BREAKING DOWN THE BLUEPRINT

This week I’m going to share the science behind our Blueprint and how you can map your way to 90k in 90 days. but first…

Breaking news:

We’ve been invited to officially launch The State of BD ‘25 Report at this years Recruitment Agency Expo, at the London Excel Centre on Tuesday 18th March.

Come and join us as we host an expert panel discussing the major findings in the report as well as the implications for recruitment business leaders.

Louise Triance ?? Louise Triance, Content Director for the Expo says ““We’re delighted to have the Recruiting Better podcast as part of the Recruitment Agency Expo. Ben Browning and his podcast guests will be discussing The State of BD in Recruitment Report ‘25 during one of his two live podcast sessions, with a live audience."

Head over to book your ticket now (and don’t forget to let us know you’re coming by dropping a note in the comments).

CLICK THE IMAGE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

BUILDING YOUR BLUEPRINT

I’ve been speaking to a lot of recruiters about our new program; The 90k in 90 days Blueprint. And when you’re as specific about the numbers as we are, you have to expect some serious questioning.

So in this article I wanted to break down the maths behind our blueprint and how you might go about building your own.

THE ESSENTIAL NUMBERS

The KPI’s recruiters use to track their performance aren’t in sync with their goals. That simple fact is why having a BD Blueprint is so important.

The Recruiters Sales Playbook was borne out of a challenge. Working with hundreds of frustrated recruiters I could see they all faced a similar difficulty when it comes to BD:

If they could get a client to buy into them they’d fill 90% of the roles they worked, charge more and keep busier... but, most clients were more inclined to see them as a necessary evil, than trusted partner.

Top performers have bigger fees, higher fill rates and work more opportunities than average consultants. The difference is huge; in some cases 10X annual billings. And it isn’t because top billers are more talented or working harder.

No;

The difference is the value of the clients they win and how they win them.

It’s common to see a recruiter doing those big numbers as the better consultant. But it’s not always true. Often times all that’s needed is a change in process to quickly unleash a consultants true potential.

The first step in that process is to get the consultant focused on Client Acquisition, not pulling jobs. Bringing on vacancies might be a by-product of good BD, but the real goal for any aspiring top performer should be building a roster of deeply committed and highly engaged employers.

In turn this puts a totally different spin on the essential numbers we track, replacing legacy KPI’s with numbers that make sense.

TARGET / ANNUAL CLIENT VALUE

When you recognise the inefficiency of generating one off opportunities from BD the path to Client Acquisition become obvious.

Given the difficulty most recruiters face in getting seen as a trusted advisor you’d think they’d be less inclined to settle for contingent terms and match their competitors fees. Settling for this kind of business stunts your revenue potential and it reduces your credibility.

The 90k in 90 Days Blueprint starts with one clear goal. To enable you to win clients who spend a combined ￡360k per year with you. If your target is higher than that you can increase the plan or work at it longer. If your target is lower then you’ll need to do less work or reach your goal sooner.

Whatever your measure for success, our first step is to calculate your annual client value.

So if you’re target client hires 5 times per year, and their average fee is ￡12k, then filling 50% will bag you thirty-thousand-pounds. We can then consider how much activity you’ll need to complete to land one new customer per month.

Annual Client Value will of course vary from your prediction. Sometimes it will be lower than you expected, other times it will be higher. The maths here is indicative but it keeps you on track. Their is no exact science to pipeline prediction but we have to start somewhere, and as you get more experienced with this approach your accuracy will improve.

SALES ACTIVITY

Our recent report shows that few recruiters know their conversion ratios. This goes a long way to explain the frustrations recruiters experience with BD. Because until you can analyse how well each step in your process is working, it’s impossible to know what to improve.

There are 7 conversion metrics we must closely review:

1. Dial to conversation
2. Email positive reply rate
3. DM positive reply rate
4. Positive reply to discovery meeting booked
5. Conversation to discovery meeting booked
6. Discovery meeting to Proposal
7. Proposal to Closed Won

Understanding these numbers then helps us work out the level of activity we need to do to hit target. The data also helps us build the right recipe of activity to ensure success.

For example,

Here the consultant needs to make 40 dials a day. This will generate 20 conversations per week. From these conversations she will book eight discovery calls per month.

Of the eight discovery calls she holds each month, two will reach proposal and one will sign.

She may also send 40 emails per day which will produce four positive replies per week and generate two-three discovery calls per month. A further three discovery calls per month might come from her social media outreach strategy. This is a smart way to generate extra results and boost the success of her sales outreach.

These numbers are indicative based on our data working with over 100 recruitment businesses. Your data will differ, knowing your conversion rates is key to knowing where your revenue will come from.

(The average client for this consultant happens to be worth ￡30,000 per year, making every dial worth around ￡35. Motivating?)

GETTING RESULTS FROM EVERY ACTION

Once you have a laid out a clear blueprint and you know what to track you can start looking to improve in key areas. That means looking at your sales strategy, your processes and your tactics to ensure that you’re reaching the right people, with the right message, at the right time, in the right way.

The rest of our new online program - the ‘90k in 90 days Blueprint’ - will walk you through a step-by-step guide to making sure your sales activity gets the results you desire and you keep consistently and confidently winning high quality new business.

Are you already using a client acquisition approach? Do you know your conversion ratios? How useful have you found those numbers in planning your sales activity?

DROP A COMMENT BELOW

Next week, Account Expansion Strategies to balance the books.

Best regards,

Ben

P.S. If you want to see how your Sales Strategy compares to the average - and get a personalised report - take the assessment here: BD Strategy Assessment