Page 141 - James Caan - The Real Deal

13 · Learning to Innovate

‘You know what?’ I said. ‘I’ll do it myself.’
So I picked up the phone and started canvassing recruitment
agencies, and – just as my colleagues had predicted – they started
laughing on the other end of the phone.
‘Don’t be so ridiculous! I’m not going to give you a vacancy to
hire recruitment consultants for me. What do you think I do here?
That’s my job.’
Being a bit pig-headed, I wasn’t easily dissuaded. I knew they
had a need, so I just had to find a way of making it work. I did
what I always did and sat on the phone for days, slightly altering
my pitch and assessing the results. I could understand why I was
being knocked back – it’s the obvious emotional response to say
no – but commercially I knew there was an opportunity. I’d
convinced myself it had to work and, crucially, I’d also put myself
in an embarrassing position trying to convince everybody else. The
whole office – and pretty soon the whole industry – was looking
at me saying: Go on then, show us.
Icouldn’t lose face, so for six weeks I canvassed other recruitment
agencies solidly. If I couldn’t convince them on the phone then I went
to meet them, but still I couldn’t persuade them. I realised I must have
the wrong pitch, and so I sat in the office and went back to basics. I
asked myself, What do they want to hear? What could I tell them that
would get them interested? Mentally, I went back to the broom
cupboard in Pall Mall when I didn’t have a service I could sell, and I’d
sold the candidate instead. I closed my eyes and imagined the kind of
candidate another agency would be willing to pay a fee for.
Supposing someone had rung me and said: ‘James, I’ve got a
consultant who’s a specialist in the sales market and he’s been
doing it for three and half years. Last year he billed £150,000, he’s
got a very good customer base and he’s looking for an opportun-
ity.’ Immediately, I’d be thinking – £150k? That’s £50k profit. Is
that worth the £6k agency fee? Would I pay six grand to buy
£150,000 worth of revenue? I think I would.

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