7-Figure Comeback: Dan Falzarano’s No-BS Blueprint for Recruiting Success

Benjamin Mena [00:00:00]:
Coming up on this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast, we try not to.

Dan Falzarano [00:00:03]:
Talk about it, but every time I talk to like one of my recruiter friends or team members, it's like, why can't it be 2021 again? Like why this is hard, you know, like 2023, 2024. Even this year, the industry's changed a lot. And really the big thing, I think the big needle mover was just not worrying about the outcome. Not worrying about the outcome, not worrying about my billing so much. Of course it's going to be on your mind, but really focusing in on why am I doing this? I'm doing this for my family, other people besides me, and I'm focusing in on my process. Welcome to the Elite Recruiter Podcast with your host, Benjamin Mena, where we focus on what it takes to win in the recruiting game. We cover it all from sales, marketing, mindset, money, leadership and placements.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:51]:
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Benjamin Mena [00:01:20]:
I'm so excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast because how many times if you started at a big firm, you looked around at all the other young recruiters and young salespeople and you knew most of them were not going to be around a year or two from now. I don't care how you started, but you look around and you're like, they won't be there. They won't be there. They won't be there. Even though you hope that they would. I'm excited about this guess because this guest rocketed out of the gate and we've seen this story time and time again, crushed it out of the gate, but then hit a wall and that's when the decision actually had to happen. Were they going to be one of the people that left this industry for good, or are they going to double down and make this the career that could pay for the dreams? That's why I'm so excited about this episode is it's a bit of a comeback story, but this comeback story has turned into year after year of being a 500 to a million plus producer because of the comeback. So, Dan, welcome to the podcast.

Dan Falzarano [00:02:16]:
Yeah, Ben, I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me on the podcast. Looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:23]:
All right, before we start doing a deep dive about all this fun stuff, like, real quick, 30 second self introduction.

Dan Falzarano [00:02:28]:
Yeah. I just want to say I really like your podcast. I feel like this industry is like an underground industry for so long, and you've been doing this for, I think three years now. And I get a lot of benefit out of it. I get a lot of value hearing other recruiter stories. We all have pretty much a similar past and. And I think it's really cool. So you're doing a great job and you're crushing it as well.

Dan Falzarano [00:02:46]:
So keep it up. Thank you, man. But, but for me, on a personal note, you know, I'm 39 years old. I've been married to my beautiful wife for 12 years. I have two kids, crazy kids. My son's 10. His birthday's actually tomorrow. My daughter's eight.

Dan Falzarano [00:03:00]:
And when I'm not working, I'm with them. I enjoy family time. I'm a man of faith. When I'm coaching their sports teams, I'm very active myself. Yeah, I love to go to the beach. I only live about a mile and a half from the beach, like the body surf and I'm a big golf guy. So if you're in the Central Jersey area, hit me up. We'll hit the links, play quick 18 on me.

Dan Falzarano [00:03:20]:
And that's what I enjoy, you know, doing after work or when I'm not working. But when I am working, I am the managing director at Open Systems. I manage our Red Bank New Jersey branch. I've been here for 11 years. I have 15 plus years of staffing experience. My branch focuses on IT and professional staff roles. We do direct hire and contract placements. So like I said, I've been here for 11 years.

Dan Falzarano [00:03:43]:
I started the branch from scratch with two other people and I started my career as an IT recruiter on the temp side. I eventually worked my way up, got 35, 40 people on billing. I decided to give that all up and run full desk because I really wanted to do, you know, client acquisition, get more in the sales side. So that was a hard pill to swallow because somebody else benefited from that. My team got about 40 people billing overnight. So. So that happened and went to a full desk. Eventually landed into more of like a leadership role, which is the role I am now.

Dan Falzarano [00:04:14]:
So I'm a player coach, managing Other people still running a full desk. I love this industry. Like I said, It's 15 years. I never look back. And I always felt like this was the industry for me. Never looked back. Never even thought about going into another industry.

Benjamin Mena [00:04:29]:
Okay, well, let's start there. How'd you even fall into this industry?

Dan Falzarano [00:04:33]:
You? Yeah. So I graduated in 2008, so obviously terrible economy. I always wanted to be entrepreneurial or get into sales. My family's entrepreneurial. My dad was a commodity broker on the exchange, so I figured I might even dabble with that. That didn't really work out. He had to sell his seat. Long story short, I got into sales, so I got into insurance sales.

Dan Falzarano [00:04:53]:
So I got my insurance licenses. I started hitting the phones. That was really what propelled, I guess, the rest of my career and created a great foundation because my manager at the time, he was awesome. I looked up to him. He was cool, calm, and collective. And he always said, listen, just work your ass off and be yourself. Just be yourself. People respect that.

Dan Falzarano [00:05:14]:
And that always resonated with me. So that really, you know, helped me throughout my recruiting and sales career and where I'm at now. So I did that for about a year or so. But, you know, I did pretty good actually on the insurance side. But like I said, it was a tough economy at the time. Nobody really wanted, like extra insurance. They really want to hear from me. So it was really tough.

Dan Falzarano [00:05:33]:
But I was making like, you know, 50, 100 calls a day. It was brutal. But when you close the deal, it was worth it. So that really got my skin in the game there. So long story short, I got an opportunity to do pre sales at a gym. I did that for a little while because I was really into fitness and I like selling. So I sold gym memberships and then I eventually became a general manager at a healthy eating restaurant. It all started from the gym, So I was managing the restaurant.

Dan Falzarano [00:06:00]:
I did that for about a year and a half. That was pretty cool. You know, managed the front office, you know, hired and fired. I guess that was the start of my recruiting career, potentially just managing employees. And I really enjoyed that. I knew that was, again, not the career that I wanted to take for the long term. Right. So a customer of ours, really cool guy, his name is Gus.

Dan Falzarano [00:06:20]:
I actually still keep in touch with his son. Gus now owns his own staffing company. He owned his own tech staffing company, you know, the father. So he would come in, tell me stories, and I was like, I never knew this existed. Like, I didn't know what a Recruiter was. I didn't even know anything about technology. So he explained the business and I said, you know, this sounds pretty cool. You know, I could take my sales career, take my people skills.

Dan Falzarano [00:06:41]:
I think it really suited me. So I started applying to tech recruiter jobs. I got lucky. A company called My Source, they hired me. They were based in Tampa Bay, Florida. So they flew me down with like 10 or 15 other recruiters all across the U.S. most of them are based in the south and the east. And they put us in a two week boot camp in like Tampa, Florida.

Dan Falzarano [00:07:00]:
And it was intimidating, but it was an awesome experience because they train you on all the fundamentals about tech. You know, the tech stacks, what goes with what front end, back end, what server goes with what, you know, language. So I really learned all the tech. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I learned the technology behind it. And also I really learned the business from them and the fundamentals. So it even got to the point where I was in a room, My manager was in the room, it was on speakerphone. So all the recruiters were hearing all the calls. So they put you on the spot.

Dan Falzarano [00:07:30]:
So I would have to call him. He would pretend to be a client or a candidate. And honestly, we all did pretty terrible. But I held my own because I did sales before and that was really the start of the career. And like I said, it's been 15 years since then and never look back.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:46]:
So that place that they flew you down that end of the two weeks when you flew back home, was there an office for you to work out of?

