In this interview, speakers A and B dissect the sales process for recruitment firms, especially those operating on a retained basis. They outline a step‑by‑step workflow: start with discovery calls to uncover client needs beyond the job brief, pitch a solution, qualify the role with stakeholders, and use tools like RecruiterHub and Coda to present talent. The conversation emphasizes the importance of a clear USP—often a disciplined process, niche market focus, and a high‑quality candidate network—and how to communicate it both on calls and via email. They discuss fee tranches (20% on signing, 40% on shortlist, 40% on start) and the contrast between retained and contingent models. Throughout, they stress that recruiters must shift from brief‑centric tactics to a commercially savvy, discovery‑driven approach that asks strategic questions about the client’s broader business context.
Chapters
Let's break down this sales process. Yeah, so we've got— and have you just sort of, side note, have you always worked on like a retained basis typically? Is that—
or no, no, no, no, I had, I had in my previous company, but a lot was contingent.
Uh, and it wasn't a 90% like—
no, gosh, no, absolutely not. No.
So let's just break it down first and then we'll get into it. So sales process in terms of Uh, what ends up happening is you end up winning retained searches is discovery calls.
Yeah.
From that point, we then have pitching solutions. From that then point, if they then begin working with us, we'll then do role qualification with the relevant people. Then there's a particular tool that I know RecruiterHub, right, called, uh, Coda. That's one of the ways that you present, uh, talent. Then from that point, you have a solid process, weekly search reports. 20% on signing, 40% on shortlist of 3, 40% remainder when they start. Yeah, let's break this down a bit. So I think when I speak to a lot of recruitment entrepreneurs when they first start out, start out, you can tell me what you think about this on the client biz development side. One of the things that they do tend to struggle with, particularly more early on but can be throughout, is like, what is Lizzie's point of difference? Like, what is Lizzie's USP? I don't know if that showed up for you when you started first having some of these pitch calls and some of these discovery calls, how did you think about that? How did you position like, this is why we're different, or is that even important? I don't know.
Yeah, I think it is important because there's lots of other, you know, recruiters out there doing what you do, um, but I think it was, I guess, the thing that set us apart, I'd say, is our process. Obviously, that you got to get to a point where you can articulate your process and kind of, and get, get there, but I would say that my thing is kind of my market niche in the area in which I operate, and I'm very good at articulating that on an initial call, but also over email as well. So I'm pretty good at articulating over email to then get the call, to then have that discovery conversation, to then go through the process. So I think my thing that makes me stand out is my quality approach and the fact that I do have a pretty unique network of really, really good candidates, and that enables me to move very quickly.
How, how do you— I think what's really interesting about this, when I've sat down with recruiters that operate in this way, I think one of the main differences that, that I find, and you can tell me what you think about this, is this discovery call piece.
Yeah.
And I think that's one of the main differences, I feel like, because when we speak to recruitment teams and we're helping them develop their teams and they're really trying to get their team to connect the dots, be more commercially savvy, and take a step back from the job brief and ask smart questions and trying to get the information that you talked about earlier around the different triggers that might happen later down the line and the bigger picture. Yeah, that can be really hard to get to when they've been so used to being like, Lizzie's got a brief, or Lizzie's hiring, yeah, tell me about that person and then I'll go get them. Do you know?
Yeah.
Whereas I think the, the recruiters that operate in this way, whether it be exclusive, retained, whatever, or want to operate it more in this way they're really disciplined and militant with, no, no, I'm not here, we're not talking about the brief, I'm not here to talk about the person you're hiring, we need to understand where are you on this drug development, like, whatever. Is that, is that fair? I don't know, you tell me. Like, this discovery call piece is absolutely crucial.
Yeah.
So one, do you sort of agree with that? Thoughts on that? And then two, I want to understand how do you position this when these hiring managers are so used to going, recruiter, yeah, Lizzie, we need X.
I think though, I position myself in a certain way where I've already kind of elevated myself, my offering, what I'm about, where I'm kind of like a, I'll have a call with someone and I'm very clear on the invite, but also on the call, I control the flow of the conversation because I will open it and say, right, so the purpose of today's call is to find out a little bit more about exactly what you're looking for from a partnership, how you typically engage with search partners, what the future looks like, and then we can come up with a plan moving forward surrounding how we can execute this over a long-term period of time to make sure that we're solving your problems and we're working in partnership together. And so, I frame the call at the beginning so there are no kind of misconceptions that we're talking about a specific search or a specific candidate or anything like that. It's really about what are the problems that you're facing right now, what are the problems you're anticipating in the future, and then how can we work together to solve those? So, it's really about asking a ton of questions in that discovery call, and then saying, okay, look, I think there's probably a couple of approaches we can take here. Sometimes I'll deliver an approach on the call because it's really clear-cut. It's like, okay, we've got these 3, critical VP searches here, and we need them in post yesterday, and blah, blah, blah. So, that's clearly retain search. But there might be somewhere it's like, look, there could be a longer-term kind of project approach here, so we'll need to come back with a few different options. That's, you know, we've scoped things out, we've got a high-level understanding of exactly what that looks like, and then let's book in another call. And then another call, then you go through the solution of what you're proposing, the benefits to them, the advantage to them. And genuinely, I'm like, with a lot of companies, I find it weird if they've allocated budget to go to search, and then they pitch a ton of search firms against each other. And I'm like, why would you do that? Why wouldn't you identify a partner to work with that is going to work in partnership with you? They're incentivized to work in partnership with you as well. So, it's about getting the incentive right. And whether that's paying, you know, some upfront, some mid-through process, some at the end of the process in kind of a fair tranche, then that person's incentivized to deliver to your roles. And actually, you could potentially get a really good deal as well if you're a client, if you're, I guess, retaining a search firm, because you could probably get a reduced fee as well. There's just so many benefits to going retain, but yeah, I would say that Typically, it's discovery call, and then we'll sell different solutions that we think are relevant for that client. We'll share the benefits and reason why, then we'll get an MSA in place, and then we'll do the role qualification. But I think most others get it the other way around, where they'll do a half-assed role qualification on the first call. They'll try and get a few candidates over. In the meantime, they'll do some crappy MSA process, and maybe they'll get something signed for one search, and then that's it. It's a one and done, and the transaction's been performed. This approach ensures that you're more consultative and you're creating more opportunity for yourself.
