The best recruiting successes are built on attraction.

And the dance is more enjoyable when the recruiting prospect self-activates and pursues you.

So how do you make yourself attractive?

According to Harvard researchers, there is a simple thing anyone can do to tip the attraction scale in their favor.

Just ask more questions, especially follow-up questions.

We identified a robust and consistent relationship between question-asking and liking.

People who ask more questions, particularly follow-up questions, are attracted to and better liked by their conversation partners.

Simple–everyone knows this, right?

Not according to the researchers:

We also found that, despite the persistent and beneficial effects of asking questions, people do not anticipate that question-asking increases interpersonal liking.

This is a quick, easy, and decisive way to differentiate yourself.

While your competitors are busy talking about themselves, you can be asking questions.

There’s not much competition for this role, and it will subtly make you the most attractive person in a prospect’s recruiting journey.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb:  In any conversation, the other person should be doing at least 70% of the talking.