Dan Falzarano [00:07:52]:
Yes, I worked in our Bedminster, New Jersey office. So it's about an hour from my house.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:57]:
I was going to be like, did they like just send you home and you're on your own with a phone book?

Dan Falzarano [00:08:00]:
No, no, not at all. We had a branch of probably like five or six people that were already there. Like a branch manager, a recruiting manager, and about a team of four or five recruiters.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:08]:
Okay, gotcha. So.

Dan Falzarano [00:08:10]:
And I was the only one out of New Jersey, so I stuck out like a sore thumbnail because everybody else was from Florida, Texas, they were from the south and I was like the Jersey guy. So they all. I think they're making fun of me, saying I was from the Jersey Shore, all that stuff. So I don't know, it wasn't Jersey Shore time.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:24]:
Wasn't that.

Dan Falzarano [00:08:25]:
I, I think it was, I think it was like gtl, whatever you call it. I don't even know. But, but that's. That's the way it was. I always had a name for myself at the company and it was, it was pretty cool. It was a great experience. Looking back on it, I think more recruiters should get a foundation and training like that. Cause that was pretty hardcore training every day for two weeks.

Dan Falzarano [00:08:43]:
Even Saturday and Sunday, maybe not Sunday, but it was six days a week.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:47]:
So in that training, just like the constant, like the rebuttals and the practicing.

Dan Falzarano [00:08:52]:
Like the live calls, handling objections was a big thing. And that's what we struggle with the most recruiters and just learning that. I remember my first call I called a SharePoint developer. I didn't even know what SharePoint was, but I always knew. Be yourself. Hey man, I'm new to this job. It's like my first day. Yeah, we're looking for this job.

Dan Falzarano [00:09:10]:
This is what the client needs. Are you interested? Like that's, that's what I said. He laughed and he actually explained like what he did. And that's really how I learned how to recruit a lot. That's why I was a good recruiter because I would just be honest with people and they would just tell me their experience. Like everybody wants to hear themselves talk, right? So I just let them talk. And that's how I learned like technology and the word, you know, languages and things like that.

Benjamin Mena [00:09:33]:
So, and then from there, what made you decide to go to Robert Half?

Dan Falzarano [00:09:38]:
So I was there for six or seven months at my source. I was doing very well. And then I got approached by Robert Half. It was a bigger company, I thought I had more opportunity there. So I went to Robert Half.

Benjamin Mena [00:09:48]:
Let's talk about that. Because that's like what I think was like one of the make or break moments for you. So coming into Robert Half, you were guns blazing, knocking stuff out, making placements, looking like a rock star.

Dan Falzarano [00:10:04]:
I don't know about, I don't know about a Rockstar, but it had a pretty fast start. So I placed, I still remember this. I placed a support person in like my first two weeks. It was like I helped that support role. So if you're in it, you know what I'm talking about. And then like two weeks later I placed a Linux administrator in a contract role. And if you're in technology, like Linux is really tough. Like you have a lot of Microsoft environments, but Linux is a really tough job.

Dan Falzarano [00:10:26]:
So I think I earned respect pretty quick because everybody was like, like you just placed a Linux admin in like a long term contract. And I'm like, yeah. So like in my other company I placed somebody who had to relocate across the country for like a Java developer role because we were doing like government contracting work. Like that's tough. So I came from an environment where that was not. It was pretty easy for me to be honest. So that happened there. Made some nice placements, got my gm, my gross profit spread up, you know, fairly quickly.

Dan Falzarano [00:10:52]:
And then like you said, I just hit a bump in the road. I was just stagnant. If anything, my numbers are declining. I was getting close to like my first year in the business and at Robert half. And that's when, you know, pretty much everything changed. Because that was around the same time that I got engaged and was looking at houses, things like that. And my intentions changed. Flip of a switch.

Dan Falzarano [00:11:12]:
I was a different guy.

Benjamin Mena [00:11:14]:
When you say decline, like how many months in a row was it going downhill?

Dan Falzarano [00:11:18]:
It just wasn't going up. Like it was just staying the same. And I lost on the contract side. It was all contract placements. So if you lose a tempo, you can lose two temps in a day and you got to replenish that. I just wasn't replenishing it fast enough. So the numbers are just slightly declining. And when you're at a company like that, publicly traded company, they draw a line in the sand at a certain point and if you're not hitting your numbers, chances are you're probably going to get let go.

Dan Falzarano [00:11:43]:
Like when I was in that seat, the average time, I would probably say three months for somebody to be in that seat, three months. As a recruiter at a company like that, I was a little worried. Every time there was a one on one meeting with my manager I was like, that's it. Like I think I'm done. I was even considering like going back to my other company or just, you know, going to another, you know, big company and then starting over.

Benjamin Mena [00:12:04]:
So, so you say your intentions changed. Was it just the intentions or was it like a change in the work ethic too? And the change that way that you attack your desk.

Dan Falzarano [00:12:16]:
Yeah, it was everything. But it all starts with your mental mind state in my opinion. So it's like I've really had to rediscover like my why, right? Like that's like why are you in this industry? Like why are you going to take on this pain? It's a tough industry. Sales is just tough. But I've already developed that muscle before doing like insurance sales. And I was in the business already. I know I was pretty good at it. I just had to like have a different mindset and think about things a little bit differently and then just being really intentional like with my time.

Dan Falzarano [00:12:42]:
So time blocking was a huge thing for me. And then just being like the first person in, last one out. So just attacking the day. So being on more on offense as opposed to, you know, playing defense and just looking at emails, you know, things like that. So you'd be surprised how much you can get done when you're writing things down. You actually have a plan for the day and then you document what you did that day. And if you don't do that, there's no record. So you don't know exactly what you're doing.

Dan Falzarano [00:13:07]:
Like yes, you could update the database, you know how many submittals you have, you're trying to hit KPIs and different metrics for the company but you have to have your own daily plan literally written down and like a checkoff list. That really worked well for me. So if I was going to work five job orders that day, I would write those job orders in priority order, made sure I had two absolute all star candidates per job order. And if I didn't have two all star candidates per job order, I knew I had a lot more work to do. So at that time we worked 8 to 6 at Robert Half. I lived an hour away. So I left the house at 7, got home at 7 and there's some nights where I work 7:30, 8 o' clock because on the contract side we had a lot of fast moving contract work. If I could have a Monday start and it was maybe Thursday, Friday night, well you bet your ass I was going to find somebody and not leave that office until I found somebody because I can get a Monday start.

Dan Falzarano [00:13:56]:
So I started thinking differently like that. So as opposed to just leaving at 6:00', clock, okay, I'll take care of that tomorrow. I said no, I'm going to stay here, I'm going to find somebody and I'm not leaving until I do. So like this things like that really, really changed and I just focused in my, on my process, what I had to do for the day. And really the big thing, I think the big needle mover was just not worrying about the outcome, not worrying about the outcome, not worrying about my billing so much. Of course it's going to be on your mind, but really focusing in on why am I doing this. I'm doing this for my family, other people besides me and I'm focusing in on my process. Similar to like I always compare, I always make analogies for like sports because I'm a big Golf guy.

Dan Falzarano [00:14:34]:
I played ice hockey growing up. I travel hockey very competitively. So I always, you know, have analogies for sports. And I always say, you know, for. For our industry, it's like. It's like a golfer, right? You don't worry about the outcome. Because I don't know if you golf, Ben, but, like, I'm a big golfer, obviously. And, you know, if you're lighting it up on the front nine and you're shooting like a record number, the first thing you think about is like, oh, I'm going to shoot, like, my.

