Top Echelon Network ‘Success Stories’: Betsy Vincent

So . . . just how can you be successful as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network?  What are the keys?  How do you do it?  In this ongoing series in The Pinnacle, we’re going to interview some of the Top Producers in the Network and ask them what they’ve done to achieve success in Top Echelon.

Recruiter: Betsy Vincent

Agency: The Williams Company

Accomplishments within the Network:

Vincent was ranked #29 last year in terms of production within Top Echelon Network, but she’s since moved up to the #24 slot.  All seven of the placements that she’s made in the Network have been split placements.  (To view a complete list of the top-producing recruiters in Top Echelon, please visit the Members’ Area.)

Betsy’s Key to Success: Communication and Trust

Vincent is part of The Williams Company, which is one of the more successful firms overall in Top Echelon Network.  Two of the other recruiters in that firm are Daniel Williams (23 Network placements) and Jay Laney (23 Network placements).  According to Vincent, who’s been with the Williams Company for three years, she started using Top Echelon more extensively about a year and a half ago.

“I would say that I’ve been using the Network a lot more during the past year and a half,” said Vincent, who works in the Food & Beverage industry.  “The first year wasn’t that much, but since then I’ve been using it a lot more, especially with the way the economy has been.”

The way in which Vincent has achieved success through the Network is by adhering to its Four Pillars-Quality, Communication, Trust, and Active Participation.  The ones that she pointed to as being the most instrumental are Communication and Trust.  Of Vincent’s seven split placements in Top Echelon, three of them have been with Suzanne Griffith, CPC of J S Griffith & Associates.

According to Vincent, she and Griffith practice quality communication, and through that communication, the two of them have forged a solid business relationship that’s built on mutual trust.  Another key is the fact that they both like to work in the same fashion, an often overlooked component of successful Trading Partner relationships.  When two recruiters approach the placement process roughly the same, that process tends to be much smoother and in most cases, much quicker.

“Neither of us are the type of people who need a lot of hand-holding from the other one,” said Vincent.  “We don’t think something’s wrong if we haven’t talked in two or three weeks.  I know that Suzanne is talking with the candidate and the client.  I can send her people, and if I don’t hear from her in even three or four weeks, I don’t need a daily or weekly update.  I trust Suzanne to contact me when she needs to, and she trusts me to do the same.”

“Betsy and I do a lot of work together,” said Griffith, who’s made 34 placements in the Network during her time as a Preferred Member.  “She’s on target with the candidates she sends me at least 80 percent of the time, and she does a great job of qualifying them on the basic information.  She’s figured out the types of questions I’d want to ask of the candidate, and she asks them those questions before she even sends them to me.  Betsy and I also get along.  She’s a high-energy person, and we work together very well.”

“The nature of our working relationship is letting the other person do what they’re best at and not spending a ton of time on the phone in the process,” added Vincent.

Of the other seven Network split placements that Vincent has made, she had the candidate in four instances and the job order in the other three.  The fees for those three placements were $30,000; $14,500; and $21,250.  Besides the three splits that she’s made with Griffith, she’s also made splits with Craig Bond of Donnelson & Bond Recruiting ($37,500); Dan Brockman of Dan B. Brockman Recruiters ($20,750); Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group ($20,250); and Denise Milano Sprung of Joseph Associates ($20,500).  Vincent indicated that she also has a strong Trading Partner relationship with Milano Sprung.

“It’s kind of the same exact thing,” she said.  “We respect each other’s time and we really understand what each other needs.  We do our own thing to try to find a match, and we don’t hound each other on the phone a lot.  We know what to expect from one another.”

Vincent has created a group of Trading Partners with which she communicates on a regular basis.  She’s become very familiar with that group, and more importantly, she trusts them with her job orders and her candidates.

“We work with candidates and clients alike,” said Vincent.  “I don’t have time to follow up with each and every candidate that I send out.  I have a handful of recruiters that I work with and that I trust with whatever information I give them.  It’s important to identify those recruiters that you feel the most comfortable with.”

As far as the Food & Beverage industry is concerned, Vincent indicated that it’s remained relatively steady during this most recent recession, but that there are still plenty of challenges.

“It’s definitely slowed down some,” she said.  “With so many industries struggling during the past couple of years, there’s been a greater influx of recruiters starting in Food & Beverage.  So there are fewer job orders and twice the number of recruiters working them, so that presents its own set of challenges.  You have to make sure that you’re the best at what you do and that you set yourself apart as an industry specialist.”