Hi everybody it’s Richard Milligan, welcome back to another recruiting conversation. Thank you for listening, like think about that, If I didn’t have any listeners like what would be the point, of doing a weekly podcast, I guess if I enjoyed the sound of my own voice, which I don’t know, I mean when you hear your own voice it’s like do you really enjoy the sound of your own voice? I sound a little nasally when I hear myself. I don’t know if any of you think the same thing about your own voice, it’s like hey, my voice, why can’t I have like the Barry White voice, right? Something that’s like really cool like that, or like the intro to the movie guy voice, a voice like that, but it is Mike it is what I have and it is what I’m gonna work with today we’re gonna talk about the importance of leadership branding today, it’s specific to social media. A lot of people are completely missing whiffing in this particular space, so I teach it in my coaching, we actually part of what we do at 4C Recruiting is we actually, model the voice for CEOs. So we’ve got a lot of CEOs that we actually deliver content for, and in that experience, and in that, the information that we are able to extract from doing that, what I know is that leadership branding is not just important, but it is more important today, than having your recruiting team making phone calls. It is not kind of important, it is imperative if your growth-oriented, and you have large growth goals. So I want to spend some time around this is a lot of people get caught in the space of I understand that it’s important, but I have no clue how to deliver the content. So, I want to draw a straight line between who you are is an attractive leader and the content that you can be delivering to the platforms because I don’t believe it’s that complicated. What we model is ultimately attractive leadership, so I’ve that’s a terminology I haven’t heard anyone else used before, it’s a terminology that I came up with in terms of an attractive character versus an attractive leader, and the attractive leader in my mind has to represent three things, has a very clear vision, and has is very clear on their core value system. So if you don’t have that you would start there.
The second part of this is that they’re able to articulate it extremely well, so it’s not just having it written down on paper, it’s being able to share it with people, story tell, like why is that value why is your vision a part of you, a lot of times our values come from our experiences, I found that a lot of times we can go back to on beginnings where we started something new, a lot of times our value system has us leaving some opportunity and going to another opportunity because one opportunity wasn’t in alignment with our value system, and another opportunity is aligned with our value system. But you’ve got to be able to articulate that clearly and the third part of the attractive leader is this, it’s someone who lives and acts in alignment with their vision and their values, that seems pretty obvious, right? If I say I’m going to be something I’m going to share it with people that I’m actually gonna be something, but I have found that a lot of times leaders make decisions around growth and around hiring people simply based on the need for more revenue, more volume, whatever your industry, you know sales perspective is, units, transactions, contracts, a lot of leaders make decisions around that piece and there is actually a disconnect between their vision and their values, and what they live in the day to day. So those three component has a vision understands their values, can articulate that well, and then lives and acts and alignment with that, okay? So that’s where you begin and I believe that the best leadership brand that you can have is where you’re simply documenting that.
So we use we use what we call a terminology called social ID, and your social ID is really this where you’re identifying and document simply what you’re doing. So, when you think about that oh I simply need to be identifying like what I’m doing today and then documenting that, that should be an align with your value system it should be an alignment with the vision for your team for your business, and so that’s the best most authentic real representation of who you are as a leader, yes or yes? This isn’t about trying to conjure up great leadership thoughts this isn’t about trying to become a you know in quotations thought leader, it’s not about that, it’s about people having a lens into your life into who you are and them aligning with that. So think about this if you’re clear and representing the authentic real version of you in the day to day, then when they join your team, they already knew all that and they’re in alignment with that, and so it seems obvious that you those people would be the easiest people to retain. Look, I come out of an industry where it seasons in an industry in this particular industry it’s very normal to have 30 -50% turnover in the most important sales positions and if you’re turning three to five people out of ten over every single year, then the truth is that you’re not bringing people into your organization or into your team, that are in alignment, and a lot of times we simply recruit to things like money, compensation, sign-on bonuses, right? Those are the key pieces that we recruit to and you know profitability share or whatever that is when you recruit to that that’s the lowest form of human motivation, can you motivate a human through that absolutely, unequivocally, yes. But we are more motivated through other things, like belonging, of being affirmed, having larger meaning of what we do, those are the pieces that motivate people most, and with clarity. So if I’ve got clarity around who you are the authentic real version of you, because you’ve taken this idea that I’ve got a social ID, I simply identify and document what I’m doing, people know who you are, when they get there, and thus are already in alignment with you, and so understanding this not only will help you attract the right people and bring in the people that are looking for someone that represents what you represent, but when they get there then it’s very easy to retain them because you just continue being you.