Dan Falzarano [00:14:57]:
My best score today. This is going to be amazing day. Can't wait to tell everybody. And then you blow up on the back nine. You're like, like, I worried about the outcome. All I was thinking about was the score. I forgot to, you know, worry about my posture, my grip, things like that. So when you look at, like, golfers, like Scotty Scheffler, number one golfer in the world, that's all he focuses on is the fundamentals.

Dan Falzarano [00:15:16]:
His grip, his posture, his alignment. He has a pre shot routine, and he's strictly focusing on the process. He's not worrying about the outcome or where the ball's going to go. He's worrying about what he can control before the shot. That's a pre shot routine. And then I applied the same thing when I was, you know, on the recruiting desk. I have a process, and I'm gonna follow through it no matter what.

Benjamin Mena [00:15:35]:
If you want a good laugh, Scott Love, one of my buddies has invited me to go golfing, and I'm like, I do not want you to spend nine hours on the course with nine.

Dan Falzarano [00:15:45]:
Hours in the golf course, because I've.

Benjamin Mena [00:15:47]:
Hit like, like a billion balls, 15,000 different directions.

Dan Falzarano [00:15:52]:
Well, listen, it's not about the skill of the golfer, but the pace of play is definitely an issue nowadays. So just words of advice. No one to pick up the ball plus one. Once you go over the double par plus one, pick up the ball. If it's a par four and you're on nine already, you got to pick up.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:09]:
So, like, going back to this, going back to this shift, going back to this, like, this change that you did, like, was it like an overnight or was it just like, hey, you know what? I wasn't planning my day. I wasn't documenting my day. I wasn't the first person in. I wasn't the last person out. Did all this, like, shift all at once or was just like, hey, I need to change this? Like, where did you get some of these ideas for Some of these changes.

Dan Falzarano [00:16:31]:
Well, I think to me it kind of happened overnight. I don't know why, it just kind of felt like that. So I was just like, hey, like I got to sharpen some things up. And I wasn't. Like, I was always a good worker. Like, I've always somewhat maintained, but my numbers definitely dipped. In an environment like that, you just can't. You can't dip.

Dan Falzarano [00:16:47]:
You gotta keep progressing and moving forward. So again, I just worked on all aspects of my life. So that was fitness. Getting back in shape. Lost a quick 10 pounds before I got married. You know, I had, you know, a stronger passion and why. And I think I said in that LinkedIn post that you noticed I worked with a chip on my shoulder. Like I wanted to beat everybody else.

Dan Falzarano [00:17:06]:
The person sitting next to me, I'm not going to mention names, she was awesome. She was a rock star. She was very well respected in the company and we got along great. But I wanted to beat her. I wanted to beat everybody. I wanted to be like the people that I saw in the office that were top billers that were there for 10, 15 years, they walked around, you know, they had the best, you know, candidate prep. And I saw what they did. I listened to what they said on the phone and I just soaked it all in and I just attacked.

Dan Falzarano [00:17:33]:
I just started attacking. Like I said, we had a system called MJ at the time. You know, now they use salesforce, but applicants would apply, you know, to jobs like overnight and the day before. So whoever came in the office first had access to those candidates. It was first come, first serve. So you bet your ass. I got into the office at 7:45. So I got into the office when it was still dark.

Dan Falzarano [00:17:54]:
And I was always the first or second person in the office. And I made sure of that. And that really got my day kickstarted. And then I just did everything I had to do to make sure I got the results. And again, just going over my checklist and just attacking the day and not wasting any time. Time blocking really helped with that time blocking.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:10]:
And we'll kind of circle back to some of that stuff a little later on. But growing in your career there you said something about having to give up all your contractors.

Dan Falzarano [00:18:20]:
Yeah, it sounds crazy. And I was not really happy about that at the time. But in order to move forward, well, you got to take one step back to move two steps forward. Right. More 10 steps back. But at the same time, this is what I wanted to do. I knew I hit my ceiling. I knew I Had to get on the client side because I know to make the most money in this business, most of the time, 90% of the time, maybe even more, you have to have clients.

Dan Falzarano [00:18:44]:
Have to have clients. Like, if you're a great salesperson and you have the client list, you're irreplaceable, so nobody can replace you. You know, you're. You're the king of the castle when you have, you know, when you're really good at sales and you know how to, you know, acquire new clients and establish relationships. So I knew I had to get to that side, and I wasn't going to get it in that seat that I was in. And I was there for about three and a half years. I was doing well at the time. I thought I was making pretty good money, but it opened my eyes when I started doing full desk and doing sales, and I really enjoyed that.

Benjamin Mena [00:19:14]:
So I think that's one of the mistakes a lot of recruiters make is the, like, you talking about the client acquisition is the key to the business. It's the key to being a successful recruiter. But, like, I don't know, I've been able to pin it if it's like the training or the environment or just like the way that, like, we've always structured in many companies in the US Sales is like this graduation of your career. But because of that, what I've seen is like, the sales part for many people has been the hardest.

Dan Falzarano [00:19:41]:
Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:19:42]:
Have you seen that with, like, the people that you've worked with and the people that you've hired and, like, how do we go about shifting that dynamic?

Dan Falzarano [00:19:49]:
Well, I think there's a big difference. I think some people gravitate more towards the sales side and some gravitate more towards the recruiting side. And there's nothing wrong with that. You can make really good money as just a recruiter, assuming that you have a really good salesperson above you. If you don't have a good salesperson, you could be the best recruiter in the world. But there's no job orders to work. You're not going to make a lot of money. So if you have a really good salesperson, you have a really good team, then you can make really good money as a recruiter.

Dan Falzarano [00:20:11]:
But I think people really have a preference. And as I got through the years in my career, I really like the client side, but my foundation is a recruiter, so I always thought I'm a better recruiter than I am a salesperson. But I developed that muscle over time. And now my desk is probably 90% sales, 10% recruiting, because that's just what I want to do. So I think it depends on the person and what their intentions are and what they're good at and really where they want to be. Because I know some people that they start off in this industry, they start as a recruiter, but in their head they just want to do sales. So they do that for like three to six months. They might not even be a great recruiter, but they go like right into sales, like you said, kind of like the US market.

Dan Falzarano [00:20:49]:
And, and they do awesome in sales and they weren't meant to be a recruiter. So it really depends on what your interests are and what you're good at.

Benjamin Mena [00:20:56]:
Right. About that. So you got this promotion, you like made this jump. Like, how did that go?

Dan Falzarano [00:21:02]:
It actually was pretty good. I learned the sales side because I took somebody off the floor at half. He was a really good sales guy and I was like, what do you do? What do I say? Like, tell me all about it. So. And he said kind of the same thing, like, listen, be yourself, you know, establish relationships and always add value on every single call and be like, be different. Like be different than everybody else by, by being yourself. You're just being different anyway because everybody else pretty much sounds the same. So that, that's what I did.

Dan Falzarano [00:21:30]:
And I did, I did pretty good actually. I made some, you know, some nice placements. I double ended some deals, but I was only in that seat for about five or six months and then that's when I went to Open Systems.

Benjamin Mena [00:21:42]:
Why did you make that shift to Open Systems?

