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CHECK STEAM DATA AND SMART
SYSTEM.– Your next step is to go to your marketing
data to find out where you are most likely to find the
individuals to meet the assigned goals. All areas should
still be covered, but special emphasis should be placed
on the areas that are identified as likely to yield the
quality contracts you are looking for.
CHECK STATION PLANNER.– Check the station
planner to determine prospecting requirements for the
coming week. How much phone prospecting is planned?
What preprospecting requirements must the recruiters
meet for itineraries, school visits, and so on? Working
ticklers should not be arbitrarily level loaded. The
number of prospect cards should coincide with the
recruiter’s plan for the day.
CONSIDER INDIVIDUAL RECRUITER AND
TERRITORY.– Individual allowances also should be
made for each recruiter and territory. What cards are
available to prospect from? How many can each
recruiter effectively make a disposition on within the
time planned? What are the recruiter’s success ratios?
Although we do not keep “numbers” on the recruiters,
you should know how many interviews each recruiter
needs to net a contract, how many appointments are
needed to produce an interview, and how many contacts
are needed to set an appointment. Have the recruiter
keep track for a couple of months to establish these
ratios. This will give you a good idea of how many
prospect cards to load as well as training needs.
CONSIDER WHAT IS ALREADY IN THE
WORKING TICKLER.– The working tickler may
already contain cards that need follow-up from previous
prospecting. The recruiter may also have leads and
referrals to continue prospecting. You do not want to
overload the working tickler with new prospecting if the
recruiter has a good follow-up base.
GO TO THE MARKET SEGMENT
FILES. – Now you are ready to go to the market segment
files and pull cards to support your station’s goals. Do
not always go to the front of each segment to start
pulling your cards. You may want to make use of a
“stop” card to mark where you have pulled to within
each segment. Whatever method you use, just make sure
you are getting a good rotation on all the cards in the
market segment. Selectively pull the quantity and quality
of cards that you have determined will meet station goal.
There is no magic number.
DETERMINING HOW MANY CARDS TO
LOAD.– That’s right, there is no magic number. Each
RINC will develop his or her own method to determine
the number of cards each recruiter will need. Some use
the five-card method, believing five good dispositions
per day will suffice for every recruiter. Some use exact
ratios for each recruiter, Others may use a bank system.
The important thing to remember is that you should
never give a recruiter more cards than can be effectively
worked each day. When cards start to snowball and
recruiters see their daily phone prospecting pile grow
and grow, their enthusiasm proportionately wanes.
An old story about duck hunters correlates well with
the idea of selectively loading only as many cards as can
effectively be worked. One duck hunter used a shotgun,
but could not stand to keep his eyes open when he shot.
He just knew if he closed his eyes with the shotgun
pointing in the general direction of a flock of migrating
ducks, all that buckshot was bound to hit something.
Well, he did occasionally hit something, but not the
ducks he was hoping for. The other hunter took careful
aim at one duck in particular. He would miss sometimes
but just aim again at the same duck. He usually enjoyed
roast duck for dinner. Phone prospecting is very similar.
Have your recruiters take careful aim and be persistent
in contacting the prospects the Navy needs.
CARD BANK CONCEPT.– Pulling prospect cards
to load the working ticklers can be a time-consuming
task. Level loading cards can cause a buildup that
overwhelms the recruiter. One method of preventing this
is the card bank system.
CAUTION: Check with your chain of command
before using the card bank system.
This system allows the RINC to pull cards at the
end of a week for the entire following weeks
prospecting. The first day of the working tickler is
loaded with sufficient cards to complete that day’s
planned prospecting. The rest of the cards are filed at
the end of the week to provide a “bank.” At the
production review, all cards that have been dispo’d
(appointment set, disqualified, or otherwise determined
to require no further action) are replaced from the bank.
This ensures cards do not build up to an unmanageable
level in the recruiter’s working tickler. RINCs using this
method must exercise great care to make sure their
banks do not contain any more than 1 working weeks
worth of prospecting.
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