Planning for Your Best Year Ever in 2026
The ‘Atomic’ Approach
–A Six Part Series–
Part Three
by
Bob Marshall
December 9, 2025
The Central Theme Behind What We Do
At TBMG, International, we live by a simple philosophy: the classics of recruitment success never change. They may evolve with the times, but the core principles remain. If you share that belief, you’ll fit right in.
We follow the Golden Circle:
We treat this business as a Process, not a Series of Events
Why we do what we do:
We believe timeless recruitment principles drive consistent results. Those who embrace these principles achieve more, and we encourage you to do the same.
How we do what we do:
We repeat and reinforce these classic principles regularly until they become second nature for the recruiters we coach.
What we do:
We provide expert, affordable coaching, training, and proven recruitment tools—and we make sure our recruiters know how to use them consistently.
We believe in the Partnership Approach:
We focus on the Knowledge Deficiencies
You focus on the Execution Deficiencies
Part Three – The Framework
Building Your Yearly Plan, Quarter by Quarter, Day by Day
At TBMG, International, we believe momentum isn’t accidental—it’s engineered.
And the way you engineer it is through structure.
This part of the series lays out the three tools that anchor a high-performing recruiter’s year:
- The Yearly Planning Worksheet
- The Quarterly Goal Sheets
- The Daily/Weekly 100-Point Sheet
Together, they create a framework that removes guesswork and replaces it with clarity, control, and consistency.
(I cover each tool in depth upon request, along with the downloadable forms.)
The Yearly Planning Worksheet
Where your entire year takes shape
This is your starting point.
Here, we determine what you intend to bill in 2026 on your desk—not your team’s, not your office’s, just yours. Once we have that annual target, we factor in fall-offs, bad debt, and your average fee to determine the exact number of placements required.
That’s Level One.
Level Two takes those placement numbers and breaks them down into the actions that drive them: how many Calls, Presentations, and Sendouts you need on a daily basis to reach the destination you set.
This is where most recruiters experience their first “lightbulb moment”—the realization that success isn’t mysterious at all. It’s Math.
The Quarterly Goal Sheets
Your 90-day execution playbook
Most recruiters treat the year like that old schoolbook assignment we all ignored over our holiday break…until the night before.
The “Honor Students” approached it differently.
They broke the assignment into small, manageable pieces… and finished on time without sacrificing the fun.
Quarterly planning is the honor student way.
Each quarter has 13 weeks, not 12. That single forgotten week is often the difference between “almost on track” and “exactly on pace.”
Using a few numbers pulled directly from your Yearly Planning Worksheet, we build two simple, powerful charts:
- The Quarterly Production Chart
- The Quarterly Placements-Made Chart
These charts convert your annual goal into a 90-day operating system—practical, measurable, and impossible to hide from.
The Daily/Weekly 100-Point Sheet
Your real-time Control Panel
This is the tool that keeps your day from drifting into distraction.
Years ago, a recruiting firm owner, with a mathematics background, designed a point system based on one principle: The closer an activity is to generating a placement, the more it should count.
A few examples:
- Marketing attempt = 1 point
- Marketing presentation = 1 point
- Matching call (on an existing job order) = 3 points
- Job Orders = 10 points
- Send Outs = 15 points
By midday, if you’re sitting at 50+ points, you’re on pace.
At 25 or less, it’s time to tighten your focus and push.
Hit 100 points daily—and maintain normal ratios—and placements become the inevitable outcome.
Fall short of those points, and so will your billings. The sheet tells the truth whether you want it to or not.
And there’s a bonus:
Even on a day you don’t close a deal (which are most days in our profession), hitting the century mark means you won!
You stayed true to the actions that drive revenue.
If you’d like to see an example of the 100-Point Sheet, reach out and I’ll send it directly.
A Quick TBMG Story
A recruiter I coached once told me he “worked hard every day.”
But when we introduced the 100-Point Sheet, he realized most of his time was being consumed by side activities—important, maybe, but not central.
Within 90 days of using the framework we put in place, he posted his first $100K quarter.
Not from working more hours…but from working the right plan.
That’s what a real framework does.
It takes intention and turns it into income.
Next week: Part Four: Advice from the UK
Bob Marshall began his recruiting career over 45 years ago at MR in Reno, NV. In 1986 he established The Bob Marshall Group, International, where he has trained recruiters throughout the United States and also in the United Kingdom, Malta and Cyprus. With a dedication to executive recruiting, he continues to offer his proven training systems to individuals, firms, and private corporations both domestic and in select international territories. To learn more about his activities and descriptions of his products and services, contact him directly @770-898-5550/470-456-0386(m); bob@themarshallplan.org; or visit his website @ www.TheMarshallPlan.org.