So, let’s talk about this a little bit how do you take this idea of like identifying and document the day and day the day to day and what can what should that look like. So, here is a couple of headings that I like to put content under inside that identify in documenting. First and foremost, what are your values, okay? You should be talking about these you should be looking for moments when you’re acting on those okay so one of my one of my high personal values is growth, personal development, and leadership development. So, if I take that single piece now imagine that I coach and I’m about personal development, right? Like there’s some Elaine that just in what I’m doing the day and a value system that goes back to my teenage years. So if personal development if growth is one of your one of your core values then you’re most likely listening to podcast, you’re most likely reading constantly reading books, you’re looking to see what influencers are doing that are out there, you’re looking to see what is current and relative in leadership in personal development, and so inside that single piece you have an enormous amount of content that you could actually deliver. Some easy methods for this, look you wouldn’t believe how many times I’m walking through the Denver Airport, if you’ve been to the Denver Airport you know that there’s a bookstore in the Denver Airport. I’m walking through the Denver Airport and for where I live in Oklahoma City that’s a hub to go out west and so a lot of times we have to pass through Denver have a short layover. So I immediately go to the bookstore I look to see what books are new and up front, and I will open those books up and flip through those and a lot of times just you know have come across a great idea with the book, I buy the book, sometimes I don’t buy the book, right? There are times where there are great quotes great thoughts right there’s even oh I can even hold the book in my hand and take a picture of it and just say in the Denver Airport came across a great book can’t wait to read this, and go tag the author in it. I’ve done that a number of times, okay? So as you’re just walking through something like a personal development value system that you have you have podcasts to share, you have ideas from podcasts to share, you have books that you’re reading and ideas from those books that you can actually share. You have stories that you extract from all of those, that you can actually regurgitate and say things like, I was recently listening to a podcast I was recently reading a book and so there are lots of ideas that you have to share. So in the context of that in essence you become a bit of a content curator, you’re curating content and I think you know this statistically today CEOs are reading somewhere between 50 and 60 books per year now whether they’re reading them or listing them listening to them on something like an audible version, you know I can’t tell you that but I know the average CEO today says that they’re reading between 50 and 60 books, I know that 85% of all self-made millionaires say they read two books minimally, two books per month. So personal development, if you want to grow is something that’s going to be relevant forever for you, right? So, that could be a value and because it’s a value now, I get to talk about this value I’m looking for moments when I’m acting on that value. So, I’m simply identifying in documents by social ID identifying and document. Another key heading that I love to focus on is you know a simple statement what is my truth, what is true about me, okay for Richard I have a family so all their structure, there I’ve got four kids, I’ve got two dogs, I’m heavily involved there there’s all kinds of truths around that, perfect example would be here within the past couple months I have my oldest son just turned 17, we had him go through a process of reading 25 books and writing essays almost 25 books and so we identified 25 books, that he actually read delivered essays on and he got himself a car, mom and dad bought him a car. So that’s part of my truth like why did I do that or the journey of even do it of even doing that listing some of those books sharing some those books but I have a lot of family structure, I’ve got a 12 year old son that plays basketball, travel basketball, I’ve got to a 6 and a 9 year old daughter and they love horses, they love riding horses, there’s just all kinds of things there in terms of family structure that can become my truth, and if I’m gonna deliver this in a place like Facebook, it’s gonna have a different feel, then if I deliver this in a place like LinkedIn, but you can take that truth, and you can move that across the place like LinkedIn, if you do it correctly. Let me give you an example, inside that family structure right I gave you the example the 25 books I could take a picture of my son in front of his truck and list the books out and talk about the importance of my belief of reading and growing yourself in personal development. I connected it to, write another thing that I’ve done I talked a lot about recruiting maybe if you’ve listened a few my podcast you know that, I talk a lot about recruiting, and so I can draw a line in one of the ways that I’ve done this is I can take a picture of my family, I can actually use it on the LinkedIn platform as a short form post, and I will write a dear recruiter letter and the dear recruiter letter might be something along the lines of you know you know “dear recruiter in the time even pursuing me one of the things that you’ve missed is that the most important