Dan Falzarano [00:21:44]:
Cool story, actually. So the branch manager at the time, I'm not going to mention names, but awesome guy. Still keep in touch with him today. He was a mentor of mine. He got approached by Open Systems for several years. They finally got him. They wanted to open up a New Jersey branch and diversify their business. So they were really heavy into the financial fintech world and they didn't really have a presence in New Jersey.

Dan Falzarano [00:22:06]:
It was a lot in New York and they have other offices as well. So he went to Open Systems and he took two people with him. He took me and somebody else. So I was a really good recruiter. He took somebody else that was a really good salesperson. So that's how it all started. We started the branch from scratch in 2014 with three of us. It was a typical startup office, no windows.

Dan Falzarano [00:22:24]:
And it was honestly probably the best time I've had in the industry since I started from like 2000 end of 2014 to, like 2016. 17 was so much fun. We were making call calls, we were closing deals. We took off like a rocket ship. So it was like, awesome. And we built a team, up to 10 people in like a year.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:42]:
So go back to this, like this beginning, this most exciting part of your career, this, like, startup environment. Why was that so awesome at that point in time? And the reason why I want to ask this is like, you know, a lot of people are starting up or a lot of people have been in the business for a while. How do you recapture that feeling?

Dan Falzarano [00:23:01]:
Well, I knew it was a unique opportunity. Not everybody gets that opportunity. So I was extremely grateful. And I said, I said to myself, I'm not going to let this slip by. We have a chance to do something cool here. And we all said to each other, we all had a common goal, which is really important when you have a team, especially a small team in a startup environment, is we're going to be the best branch in the company. We're going to be the best branch in the company and we're going to kick ass and we're going to work our butts off. And, you know, at the time, we had a really good salesperson.

Dan Falzarano [00:23:26]:
He was bringing in job orders, I was filling everything I was filling out. He would bring it in, I would fill them. And then eventually, as time went on again, I wanted to get more on the sales side. Like I mentioned before, that's why I went to the perm division at half. And I solely, but surely, as the years went on, I started getting the majority of clients and my. My debts really flipped from like an 80, 20, 80% recruiting, 20% sales to about 80% sales, 20% recruiting. Then we started hiring interns and other recruiters and they're working on my job orders. So I was managing interns, I was bringing in a lot of business, and I was doing a little bit of recruiting on my own, like trying to double in some deals.

Dan Falzarano [00:24:03]:
And that's how I developed that muscle of doing sales and running a full desk. And it was just really exciting times because it was something different. You know, we didn't have a territory. And it was just really fun. And this is really fun.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:14]:
Like, if you could pull something out of that time period and drop it into your desk now or your office now, what would you pull out of there?

Dan Falzarano [00:24:24]:
I would say you have to, like, create an environment that's, like, fun. So, like, you have to either go to a company that has a good environment already and a lot of it Comes down to, like, the leader and, like, your manager, in my opinion. That's a huge thing, in my opinion, and also the team around you. But if you don't have, like, the best environment, or if you don't think you have the best environment, you have to kind of create that on your own. So again, it all comes back to, like, your mental. Your mental state, why are you doing this job? And then coming up with a plan of attack and just attacking the day. And that's exactly what we did, and that's what made it fun. And then when you start doing that, when you have, like, discipline, as long as you're doing the right things and you have the right fundamentals in place, obviously you start to see a progression.

Dan Falzarano [00:25:03]:
So when you start seeing the progress, it just put more fuel to the fire. Like, you just want to keep doing it. Like, I want more clients, I. I want more placements. I want to earn the respect of my, you know, of my team members, things like that. And that's how it happens. If you don't see that progress, if you're not hitting that progress, it's really tough. It's a tough industry.

Dan Falzarano [00:25:21]:
So you have to be good at what you do. And, like, a lot of the times it's. It's knowing, like, your weaknesses, knowing, like, your holes in your game. And in order to, I guess, fill in those holes, you have to get help or really work on that. And I think a lot of recruiters don't work on their professional development. So I always knew, like, I gotta work on this every day. I think some recruiters take it for granted, but I really worked on, like, my sales skills. I looked at videos.

Dan Falzarano [00:25:44]:
I practiced, you know, calling people on the phone. I would even record myself as I was on the phone with clients and candidates to make sure I sounded right, to make sure I had the right tonality. And I really learned from that just recording my own video or recording my own calls. So it's like little things like that. If you're not doing that stuff on your own, a company can only take you so far. A leader can only take you so far, and the team can only take you so far. You have to create that environment in yourself, and you have to be extremely passionate at what you do. And you have to, like I said, keep it fun.

Dan Falzarano [00:26:14]:
If you're not great on the phone, well, you better get the right coaching or mentorship to be better on the phone. If you suck on email, hire a content coach. Like, tell them to write some scripts for you. You Know, use that. So it's little things like that, like just know your holes, know your weaknesses and fill in the gaps.

Benjamin Mena [00:26:32]:
So you progressed from 80% recruiting, 20% sales to 20% recruiting, 80% sales, but also working with a team of recruiters. Like, how did you start managing a team and train a team and build an environment for a team while still also selling?

Dan Falzarano [00:26:51]:
Yeah, so we started getting interns and they started reporting into me. So I gave them tasks to do every day. Then in 2019, that branch manager that started the branch, they parted ways. Him and Open Systems parted ways, you know, good terms. And they promoted me into that position. So I was officially the branch manager in 2019, and I've been in the same seat since. So that's when I acquired a team of like eight people at the time, like eight recruiters. And there's only really one other salesperson that was on the team.

Dan Falzarano [00:27:18]:
So me and this other individual were doing most of the sales. And then we had five or six recruiters underneath us and one or two of them are more like interns. So really it's pretty simple. You know, you lead by example, right? So if you're the leader, I took it upon myself. I said, well, I was doing a good job, but I'm like, I have to be the best. I have to be the best in the office and I have to work the hardest. It's not the opposite. Like, once you get that, that promotion, that's when like the real hard stuff starts, right? Like, you can't just like coast and like tell everybody what to do.

Dan Falzarano [00:27:45]:
Like, no, you got to be the one showing up every day. Because if you're making the most calls in the office, people see that and you just naturally want to make more calls. Right? So I always said lead by example. I was getting sales, I was recruiting. So why are you not doing that? You know, and if you're not doing that, like, what is your. Why, like, why are you even here? You know what I mean? So do you want to make money? Are you money motivated? And chances are people that are not like really in the industry or not all in, they phase out. They phase out. So the key is to just hire like really good people that have, you know, a strong passion for what they do.

Dan Falzarano [00:28:19]:
And I always like to lead by example and always have a common goal in mind. As a team, we want to hit this number this month. We're all going to work towards that goal. So I think that made a big difference. It's like setting long term goals, leading by Example, and then just setting them a schedule of the day. Like, what are your daily targets? Because you have to build it brick by brick, brick by brick. You know, room's not built overnight, right? So you have to do the little things every day and hold yourself accountable. In order to do that, you have to set your own daily goals, and it's just going to eventually kind of, you know, keep stacking up.

Dan Falzarano [00:28:51]:
So that's exactly, you know, pretty much was the game plan, and it worked out well. And then Covid hit, so. And then, you know, a lot of trouble. I left the industry after that.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:02]:
Covid.

Dan Falzarano [00:29:05]:
Covid hit shortly after that. And, you know, a lot of the junior people just didn't make it. You know, we had a. You know, a lot of people were laying off things like that, and that was a really tough time for a lot of people. But, you know, you keep being consistent and keep doing what you're doing, and eventually you come out of it and it was the best market ever. After that, it was like the golden.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:23]:
Era of recruiting that I feel like we might never see again.

