these highly qualified CEO candidates to new CEO jobs.

That’s when it hit me that maybe these people could help each other. I emailed all of the CEO candidates and invited them to meet for breakfast. They all had different backgrounds yet shared a common bond — looking for that next big CEO gig.

Little did I know back then that I was on to something big.

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Uncategorized

Sourcing Executive Candidates

by on Apr. 10, 2009


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ExecuNet’s “2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report” shows that search firms are using social networking/referrals for 37% of searches. Another 30% are using a firm’s database/personal contact list. Online job postings/advertising accounts for just 15%, while online search accounts for another 10%. Mining target companies scored the remaining 8%.

On the flip side, social networking accounts for almost three-in-four (73%) job opportunities uncovered by executives — trumping job websites and other forms of advertising.

recruitersmap1

Based on a survey of 5,060 executives and 476 search firm consultants and corporate HR professionals, the report also reveals that executive recruiters expect search assignments to decrease 14% in the first six months of 2009 before rebounding to close the year down just 4%.

While the worst recession in decades is taking its toll on the executive employment market, ExecuNet claims it is not affecting all industries or all companies equally. The report says new leadership roles continue to be created and found by those who remain visible and connected.

“Executives who are not building sustainable relationships in their network won’t be able to revive it in time for the turnaround,” says Dave Opton, CEO and founder of ExecuNet.

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