thing is getting to spend time with these key influencers in my life” right? So I can connect the dots with my values and my truth and do it in a business format as much as I can do it more of a personal sharing my life format. So, what is your truth, okay? I’m involved in a non-profit I could talk about that I could talk about where I come from I come from a lot of poverty, I come from a broken home I can draw a line from some of my tenacity some of my determination some of my willingness to work hard I can draw some straight lines back to some of the places of where I came from, and lots of people will connect with that, because that is a part of my story, it’s part of my truth. So I’m gonna look at what are my values, I’m also going to look at what is my truth, and then one of the things that I’m going to look at as well is what’s part of my day-to-day. If you’re a recruiting leader okay the recruiting leader and by my definition is someone who leads a team but is also responsible for recruiting to that team, if you’re recruiting leader you’re doing things like leading sales meetings, right? Great thing to identify and document there’s typically something motivational in there is a lot of times there’s a set agenda based on where you are in the season of your business the things you need to address with the team. You may not share all of that but there’s typically several takeaways there that you could share and you could document that moment you’re in meetings with your sales people a lot of times, through either referral partners or people that they do business with, right? There’s good takeaways there, there’s great ideas just even getting in the car with another salesperson or driving over to an appointment that you share that you coached you. Those are all great things that you can share in social media you are establishing your culture right get together off-site meetings, recognition events, birthday parties, like a lot of times that recruiting leader who leads the team is also responsible for all of those. Why wouldn’t you share those? That’s part of your truth that’s part of your core value system, right? If I’m doing a monthly recognition event like my part my value system is that I believe in recognizing my people recognizing the people on my team when I do this, I give the outside world and the people specifically that I’m interested in is the people that I want to attract that are in my industry. I’m giving them a look inside what it is to be aligned with the leader like me.
Here’s why this part this part is really important, and this is why I’m bringing this up you know I mentioned you know I think I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I might have actually mentioned this I do a video as well as the podcast and I do an intro with the video. So if you haven’t seen that you can go check that out of my YouTube channel, or my Vimeo channel, but when I was speaking to a leader earlier today who has grown more than 300% over the past year. We’re talking about the major changes that they had made inside the things that I teach, the things that they had practically applied inside what I teach, one of the top three things that’s been applied, is building their leadership brand, okay? There’s a direct correlation today, between recruiting people / attracting people, okay? And growth and so where you can connect with people as being an attractive leader a person that matters in their industry and in their market, especially in industries where top recruits are heavily recruited, ok? I come from the mortgage real estate industry and in that industry the top recruits are heavily recruited by everybody inside the industry, not just recruiting departments but other / recruiting leaders they’re recruited by, and so it’s pretty normal for someone to get five phone calls in a week, for their inbox to be spammed on LinkedIn, and so those individuals they pick where they’re going next, they’re not it data supports this data supports that social media has changed the game for recruiting. Inside that particular industry the mortgage industry data came out recently that said is a study of 13,000 top originators, the survey said that 20 – 25% of those top originators were directly so elicited when they moved their next orchid their next company 75% that’s the exact number 75% came through what I would consider non-solicitation methods. they’re being referred or they’re seeking out the next opportunity themselves so most companies are missing out here, when you look at a platform like LinkedIn which is critical to this when you look at a platform like LinkedIn, the average CEO net platform has nine hundred and thirty connections, okay? let me just state that again the average CEO on LinkedIn as 930 connections and most CEOs have an enormous amount of resources behind them to really approach this if they want to approach this but they’re not because they don’t understand the importance of this. look recruiting has changed, it is no longer direct solicitation, in my own survey what I found is that about one out of eleven people answer the phone when you call, think about it voicemail doesn’t work today. you probably get this, because you like me get spammed robo called, and they do leave voice messages and so I don’t even check my voicemail anymore, like I don’t answer the majority that calls on the sup recognize it number one the second part of that is if you left a voice message I wouldn’t look at it, right? So the phone is something that’s dying you have to figure out creatively in a social world majority of time