Dan Falzarano [00:29:26]:
It was awesome. It was awesome. I think every, you know, average to great recruiter still dreams about, like, 2021, 2022. We try not to talk about it, but every time I talk to, like, one of my recruiter friends or team members, it's like, why can't it be 2021 again, like, why this is hard? You know, like 2023, 2024. Even this year, the industry's changed a lot. You. You talk about a lot in your podcast, like the technology, the competition. I was in the tech market at the time, and, you know, a lot of things, a lot of things changed, but, you know, relationships don't.

Dan Falzarano [00:30:00]:
So as long as you have the proper relationships in place and keep doing things consistently, things usually come out in the end.

Benjamin Mena [00:30:07]:
I'm going to ask you about relationships in a second because that just, like, leads into where I wanted to go. But if I look at, or if a recruiter or anybody looks at your LinkedIn profile on the top, it says no BS Recruiter. What is that?

Dan Falzarano [00:30:19]:
I love it. I love that title. I know some recruiters have that title. I get it. But if they're really a no BS recruiter, that's amazing. It's really just, you know, being. Being yourself and just being honest in every transaction and just know your worth, know your value. Like, I know I'm good at what I do.

Dan Falzarano [00:30:36]:
I've been doing this for 15 years. And when I'm dealing with, like, a CTO or a CIO or CRO, they're really good at their job and I'm really good at my job. So I'm going to offer my opinion when I see something that maybe is not right or maybe they're paying under market rate. So I'll give you a quick example. So I knew this CIO for several years. I placed people with her before at different companies. She went to a new company, it was a health care company, and she gave me a director of cybersecurity role. And this was probably like last year sometime.

Dan Falzarano [00:31:05]:
I knew the market, I knew the salary was a little bit below market rate. So I submitted a candidate and she passed on the candidate and she passed on him because of the industry experience. So I said, listen, I said, I understand he doesn't have the industry experience that you're looking for, but I think he's a really good match for your team and I think he'd add a lot of value and it's not a waste of your time to spend 45 minutes with this individual. So she trusted me, she listened. She interviewed the person. He went through the interview process, had a panel interview with the shareholders, things like that. He ended up getting the job. He accepted the offer.

Dan Falzarano [00:31:38]:
It was like a 200k, you know, position, 40k fee, and he's still there now. And it worked out in the end. But if I didn't speak up or have a backbone, then that job might even still be open, I don't know. But it would have took several more months to find somebody. And then they passed on like three other people that went to the final stage. So that would probably have been open for a couple more months. It was a tough role. It's a director level role.

Dan Falzarano [00:32:00]:
So that's a quick, you know, quick example of just, you know, no bs, no fluff, offering your opinions and, you know, having a backbone.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:10]:
So like kind of it goes into like the next thing about the relationships. Like one of the things about recruiting is like, you have to build rapport fast. How do you utilize that, that no BS approach to quickly building rapport so that way you can, you know, do what you need to do.

Dan Falzarano [00:32:25]:
Well, the best relationships I have, and I still work with people. When I first started, when I first came to open systems, I signed some new clients in like 2015. I still do business with those executives because we do a really good job and we get the results, we add value. So they know if they're working with me. My whole thing is like 3 to 5 submittals it should take me 3 to 5 submittals to make successful placement. It shouldn't take more than that. If it takes more than that, we have to jump on the phone, we gotta talk about something, because something's wrong. We only submit candidates that we know are gonna get the job or we think they're gonna get the job.

Dan Falzarano [00:32:58]:
And it's just a culture fit at that point. But I would say they know what to expect from me. I'm really consistent in our delivery, and I lean on my team for that. I have a really good team. I have a really good support system around us at Open System. So it's a great thing. And when you're adding value all the time and you have proven experience of making really good placements with, like, key executives and hiring managers, like, they. They don't forget that.

Dan Falzarano [00:33:20]:
So they're going to keep coming back to you because they know, hey, if I reach out to Dan for this job, I'm going to get good candidates and I'm going to make a placement with him, and I'm not going to deal with all the headaches in between. So when I say no bs, like, there's no fluff. Like, I'm not just sending you resumes because I think this person's pretty good on paper. Could, you know, take a look at them? No, I'm submitting a person that he's cleared or he or she is cleared. Like, I think they're going to get the job, otherwise I wouldn't submit them. So I think just, you know, knowing your value and having, you know, proven experience with those people makes all the difference. And also just, like, keeping in touch, you know, I think, like, we get so caught up in, you know, getting new clients, and that's really important, but you also have to take care of the people you did business with in the past. So, like, a quick example of that is just like, reaching out and touching base with people, you know, like, just randomly.

Dan Falzarano [00:34:08]:
Hey, how you doing? How's the new job going? You know, quick example, I was working with a law firm. We placed somebody there, and I heard that the cio who I know, she got, like, knee surgery. So I just emailed her. I was like, so how'd the knee surgery go? How you feeling? She was like, oh, I really appreciate you reaching out to me. Like, everything's good, whatever. Like, two weeks later, I got like, five job orders. She emails me directly. Five job orders.

Dan Falzarano [00:34:31]:
I think we filled three of them. So it's like little stuff like that. Like, just. Just check in with people, keep in touch, you know, show you the care and be yourself and be genuine. So like not rocket science, but the.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:43]:
Not rocket science is the stuff that many recruiters just don't do.

Dan Falzarano [00:34:46]:
Well, you have to care. It all starts with your why, your passion, the foundation that you built for your own desk, it all starts with that. And it's showing that you care because at the end of the day you're dealing with people. It's all about relationships. And like you said before, you have to establish trust really fast in this business. And the only way to do that is, is to care and be yourself and be different. Right? So by being yourself, you're being different already and knowing your worth and your value and what you bring to the table. Like you should think in your head like, I'm the best recruiter ever.

Dan Falzarano [00:35:14]:
Like why would nobody listen to that? You know what I mean? So that's how I think. And yeah, I'm definitely not the best recruiter, but I know I still have a long way to go. But that's always stuck with me is just be yourself and care about other people and things will come around.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:27]:
So we've talked about the caring, we've talked about the self belief, the thought process, but you've consistently been a 500k to a million plus biller year after year after year. What does your BD system look like behind the scenes?

Dan Falzarano [00:35:44]:
Yeah, great question. And that's just my side of the deal because we, you know, we split deals. So if it's a 20k fee, you get 10, I get 10. So those numbers are just my side of the deal. And lately it's been on the upper side, obviously on the BD side. You know, it changes. I think what worked really well for me was NPCs NPC campaigns because I have a really good recruiter foundation and a really good team of recruiters. So we're always finding really good candidates.

Dan Falzarano [00:36:10]:
And I said, I always reverse engineer the process. Like I'm going to find the candidate before I get the job order. And I would just send the best candidates out and I know they wanted to see them and that always generated interest. Lately NPCs still work, but you have to do things a little bit different. So I'm always with the multi channel approach, 100% social media has to be going at all times. I told myself about a year and a half ago, I'm going to post every day and it's usually three or four times a week, but I'm going to post every day and just see what happens about my icp, the problems that they face, things like that, and talk about, you know, my success stories, there's job postings, things like that. So social media is an aspect of business development that, you know, I think you always talk about, which I think is extremely important. And we have a long way to go, most people, so that's a big thing too.

