Page 123 - James Caan - The Real Deal

11 · Pall Mall

‘No, James, it’s been really good, really professional. It’s been
pretty painless actually.’
‘That’s great. I’m really pleased to hear that. Listen, do you
think you could do me a favour?’
‘What’s that, James?’
‘Would you recommend me to three people?’ It was a technique
I’d learned at Reid Trevena: you should always be specific. If I had
said, ‘Is there anybody else you know who would like to change
jobs?’ it would have been too easy for him to say no. If you ask a
specific question you tend to get a specific answer.
‘I’m looking for somebody in their early thirties, preferably
living in London, maybe two and a half to three years’ experience,
specifically within pensions and investment.’ When you are so
specific in what you ask for, the mind is very good at tuning in to
somebody. Our brains start filtering through our memory banks in
search of matching information. The trick is to give the brain
something to look for.
‘Actually, I do know somebody like that.’
‘Who’s that, John?’
‘A friend of mine. I used to work with him at Goldman Sachs . . .’
‘What’s the best way for me to get hold of him?’ I would take
the name and number and encourage John to come up with
another candidate. Within twenty minutes I had pulled three
names out of John’s mental database, and the next day I would
call up his friends.
‘Hi, Gary, excuse me calling you out of the blue but I was with
John yesterday. We were having a fantastic celebration at the Ritz
because John’s just got a fabulous new job. While we were talking,
he said the one guy he knew who was really ready for the next step
was you, so this is just a quick call to see when a good time to
have a coffee would be. How’s Tuesday at noon looking?’
A few months in, I had the first fee in the bank, a couple more
cheques in the pipeline and eight to ten people out on interviews:

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