The following is from the second section of Module VII of "The Magic in the Method" telephone names sourcing course:

In the third quarter of 2007 TechTrak imposed a ten name minimum on all our jobs.

One reason we imposed a “minimum” was because we began to notice an up-tick in companies requesting we go into companies and source certain titles. What ended up happening on all these searches was a scarcity of people emerged holding those titles, for a couple different reasons (companies were small, title was unique, persons holding title were mostly located at headquarters which was NOT in the job's geographic target zone, etc.) In all three cases the information ended up being more of a competitive intelligence exercise that benefited the customer than a names sourcing success that benefited us. Maybe that was the original intent - who knows?

Another reason we imposed a ten name minimum (and we’re thinking of upping it to twenty names) is that any less than ten names is pretty much assured not to produce any (hiring) results for the customer. Sourcing is a numbers game and you’ve learned in previous lessons that 30-50 names, usually, is what’s required for a search to produce one immediate hire (in most industries; not counting defense, pharma, biotech, SAP-anything or Big 4).

Even when a customer orders the minimum of ten names I warn that customer that this is probably not going to be enough; that it "might work but probably won't". I think some still cling to that number because this is a first time experience for them and they want to see how the process “works”. It’s still not a good idea, though.

THE BIGGEST REASON to impose a minimum, though, is because it takes time to “touch” a job. What I mean is it takes you a couple hours to “set” a job up properly, and you’ve all learned, in past lessons, how to do that. In addition to the couple hours it took to set the job up, you can easily spend a couple hours doing Internet research on the targets to find those few ‘names in’ that will help you when you begin your calling. This reason alone is why you should have a “minimum” fee on all your searches.
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Attend the MagicMethod Phone Sourcing All Day Seminar in Miami, FL on September 4 at the Shane Center sponsored by Confisa International Group. Email bob@techtrak.com for registration form or call him at 513 899 9628. Seats are $325 and INCLUDE lunch AND a three month subscription to the seminal "Magic in the Method" telephone names sourcing course. Register early for a 10% discount!