Dan Falzarano [00:36:58]:
And then also having like the proper systems in place, like I have automation going, I have manual touches going. I like the multi channel approach. It all starts on email for me. You know, I send an email, I connect with them on LinkedIn, they get my email, I can see if they opened it or not because I use a tool to see if they open up the email. So if they opened it, guess what? I'm connecting with them on LinkedIn. They accept my connection. Hey, you just open up my email. Just want to match a face to the name.

Dan Falzarano [00:37:22]:
Let me know if you could talk, you know, like it's that simple. And then a big thing for me it's been a big shift and I always haven't done this until about a year ago is voice notes, voice notes on LinkedIn using my cell phone. It's better than leaving a voicemail or cold calling in my opinion. It's more effective. And sending video, personalized video, like nobody really does that. Like I get hit up by salespeople all the time for tech tools, things like that. Nobody sends me video or voice notes on LinkedIn. It's always cold email.

Dan Falzarano [00:37:51]:
And cold email still works. It's always been a proper channel for me. But you have to have that multi channel approach of, you know, email, LinkedIn, social media, cold calling. If you're really good at cold calling, whatever you gotta do to get somebody's attention. And nowadays it takes like used to be three to five touches. Now it's probably eight to 15 touches at this point.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:12]:
Curiosity, like what's your tool stack look like? What kind of tools are you at least using at this moment?

Dan Falzarano [00:38:17]:
Everybody wants to know that, right? Oh yeah, that's the big question nowadays. And listen, I've been through the whole thing. I use every lot of tools. I love technology, I love the tech tools and I dabble. I dabble. I used Apollo, I use Clay before. I'm actually pretty good friends with Randy Stats. I know he's been a big, big guest on your show.

Dan Falzarano [00:38:38]:
He's an all star, he's a movie star right now on LinkedIn. He lives 15 minutes from it.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:43]:
So I got him sharing for those listening the real quick, for those listening, he's going to be sharing at the Finish the year strong summit 2025 in October. So make sure you get registered for.

Dan Falzarano [00:38:53]:
That awesome shout out. He's an awesome guy. It's actually funny too. I think I mentioned this too, when we were talking earlier. Mike Mellon has been a guest of yours, and he's blowing up right now with his new companies and he lives five minutes from me, and I wouldn't have never known he existed if it wasn't for your podcast. I'll tell you a quick story. So I was in Best Buy with my kids trying to buy, you know, the Switch 2, which you can't find anywhere. I ended up getting it, by the way, because I talked to the sales manager.

Dan Falzarano [00:39:21]:
So little inside connection there. But I saw him in Best Buy. I saw him leaving. I said, I think I know that guy. Like, I think I saw him on LinkedIn. So I hit him up on LinkedIn like a day later. I was like, were you just in Best Buy in Eatontown? And he goes, guilty as charged. I was, I was like, hey, man, like, I live like five minutes from you.

Dan Falzarano [00:39:36]:
We do the same thing. Like, let's meet up. So we had like two or three lunches since then. And, you know, it's pretty cool, right? So that's what I was saying before your podcast and podcasts, like yours goes a long way. Like, I literally, you know, develop relationships with Randy and Mike, who are really good guests of yours, and they live within 20 minutes for me, New Jersey, that's so awesome. And we pick each other's brains on. On everything, right? He's really good at the video content, social media, and then I'm really good with email content. He took some of my content before on email.

Dan Falzarano [00:40:03]:
I took some of his video ideas. We're implementing that now. And then, you know, just to go back to your original question, I know I talk a lot. Randy talked about Source Whale. So I said, dude, I said, I'm going to your office and. And show me everything about Source Whale. I want to see how you use it. I want to see it live.

Dan Falzarano [00:40:19]:
So that's exactly what I did. I was like, this. This tool is awesome. I love it. You know, So I got SourceWell, like, the next day, I signed up my whole team on SourceWell. So we're all using Source. Well, that is like the best thing ever for email, for clients. It integrates with Zoom info, integrates with our database, which is job diva.

Dan Falzarano [00:40:36]:
Recruiters could use it. I use it for sales and I create like a three or four email sequence and then in the sequences are cold calls mixed in LinkedIn connections just to remind myself to have a general task reminder to give this person a call or to send a LinkedIn connection and message them on LinkedIn. So that's been a game changer is SourceWell. So I use that a lot like I said, Zoom info to get the data ties into Job Viva, our database. I use Sales Navigator to pull lists a lot and I also use Heyreach and I use Dripify. I went to Heyreach for LinkedIn automation. So I have campaigns on LinkedIn connection campaigns and also campaigns to connect and they get an automated sequence for me once they connect and I use video for that as well.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:23]:
Do you have video like tied into into heyreach?

Dan Falzarano [00:41:25]:
Yes. Nice. Okay, so I have different videos for different people. So I have a video for ctos, I have videos for CROs, videos for law firms and videos for whatever I'm targeting talent acquisition, HR managers. So it's a different video for each one different campaign.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:44]:
So okay, so we, we talked about your BD system, we talked about the tools. But I want to go back to some of the, the original things that I think is actually super important that you highlighted early on is planning and then documenting how do you plan your day, how do you time block your day? And then I also want to know like at the end of the day, like how do you document everything so you know where you're at?

Dan Falzarano [00:42:05]:
Well, back in the day I was big on Excel. I did everything on Excel. Like when I, when I was doing sales, I would literally have the company, the name, notes and I would just follow up on Excel all the time. For me, as for my daily plan, I just write everything down. I have a notebook, it has my top five priority tasks for that day, what I need to get done for that day. And I just write down what are my daily metrics. So, so my metrics, I'll just tell you I like the number five. So I don't know why everything goes in fives for me.

Dan Falzarano [00:42:37]:
So it's five new clients per industry that we're servicing. So five new law firms I try to reach out to every day, five new technology companies and then five like for CROs, chief growth officers on the tech sales side. So I reach out to 5, 5, 5 and then I have at least 5 follow ups on the manual side. So I'm either leaving a voicemail, calling, saying a voice Note or a LinkedIn video. And that is on the manual side. So that's 20 things I have to do every day. And when I reach out to a company, I reach out to, you know, five companies. I'm reaching out to five to ten people per company.

Dan Falzarano [00:43:10]:
So really, at the end of the day, I'm reaching out to like 50, 60 people a day for the most part. That's like my system. That's like a must have. And I do that first thing in the morning. So I try to get the hardest stuff done first, and that's what I do. First thing in the morning is BD for two hours. Okay. I put my head down, put my headphones in if I have to.

Dan Falzarano [00:43:30]:
Nobody bother me. I'm doing BD 8:30 to 10:30.

Benjamin Mena [00:43:34]:
Awesome. Well, okay. So with all the systems and all that stuff, what do you think is like the most valuable habit for you to consistently be a top biller year after year?

Dan Falzarano [00:43:43]:
I would say again, to go back to your why your passion and being different. Being different and not being afraid to try new things. Be yourself and most importantly is just be consistent. So what you're writing down for the day, like your to do list, whether it's 10 new companies a day or working five job orders per day, make sure you check that off before you leave your desk for that day. Can't leave the desk until you check off those, those boxes, your to do list.

Benjamin Mena [00:44:11]:
And I'm going to flip.

Dan Falzarano [00:44:12]:
Accountability would be the huge thing. Yeah. If I could set everything up, it would be be accountable. Accountability.

