Page 128 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

performance might be down to training, management, incentives
or personality clashes, but it would still reflect badly on Alexander
Mann, and that’s why I always worked so hard to find out what
our clients and candidates really wanted. Whether it was flexibil-
ity, opportunity for advancement, training or a decent company
car, getting the details right was as important as determining salary
and notice periods.
It’s much easier for a client to use an agency that it’s dealt with
before – it just makes life simpler, faster, more enjoyable. I was
extremely passionate about making sure that our clients came
back, and I engendered that feeling in everyone who came to work
at Alexander Mann.
Not only did Alexander Mann understand its market better, its
customers better and its candidates better, it also employed much
better people. In the mid-eighties a competent recruiter at most
agencies might have been making £15k a year. We hired the good
performers, turned them into really great performers, and paid
them a much higher percentage of what they billed. With us they
made £30k plus a year. And, of course, when a team is performing
well and getting paid well, morale is high and their performance
just gets better.
One of the effective and unique things we did at Alexander
Mann was develop relationships with the companies who’d just
had a candidate leave. If I had just placed someone at a Top 4
Public Accountancy Firm I’d make sure I knew where the
candidate had come from.
‘Hi, my name’s James Caan, I work at Alexander Mann and
we’re currently looking for clients who might be interested in some
exceptionally good candidates we’ve got at the moment in your
sector.’ I would describe the guy that I’d just placed and who had
just resigned.
‘That’s really fortunate that you rang me today because our
audit manager Bob just resigned! How did you know?’

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