You’ve all heard the old sales adage:  The fortune is in the follow-up.

It’s true. The agents who consistently stay connected with those in their database are the highest producers.

Does the same principle apply to recruiting?

By far, consistent follow-up activities have the highest correlation to the number of hires, quality of hires, and overall recruiting success.

Last week, a coaching client reminded me of some insight a high-performing leader shared with me on this topic:

Follow-up after an initial recruiting connection (working my Warm List) is my most important recruiting activity.

It takes a minimum of five follow-ups for a prospect to become a hire and usually more.

Follow-up is critical because the normal timeline for an experienced agent hire is 8 to 12 months.

Those who follow-up the best and most consistently hire more agents.

Raising follow-up to the level of being the most important recruiting activity requires many hiring managers to make a paradigm change.

The interview/recruiting appointment is not the end of the recruiting process–it’s the beginning.

It just gives you the right to compete for this prospect’s attention in the months ahead.