Benjamin Mena [00:44:19]:
Are you accountable to yourself? Are you accountable to, like, other people? Or do you have like an accountability group? Like, what is it?

Dan Falzarano [00:44:24]:
I think like, networking with people that I mentioned, you know, is a big thing too. Like, if they're doing something, I should be doing it as well. So always, like I said before, it's just knowing your weaknesses, knowing your holes, trying to fill in that gap. You know, be a student of the game. Like, keep learning, learning the new systems that are coming out, learning new techniques. It's been, you know, a game changer in that way. And I just told myself, accountable. Like, it's.

Dan Falzarano [00:44:48]:
It's just discipline. You know what I mean? Like, it's just discipline. Like, I always compare everything to, like, sports, like I said. And, you know, it's like working out, right? Like, you can work out for two straight months. You lose five, ten pounds, you're like, oh, I made it. But then you stop working out and you get fat again. So it's like, like you just have the discipline to do it like every day and just Keep going. You know what I mean? So it's like you have to like, embrace.

Dan Falzarano [00:45:10]:
I think I forgot who said this, but it always resonated with me. It's like, just do it. Like, if you say you're gonna get up at 5:30 in the morning, work out, do it. Don't press snooze, just get up and do it. Like, have discipline. You know, if you're gonna reach out to like 10 companies a day, you just have to do it. Like just, just literally press action. Like take action, take massive action.

Dan Falzarano [00:45:30]:
You know, attack the day. Attack the day.

Benjamin Mena [00:45:34]:
Perfect. So we, we've covered a lot. Before we jump to the quick fire questions, is there any place that you want to go deeper on or go into that we didn't really talk about?

Dan Falzarano [00:45:44]:
No, I think we covered a lot. You know, I'm looking forward to, you know, some additional questions, but nothing really. I think at the end of the day, it's just keeping the job fun, keeping it interesting. You know, have fun in the mundane tasks of like following up with people and, you know, just kind of make it fun. Like, just have a good attitude about it. Okay. Otherwise you'll die in this industry. They'll eat you alive.

Benjamin Mena [00:46:07]:
So true. So quick fire questions, they don't need to be quick answers. I know I say that every time, but somebody did give me like a quick one second answer. I was like, no, no, no. Like, it's just a separation to.

Dan Falzarano [00:46:15]:
I'll try to keep it as short as possible. I know.

Benjamin Mena [00:46:17]:
It's all good. No, no, all good. So you got a, a new recruiter that's coming into your office, just getting started day one, and they're deciding like, if this is going to be the career for me. I mean, because everybody's making that, like so many of us just kind of fall into recruiting. They look at you and ask you, like, for longevity to be successful. What would be the number one piece of advice that you'd give me?

Dan Falzarano [00:46:41]:
Well, I know I mentioned a lot, but I would say know your why. Why are you doing this job? That's the foundation of everything, right? You can't build a house without a good foundation. So whatever you do on top of that, if you're, if you don't have the strong enough, like, why and passion for what you do and you don't genuinely like, want to make good relationships and like love the industry, like, okay, so if you're like a plumber, right, you're the best plumber in the world. You don't go in like Every day saying, like, oh, I love plumbing. Like, I can't wait to go plumbing. I can't wait to, you know, do plumbing. I rather, you know, do plumbing than play golf that day. No, but, you know, you approach every day like, I'm going to be the best plumber.

Dan Falzarano [00:47:20]:
I'm going to do what I have to do, and at the end of the day, I'm going to enjoy time with my family and do what I love. But I'm going to get this done because I take pride in my job and I'm going to be the best plumber in the world. So same thing applies to recruiting. Like, what's your passion? What's your why? And be a professional. You know, be the best out there. And like I said before, I'm like, on repeat. But it's like, have discipline. Have discipline.

Dan Falzarano [00:47:43]:
Go through your process, don't worry about the outcome. And, you know, similar to what I said before, have your pre shot routine. You know, go through your process, don't worry about the outcome. You know, if you worry about the outcome, you're going to shank the ball. You're not going to score. You want to score because you're going to be thinking about the outcome. You're not going to be worrying about the little details in between. So it's like, again, long winded answer.

Dan Falzarano [00:48:03]:
I know you told me not to do that, but you know that that's my advice. Like, know your why. Have passion, make it fun. You know, take care of your daily goals and make sure you check that off. It's really important. Be consistent, stay disciplined, and have a really good attitude about it and seek help when you need it, you know, so if you're starting out, you're not going to be that good at the job. You think you're going to be good. You think you're going to have a good candidate.

Dan Falzarano [00:48:27]:
You send it to your account manager. He or she rips it apart and you're like, why? Ask questions. Why is this candidate not good? I thought he was, like, amazing. He or she was amazing. No, he's. She or she's missing this, this and that. They're coming from a totally different industry. Whatever.

Dan Falzarano [00:48:41]:
Like, it's just, you learn that stuff as you go as a recruiter, and it just takes time to develop. You know, it's a great industry. You can make a lot of money. You could do a lot of cool things, meet great people. But it all starts with the foundation and why you're doing it and your overall process every day.

Benjamin Mena [00:48:58]:
Okay, what is a favorite book that's had a huge impact on your career.

Dan Falzarano [00:49:04]:
So I read more books, like, early on. Like, I always have like mentors, like I said before, like selling like Sirhan. He's really cool. Ryan Sirhan. He was good. That was a good book. 10x, you know, grant Cardone, really cool. But now I listen to podcasts.

Dan Falzarano [00:49:18]:
I listen to your podcast, I get, you know, words of advice from other recruiters. So appreciate that, Ben. And then also, you know, having key followers, like, I'm not, I'm not big on social media anymore because I don't want to waste my time looking at social media. I think way too many people look at their phones all day and they're like wasting their life away. So I try to like block out all social media now. So when I'm on social media, I'm listening to podcasts as I work out, as I drive to work, you know, things like that. I try to keep my mind occupied. So instead of listening to music most of the time when I'm working out, I'm listening to like a podcast.

Dan Falzarano [00:49:49]:
Like a big one. For me that really moved the needle for me was Andy Elliott. I don't know if you know Andy Elliott. He's a sales coach. He's awesome. Like, if you need, like to reset your brain, like mental and physical, he's the guy to watch. And I pretty much watch his podcast daily. Some of them, I watch this every day.

Dan Falzarano [00:50:09]:
Like the same one just to get my mind going for the day. Like my sales mind, my business mind. He's been a big impact for me and his coaching program.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:18]:
So back to tools real quick. Favorite tech tool at the moment. What is it?

Dan Falzarano [00:50:23]:
Like I said before, I would say source whale.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:28]:
Awesome.

Dan Falzarano [00:50:28]:
It's been been the one that I like the best. And I like some other ones too. Like I used Apollo for a while. I like that one. I use a couple other ones too. But I would say source well, source well for email and sequencing. And then you need to have something on LinkedIn. So you need to have Dripify or Heyreach flip the coin.

Dan Falzarano [00:50:46]:
It doesn't matter which one. They're both good. So like, I like them both. I just happen to use heyreach right now.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:52]:
Awesome. So you, you mentioned the very start of the podcast that you are a coach to your kids sports. Like you're active with family stuff. How do you balance running a desk, being a million dollar biller or being a top biller, leading a team, coaching a team, running an office where you're dealing With a P and L. Like, how do you balance successfully those two things?

