How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for ... - GIT home page

Your Vendors
Right under Your Nose: Leveraging People You Already Know 69
I know a top-producing salesperson who used to sell copiers and
other business machines. At one of the offices he called on, he
struck up a relationship with the receptionist. They started dating
and ended up getting married. He then took a sales position with
this same business. (His new wife’s family owned it.)
You don’t literally have to bring A-players into your family in
order to recruit them. But your suppliers’ people are a prime hunting
ground for your recruiting efforts. For example, it is common
practice for corporations to recruit attorneys from the law firms that
serve them. While law firms don’t want to lose their best people,
they also understand that, handled correctly, their relationship with
the client will be stronger by having one of their alumni working
there. The same thing goes for your CPA firm, your advertising
agency, and the other vendors that serve your business. All of them
employ people who are potential A-players for your business.
Generally, the biggest challenge in interviewing and hiring is that
you have never worked with the people you are considering for
hire, but that’s not the case with your vendors’ employees. You work
with them every day and know how they operate under pressure.
A-Player Principle: You work with people from your
vendors every day. Focus on recruiting the best of them
into your organization.
Create an A-Player Target List
You should always have a target list of two or three people who
work for your competitors whom you would love to have working
for you. These will most likely be seasoned executives, managers,
and salespeople who would make an immediate positive impact if
they came to work for you. I recently met with the head of sales for
a major corporation. We talked about recruiting and hiring, and he