Page 74 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

wouldn’t call me until the clock struck 3.10 p.m., because if they
really wanted it they would sit there, watching the clock until it
was exactly ten past three. If I’d not done a good enough job and
they still had some doubts and reservations, they’d call at four
o’clock.
Over hundreds of interviews that barometer never lied, and I
believed in it wholeheartedly. If I’d said to somebody, ‘Give me a
call back next week,’ it was too vague and I couldn’t gauge
anything by when they called. So I started to say, ‘Give me a call
on Monday,’ but, again, I couldn’t learn anything. Then, when I
started giving people a specific time to call, it began to get
interesting. If I’d said call at noon and someone called at 1.30, I
realised that was telling me something. So when I booked them for
a second interview, I made a note in the diary ‘She still has
reservations’. Then, when she came in, I’d really try to drill down
and see what was bugging her, because otherwise there was no
point in carrying on with the process. I wouldn’t discuss anything
about the job until I’d found out what was bugging her. Maybe
her mother had told her that her mortgage was at risk; whatever
it was, I wouldn’t stop until I had uncovered the ‘but’ or the
‘however’ that was unsettling her.
‘It’s great, James; however, I’m not sure because I’ve got this
promotion due at the moment and I’ve been there eight years. I’m
not sure if this is really the right time.’
Bingo! That’s what’s bothering her, it’s the promotion. If I
wasn’t able to glean those little nuggets, I could do another two
interviews and at the eleventh hour she still wouldn’t have joined.
Obviously I was motivated to get results because I was on a
commission, but I was also genuinely concerned that candidates
were happy to join the company. It goes back to my dad’s
philosophy, his ‘win-win’ formula. I couldn’t build a relationship
with candidates – who I’d be working with for the next few years
– if they thought they were being misled or oversold the

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