Fanatical Military Recruiting

6How to Ask

Asking is the beginning of receiving.

—Jim Rohn, author and motivational speaker

Starting with prospecting, while advancing your applicants through the recruiting process, and all the way through to enlistment, you must constantly be asking your prospects and applicants for commitments. To reduce resistance and get them to comply with your requests, you must ask confidently, concisely, and assertively, with no hesitation (see Figure 6.1). There are three keys to asking:

1. Ask with confidence and assume you will get what you want.
2. Shut up!
3. Be prepared to deal with objections.

Figure 6.1 The three keys to asking.

Emotional Contagion: People Respond in Kind

Be intentional. Be decisive. Get to the point. When you are confident with your ask and assume you will get what you want, the probability increases exponentially that your prospect will respond in kind and comply with your request.

When recruiters ask with assertive confidence, qualified prospects say yes 50 to 70 percent of the time. Conversely, nonassertive, insecure, “I-don’t-want-to-seem-too-pushy” requests have a 10 to 30 percent success rate.

In a weird paradox, when you try not to be “pushy” because you think it will turn prospects off, you trigger objections. When you sound and look afraid, when you give off an insecure vibe, you transfer that fear to your prospect and create resistance where it ...