now is spent on a handful of apps, those a lot of those apps are social media apps, you have to be representing something there or they will create a narrative on their own. And if you don’t control the narrative, you’re in essence delivering a narrative by choice. Like think about that if you’re not there and you’ve made a conscious decision to not be there because you’re not comfortable with LinkedIn or you’re not comfortable with Instagram or Facebook. There’s a narrative there, they’ll create a narrative your competition will create a narrative. So either you control the narrative or you don’t control the narrative if you’re active on social or you’re not active on social you can make that decision but what I can tell you is this data really large data pieces now support CEOs, executive level, leaders and leaders at any level being engaged on these platforms and then making a difference and their ability to grow and their ability to recruit, okay? That’s why I bring it up today, that’s why I want to give you some context around this so remember this your company may be missing out on this, but you as an individual leader can still do this. You do not need your organization to lead this in order to do this, we are not talking about anything that is compliance related, we’re talking about identifying and documenting your life of who you are as a leader like where I come from we begin to throw around a lot of terminology like I’m not sure if we’re gonna use trigger terms, or if that’s gonna be you know in alignment with Regulation Z, or whatever it is we’re not talking about anything that has to be put in front of compliance, and if it does, then you’re not representing this correctly. I’m talking about documenting who you are as a human being, documenting how you’re leading your teams, okay? A lot of people use LinkedIn specifically as an advertisement feed, we’re hiring well newsflash, everybody in your industry is hiring, no one needs to know you’re hiring, you, the people that you want the best producers in your industry they’re going to seek out their next opportunity and either you will be there representing yourself or you will not be the representative so this is something that has to be done. So there you have it you’ve got some content strategy you understand what it takes to become an attractive leader activate on this, you won’t be sorry, in art, in art and what we know what we do what we found is that around that four to five-month window, where someone’s doing this consistently on a daily basis, the momentum builds that 4 to 5-month window. Now it’s my belief that there’s some reasons for that one of the reasons for that I believe is that it takes a while for people to trust the voice are you just posting something to be posting a day or is this really who you are right give me 4 to 5 five months in managing a leaders social profile social voice social leadership brand and what I can do is give you guaranteed deliverable results. I am looking at an email that we sent to a recruiting leader this morning that has nine leads setting in their LinkedIn inbox of people that are interested and wanting to talk, okay? Like I’m not this is real data that’s coming through real activation this is what you’re missing out on and most people are still looking at the phone and trying to scale internal recruiting departments to go after top producers and industry by pounding the phone, okay? So, as an individual leader you can activate on this I’ve given you some great content here today to move towards immediately in terms of an action plan, you’ve got to be connecting, you’ve got to be delivering daily content, you need to be communicating directly to them as a one-to-one, and you can make a right hook / conversion if you do that meaning that you can then if you’ve done that correctly connected, and delivered daily content or they know who you are as leader, and then communicated directly through their inbox and brought them some value there with no strings attached, you can’t ask for a meeting, and you can scale that kind of behavior, okay? So as individual leader you don’t need your company to do this you can do this on your own so I know I brought value to you today, and I don’t mean that to be arrogant what I know is that this is a very practical input that I’ve actually put myself through. I mean I don’t go back to 2014 in a three-month window of time in 2014 which was five years ago okay in a three-month wind of time I said thirty-eight face-to-face appointments not just face-to-face appointments but corporate site visits, people getting on planes or getting in their cars and driving to my corporate headquarters to actually have a conversation about the organization the company directly being recruited directly looking at making a change, and Mike one of my key elements in that was my leadership brand and using a platform called LinkedIn, okay? So if it worked in it will work exponentially today because the platform’s stronger the platform’s better the platform has more engaging content now than ever. So, it will work for you so glad I brought some value today looking for other resources there’s lots of resources out there, this podcast gets dropped onto website recruitingconversations.com we have a video blog on 4Crecruiting.com, you can see my content my daily content on LinkedIn, you can see weekly video content on my YouTube and Vimeo channels and so until we actually talk again here on recruiting conversations, have a great week everybody and remember this, “one change can change everything have a great week”.
