The Make More Placements Show for Recruitment & Search Business Owners | More Placements | Higher Fees | Less Work | Fewer Headaches |

The Make More Placements Show for Recruitment & Search Business Owners | More Placements | Higher Fees | Less Work | Fewer Headaches |

#409 Be The Doctor, Not The Farmacist

Oct 5, 2026 · 17 min · 6 segments

Walk into a doctor's surgery and tell the doctor what treatment you want. No questions, no examination, just exactly what you asked for. You'd never accept that. Yet that is how most recruiters run…

Walk into a doctor's surgery and tell the doctor what treatment you want. No questions, no examination, just exactly what you asked for. You'd never accept that. Yet that is how most recruiters run their client calls. In this episode, Terry breaks down why recruiters who hand over a pitch and a fee on request get squeezed on price, while the ones who diagnose first rarely have to defend their fees at all. You'll hear: - The "pharmacy with the phone" mistake that kills your credibility on the first call - How a small agency owner went up against two other agencies on a £22k contingent search, asked one question, sat through the silence and walked away with it on retained - Why whoever asks the questions controls the meeting, and how to set that agenda in the first 30 seconds - The questions that make hiring managers talk about the real cost of getting the hire wrong, so fees stop being the issue - Why the knowledge you pick up from daily client calls gives you more market data than most of your clients have - Terry's rule: no talking about your service until you've asked at least five questions If your last client beat you down on fee, ask yourself honestly whether you were too expensive or whether you showed up as a pharmacist. Listen, then take one number from your last client call: how many questions did you ask before you pitched?

Walk into a doctor's surgery and tell the doctor what treatment you want. No questions, no examination, just exactly what you asked for. You'd never accept that. Yet that is how most recruiters run…

Speakers: Terry EdwardsHost

Show signals: Audience≈2k followers

Pharmacists Versus Doctors1:43 – 5:36

Terry EdwardsHost

1:43

So let's talk about the difference between a pharmacist and a doctor.

Terry EdwardsHost

1:47

And it's the difference between the recruiter who gets beaten down on fees and the one who never does.

Terry EdwardsHost

1:52

A pharmacist, you walk in, you tell the pharmacist what you want, or you've got, in the UK, we have a prescription that you give the pharmacist.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:00

But you've already decided before you've got there.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:02

You hand it over to them or you tell them, they take the note, they take your money, and that's it.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:08

And that's how the, the pharmacist works, and that's how they've, they've, they've always worked.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:13

You tell them what you want, and if it's, if it's not a pres- I mean, we'd call, we'd call them a not prescribed, something you can buy over the counter, we'd go in and we'd say, "Look, I've, I've got a, a stinking headache.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:22

Had it for a couple of days now.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:24

I, I need something for my stinking headache." Or you can walk to, go to the doctor's with the same symptoms, and the s- doctor does something completely different.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:35

You can't ask the doctor for the medication that you want.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:38

The doctor works out exactly what's wrong.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:41

And half the time, it's not what you thought it is.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:44

And this is a true story.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:45

Many years ago, when I was a search consultant, I had a nagging pain just above my groin, and it ached all the time.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:53

And if I ran or walked fast, it got worse.

Terry EdwardsHost

2:57

At the time, I was training for triathlon, so I made the assumption it was a muscle tweak.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:03

And I had this for about 10 days, but it was steadily getting worse.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:06

And then one Wednesday night, I went to bed and I woke up and I had a temperature and I felt absolutely lousy.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:14

So on the Wednesday, I called the doctor and I got an appointment the next day, uh, for the Thursday.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:18

And by Thursday, I'm feeling even worse now, and I'm coming out with this temperature.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:22

And I would have a temperature, then it would go and disappear.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:26

So I, I go to the doctor, and I made the appointment with the doctor, but immediately after the doctor appointment, I've got a shortlist, uh, meeting with, uh, the IT director of a company called TNT.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:38

I don't know if they exist anymore, but they were, they were a very large logistics company.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:42

And I was presenting a shortlist for an assignment I was working on.

Terry EdwardsHost

3:46

And as you know, with a shortlist, presentation of a shortlist, there's a fee involved.