Dan Falzarano [00:51:17]:
Yeah, it's a great question. And I think that's the job is tough sometimes. It does require long hours, but I feel like when I'm home from work again, draw the line in the sand. I don't think about work. I literally shut off for like at least two or three hours and hang out with my kids, go outside, have fun, it's family time. And just completely shut it off when they go to sleep. You know, it's like 9:00 o' clock at night, 9:30, okay, I'll check some emails, maybe I'll respond to some things. But I try to just shut off.

Dan Falzarano [00:51:44]:
That's why it's really important for me is to get all the hard stuff done in the day, in the morning, like bd. Like I do that in the morning. Sometimes I sprinkle it in after 4 o' clock as well. That's how I structure my day. Every day is a little bit different, but I know I have to, you know, the things that I have to get done, I try to get done before 12 o'. Clock. So like by 12 o' clock every day, I want to have my day almost done. And everything else is just account management, relationship building, calls.

Dan Falzarano [00:52:09]:
I schedule all my calls in the afternoon. I don't schedule in the morning because I know I have tasks to complete in the morning unless I have to, obviously. Right. But that's, that's, that's what I do. So I really, you know, for the work life balance thing, you know, I draw a line in the sand and I shut off work for two or three hours. I don't care what happens. I'm with my family and I'm present in that moment. I like to stay present.

Dan Falzarano [00:52:30]:
When I'm at work, I'm all about work. Sometimes my wife will call me in the middle of work. I'm like, I gotta go. Like, I can't talk on the phone right now. I'm dialed in, I'm at work. But then when it's after work and I'm home, I'm daddy, I'm husband. And you have to allocate that time. And it's precious time in my opinion, so I value that.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:47]:
Like, looking back on this, you know, 15 year career in this wonderful world of recruiting, like, what was one of the biggest challenges that you had to, to work through?

Dan Falzarano [00:52:56]:
I would say just being consistent. Like showing up every day having a positive attitude and being consistent. I think that's the biggest thing I've always Had the passion. I've always had the why I always had the foundation, like I mentioned, to build the house. Just being consistent and doing the work every day. Like, don't take days off, don't just coast.

Benjamin Mena [00:53:17]:
It's like a struggle for a lot of people. So thank you for sharing that.

Dan Falzarano [00:53:20]:
Yeah, attack the day. You know, attack the day. Play offense like that. That's really all I could say is, like, don't just like, follow up on emails. Like, block off time. Like, time block. Okay, I'm doing BD for two hours. Don't bother me.

Dan Falzarano [00:53:35]:
People know in the morning, like, unless there's emergency, obviously if somebody needs something, of course, but like, block off time, have time to follow up on emails. Maybe between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, follow up on emails, or between 5 and 6, you know, follow up on all emails. So I like to do that in the middle of the day and end of the day, following up on emails.

Benjamin Mena [00:53:54]:
Perfect. Well, I've seen you on LinkedIn. I've seen you, like, interacting with other recruiters, and I know, like, many times you're. You're sharing stuff not for recruiters, but of course, it's written so well that recruiters are getting sucked up into your ecosystem and commenting and liking and that kind of stuff, which also helps, helps the reach too. But I've also been starting to see some questions from recruiters, like, you know, what are you doing? How are you doing this? Like, you know, how are you a top biller? And I'm sure you get those questions in the office too. So out of all those questions that you get, like, how do you do this? How do you do that? Is there a question that you wish a recruiter would actually ask you, but they never do?

Dan Falzarano [00:54:30]:
Yeah, that's a good question. I would say, like, break down your process, like, show me what you do, like, during the day. Like, take me into your world and like, what exactly you do during the day and why you do it. You know what I mean? Like, really dig in on the details, you know, like, what are the emails that you're sending? Like, what is your content? Like, what is your call to action when you're on a sales call? Things like that. Like, really getting into the details, into the weed of things. Like, I think I could, like, talk about things all day and, like, you know, give words of advice to, like, recruiters, but it's like in one ear, out the other. You really have to just get into the details, in my opinion. So, like, it's hard to, like, sum it up into one question.

Dan Falzarano [00:55:07]:
But I would say, listen, let's spend an hour and you tell me exactly what to do. Like exactly what to do. Go over your icp if you're in sales, like, what messaging are you doing, how many emails, when do you follow up? You know, what are you saying when you're leaving a voicemail? What are you saying when you're recording a video? Like, what exactly are you doing all day? And then also the tools that you use to do it. But you could all have all the tools in the world. But like, if you don't, if you're not using it the right way and you don't have the fundamentals in place, then it doesn't really matter. So it's like, I'd rather somebody tell me, like, this is what my emails look like, okay. And I'm gonna try to copy that and do the same thing, right? So just like picking your brain and the whole thing.

Benjamin Mena [00:55:49]:
I love that. That's actually a really good breakdown of that. Well, Dan, this has been like such an awesome conversation. Like, we've not only gone into like how you had to build up after hitting that point where a lot of recruiters like actually leave the industry for good, but you literally have given us the breakdown of like how you've been a consistent 500k to a million plus biller year after year. Tool stack sales, stack sales systems. You've laid it all out, no BS style. But before I let you go, is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners?

Dan Falzarano [00:56:18]:
Yeah, listen, you know, it's a tough business, but if it wasn't tough, everybody would do it, right? So don't be lazy, you know, take advantage of the opportunity. It's a great business if you really ingrain yourself in all the details, have fun with it, be yourself, you know, establish a great, you know, team or mentorship around you and it could be a very, you know, great career. Honestly, like, I have a lot of fun. There's some days where, listen, 5 o' clock rolls around, I can't wait to get the hell out of the office because I had a brutal day. That's what any job, that's what any job worth doing, right? Like everything's hard. A doctor, they have hard days too. They're in the hospital for maybe 20 hours straight, right? Like every job have its ups and downs, but you know, if you stay the course and keep going and keep moving forward and keep fine tuning, you know, your professional development, whether it's talking, better tonality, email writing, you know, looking into tools, things like that. Like just be curious, like be a student of the game.

Dan Falzarano [00:57:12]:
That's really what I could say and that's what's worked well for me in my career and that's why I see progression in my career. And most importantly, it's a relationship based business. So you have to genuinely care, have a passion for other people and like generally want to help. And like I said, you're not focusing on the outcome. You're not focusing on just billing. You're focusing on your mental state, your physical and your process. As long as you keep doing that and you're doing all the fundamentals right, you really can't lose. You really can't lose, right? For the most part.

Dan Falzarano [00:57:41]:
I had never really seen it happen before. When somebody's really into the job.

Benjamin Mena [00:57:46]:
I love that. Be a student of the game, focus on the process.

Dan Falzarano [00:57:49]:
Always, always be learning. Know your holes, know your weaknesses and improve. That's it.

Benjamin Mena [00:57:55]:
Take action and go crush the rest of 2025. So Dan, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on. I'm glad we had this conversation. I'm glad we connected on LinkedIn, saw the post and was just like, you know what, that's a story that I know is going to help move the needle on a recruiter's desk out there. So once again, thank you and for everybody listening, be a student in the game this year, focus on the process and make 2025 the year that works for you. See you guys later.

Dan Falzarano [00:58:21]:
Awesome man. Thank you.

Benjamin Mena [00:58:23]:
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Dan Falzarano [00:58:52]:
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast with Benjamin Mena. If you enjoyed, hit subscribe and leave a rating.