I’ve always been intrigued by military history and tactics.

It’s interesting how patterns develop over centuries that prove reliable even as technology changes.

And many of the same success patterns that emerge on the battlefield can be applied to both your business and personal life.

It’s one of the reasons there are dozens of prior military individuals who write best-selling books and host popular podcasts.

An example of such a pattern is the need to soften up a target before directly attacking.

An invading army will often use naval bombardment, air strikes, and artillery to weaken an enemy’s defenses before sending in troops.

Do you think the same pattern would hold true in your battle to acquire talent?

You could bludgeon your way by using direct force (e.g. commit to making 100+ cold call dials per day), or you could soften your target before attempting to make these connections.

How do you soften your target?

One way is to give them some exposure to you, your firm, and your value proposition before you attempt direct contact.

You want your prospects to start thinking:

-I’ve heard of you.

-Other agents really seem to like you.  

-You are having some remarkable success.

-You seem to be everywhere.

If these thoughts are going through a prospect’s mind when they get a call from you, you’ll likely have a much more productive conversation.

The need to soften your recruiting targets is one of the reasons we recently partnered with MyBFF Social to provide our clients a suite of marketing services that improve the success rate of recruiting calls and other direct outreaches.

Talent Boost makes a calling service like TalentScout more effective, but it can also be used anytime you’re trying to increase your success rate of direct outreaches.

Take a minute to check it out, then head over to Jocko Willink’s podcast to see what else you can learn.