“Okay, [NAME], that’s fair enough. But I’m not calling you to get onto your preferred suppliers list. The reason for my call is simply to find out if you might have an interest in the kind of relationship with my company, where if someone exceptional comes across my desk, I would call you and let you know about that person?”

Fair enough [NAME], but on a contingency basis, we don’t ask for exclusives, because we know we couldn’t possibly have ALL the good people, and neither can your preferred suppliers. If I had a person who could make or save your company time or money, isn’t it the proper business decision to see them? Shouldn’t your first loyalty be to filling the position itself? All I’m asking for is a chance to compete.”

“That’s fair enough [NAME], but if you had an extremely difficult and critical position to fill and I controlled the ‘perfect’ candidate for that opening, would you make an exception?”

“[NAME], nothing personal, but I don’t want to be on your preferred suppliers list. I’m not looking for a relationship with your company, my CANDIDATE is. So forgive me for being so straight- forward, but why don’t we put the preferred supplier policy aside for now and see if the two of you want to meet. I am representing this person in the market, so it will be a once- off invoice. What are your thoughts?”