So how tall do you want me to be?

Editor's note: Rhoda Schild is president of Rhoda Schild Focus Group Recruiting, New York City.

A manufacturer of tall men's overcoats sits in a room behind a one-way mirror, waiting for 10 men over six feet tall to participate in a focus group. The men arrive. Two of the respondents are over six feet, five are plainly shorter. Three aren't even close.

It's a focus group nightmare. What went wrong? Did the questionnaire ask the right questions? Did the respondents lie? Did the recruiter lead the respondents, or did the respondents say, "So how tall do you want me to be?"

Low man on the totem pole, the recruiting service is often an anonymous voice that can conjure up, overnight, 10 Hassidic submarine captains from Kyoto. Unlike a list company, or the largest data bank in the world, the recruiting service has a relationship with its respondents. They possess intimate and unusual information - current beeper and car telephone numbers, illnesses a respondent has or medications they are taking, or who has the newest recipe for a home-brewed beer. Because most calls start randomly, when a respondent does not fit one group, he most assuredly fits another. Amazing as it seems, people will tell you far more about their recent rash than you ever needed to know. And don't get them started about their pets.

Miss Manners would disapprove of starting a telephone conversation with a stranger by asking "What is your ethnicity?" A good recruiting service asks this daily. Ironically, everyone answers. Respondents will deliberate this question to give a perfect answer, such as "I'm a mix. My father is a Pacific Islander, my mother is half-Japanese, half-American."

To assure accurate information on age, income and other delicate or politically incorrect questions you have to ask directly, probe, be intrusive. Women lie about age and weight, men lie about income and height. Women qualify their statements by adding "But I look much younger." Men qualify by saying "I earn north of $125,000," which probably really means they earn over $75,000.

People will attend a focus group for personal reasons. Maybe they love to give their opinion on a subject for which they possess expertise. Perhaps they are curious and eager to hear what their peers are thinking about, particularly a topic they have a vested interest in. Or perhaps they simply yearn to be listened to. Certainly a major factor is that they will be paid for their opinion. We are pioneers at heart and giving an opinion at a focus group is as close to "colonizing" as our times allow. When a focus group respondent later sees a product or service that was discussed in their group they feel validated.

Time is the greatest insurance that a focus group will be recruited to perfectly meet the client's requirements. When there is enough time, the respondent is recruited, sent a confirmation letter, and reconfirmed by telephone before the group is scheduled to meet. It was once standard for clients to allow two weeks for recruiting, now recruiting is often a two-day job or even an over-nighter. When recruiting is done this quickly, it is very helpful to clarify the most important specs, relax the past participation, and ease up on anything that needs time.

Respondents will not change personal or business plans to attend a focus group. From a recruiter's viewpoint, to make a very quick recruit a successful one, it's helpful to do the following: increase the incentive fee to sweeten the pot; shorten a two-hour group to 90 minutes; shorten a 90-minute group to one hour; do one-on-ones or dyads to allow the respondent more time options; over-recruit; be flexible on time.

The more specific the qualifications are on a screener, the more reliable the recruit will be. A carefully masked screener will insure a respondent does not know the subject matter. A money question such as "How often, on average, do you make a transaction?" needs to be clarified. Does "make a transaction" mean buy, sell, roll-over, open, or close? The word "average" needs to be emphasized as "Is this your average year after year?" Some recruiting services write screeners, some recruiting services need very specific direction.

There is a tendency to add a "creative" question to determine a respondent's verbal skills. Sometimes this sounds like a trick question. Respect the respondent, and keep the question appropriate to the subject matter. One client has successfully used "If you could travel anywhere in time and take a picture, who and what would you take a picture of?" One respondent answered "My parents' childhood." Another answered, "The Wall Street Journal three days in advance of today."

Traditionally the most difficult focus groups are chief executive officers. However, even this group can sometimes be recruited. Acknowledge a one-month time frame, send a letter to the CEO, indicating a telephone call will follow, at which time they can pick any time they choose for an interviewer to come to their office. If they cannot do it, ask them to suggest someone who can do it in their stead. Once this appointment is set up try not to change the day or time.

A more realistic approach for this group is a teleconference call. A good recruiting service will let you know if they have the capabilities and experience to do this type of recruiting.

Another very difficult recruit is the high risk respondent. The respondent is unreliable for myriad reasons. A high over-recruit is the best assurance. This may seem extravagant, but a very low show rate costs the client more than a high over-recruit.

Over the years a recruiting service develops its contacts, allowing it to specialize. This specialization may make it possible to recruit a group of millionaires or a group of cardio-thoracic surgeons. A reliable service will let you know up front who they are capable of recruiting.

In the final analysis, recruiting is done through a very personally developed database, purchased professional lists, networking, from a client's specialized list, cold random calling and special contacts. It is invitation, romance, seduction and money that ultimately bring in articulate focus group respondents. Working in harmony with and for a client and bringing in the client's exact specifications is the ultimate goal of a recruiting service.