Page 124 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

the broom cupboard was really getting me down. Not having a
window made it unbearably claustrophobic, so as soon as there
was money in the Alexander Mann bank account I told reception
that I wanted a window and enough room for two desks. By now, I
was also ready to hire somebody, not just because I hadn’t enjoyed
working on my own, but because I’d proved my system could work
and that meant I would be able to convince someone to join me.
The first person I approached was a guy called Mike who I’d
worked with at Premier. We met for a coffee and I told him about
Alexander Mann before suggesting that he came and worked with
me.
Mike was very experienced – he was a good ten years older than
me – and he could see that I’d barely been up and running for five
minutes. I knew exactly what he was thinking: ‘If I join Alexander
Mann, James is going to pocket 70 per cent of whatever I bill; I’d
be better off if I set up on my own.’
So I started to share my vision with Mike about this big
company, based on the atmosphere I’d known in financial services,
with a big open-plan dealing room with thirty of the best people
in the business. I sold the opportunity not the job, and convinced
him that this was going to be a really exciting journey. Over the
years, I’ve been told I’m very good at painting everything as a
blue-sky opportunity, but I absolutely believed what I was telling
Mike. He was very intrigued with my concept of headhunting
because he’d never come across it before.
‘You can’t be serious! You can’t just call people out of the blue
and get results!’
I knew that Mike had pretty good clients and if he brought some
of them with him he’d be billing in no time. I paid him 30 per cent
of what he billed – which was way more than any other agency
paid at the time – and he billed £8k in his first month, £11k the
following month, and £15k the month after that. Alexander Mann
was starting to fly.

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