Recruitment business development without a BD team
Winning clients as a small agency doesn’t take a sales team. It takes a reason to call, and you already have two: the people you’ve placed, and the candidates you’ve vetted. What’s usually missing is the hour to use them.
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In a small agency, business development is the job that always comes second. Live roles have deadlines, candidates need calling back, and the hiring manager who promised feedback by Friday still hasn’t replied. BD gets pushed to the end of the week, and the end of the week is when the chasing piles up.
Then a client freezes hiring, or your biggest account brings recruitment in-house, and you find the pipeline was really two clients. With no BD team, every gap is yours to fill, from a standing start, while you keep the desk running. A month without a new client is a month of fees you don’t get back.
Put in your own numbers. Nothing is sent anywhere.
A small agency doesn’t need a sales operation to fix this. It needs an hour of BD that actually happens every week, aimed at people who are likely to say yes, with something specific to say when they pick up.
What recruiters told us
Recruiters told us their work still comes through people: long-term accounts, referrals, partnerships, and hiring managers they’ve helped before. BD is relationship-led. Where they’d take help is the step before the call: spotting the next opening, and finding the time to act on it.
Clients hire a person, not an agency
A hiring manager picks a recruiter the way they’d pick an accountant: on trust. They want an opinion they can rely on. Who’s worth meeting. What the market will pay. Whether the must-have at the top of their brief is really a must-have. That trust is built one role at a time, which is why long-term accounts and referrals still bring in so much of the work.
Your knowledge is the pitch. You know which candidates would move, and what for. You know that “senior” at a twenty-person start-up isn’t “senior” at a bank. You know which must-haves bend when the right person turns up. An email that shows any of that reads nothing like a list of services, and it’s the part no database can copy.
Clients don’t hire an agency. They hire a recruiter whose judgement they trust.
From our conversations with recruiters
So BD in a small agency isn’t about volume. It’s about putting your judgement in front of the right people, regularly, with something specific to say.
How to get new clients as a recruiter
Cold lists are the hardest place to start. Start from work you’ve already done. Every placement tells you something you can use: the kind of company that hires the role, the salary that closed it, the profile that got the offer.
Then watch for reasons to call. A funding round tends to mean headcount. A new team lead will usually want to shape their own team. A run of job posts for the same role suggests the in-house search isn’t working. Layoffs elsewhere put good people on the market, and give you a reason to ring the companies still hiring. Each one makes the call about them, not you.
When to call: the third week of an open role
Most companies give their own team about two weeks before they go to an agency. That’s what a recruiter at a large agency told us, and it gives you a clock. A role that’s still advertised in its third week is one the in-house search hasn’t filled, and the hiring manager is starting to feel the empty seat.
Ring the hiring manager, not the talent team. They’re the one who needs the hire, and sometimes they want an agency while procurement holds them back. Give them something to take upstairs: one anonymised profile, your terms, and how fast you can shortlist. One agency we spoke to works to three to five strong CVs within 48 hours of a brief.
Open with a person, not a pitch
The strongest opener is a candidate. Recruiters told us a common move is to take a strong CV and send it to companies likely to want it. It works because it’s specific: a hiring manager can say yes to a person far more easily than to “we’d love to support your hiring”. One recruiter we spoke to has won three clients from spec CVs in the last 18 months. The candidates a client passed on are ideal, because you know them well enough to vouch for them. So are passive candidates who stepped back when work got busy: stay in touch, and their timing will come round. Here’s how to spec one.
After a placement, call while the story is fresh. Ring two companies like the one you placed with that week. You have news, not a pitch: “We’ve just placed a payments engineer with a fintech about your size. I met two other strong people in that search. Are you hiring for anything similar this year?”
When the answer is “not right now”, ask to come back: “Fair enough. Can I send you one anonymised profile when someone exceptional comes up?” It’s an easy yes, and it turns a cold contact into one who’s expecting your email.
A weekly business development plan that fits round your desk
Book the time first. Put BD in your diary before the chasing and admin, even if it’s only an hour, and treat it like a client call you can’t move. Here’s a week that fits round a busy desk.
- MondayPick five companies like your best client
Who’s hiring for the role I’ve just filled?
- TuesdaySpec one candidate to each
Worth a quick call this week?
- ThursdayFollow up once, by phone
I sent you a payments engineer on Tuesday. Worth a look?
- FridayCheck in on a recent placement
How’s it going? Anyone else the team is looking for?
Keep a simple list of who you’ve contacted, when, and with what. Without one you’ll ring the same person twice in a month, or forget the one who said “try me in the spring”. And judge it over weeks, not days. Cold outreach gets around one reply in ten, so a quiet Tuesday tells you nothing.
The Friday call is where referrals come from, so make the ask plainly. Wait until the placement has settled, a few weeks in, when the hiring manager is pleased rather than relieved. Then ask something they can answer: “Who else do you know who’s hiring this year?” gets further than “Do you know anyone who needs a recruiter?”
Keep track of the hiring managers you’ve helped, too. When one moves to a new company, they arrive with a team to build and often no agency yet. A short note in their first month, “Congratulations on the move. If you’re building the team, I’d be glad to help”, takes two minutes and reaches someone who already trusts you.
A business development email for recruiters
Send this in the week a placement starts, to two or three companies like the one you placed with.
Subject: [Role] hires at [type of company]
Hi [Name], I’ve just helped [a fintech in Leeds] hire a [Role]. While we were searching, I met strong people who didn’t get that job. If you’re hiring a [Role] or similar this year, I can send you two anonymised profiles this week. Worth ten minutes on [day]? [Your name]
Get each candidate’s OK before their profile goes to a new company, and agree terms before you name anyone.
Keep the clients you win
A new client is only worth winning if the first role ends in a placement. Placements rarely die on fit. They die on time. One recruiter told us about a final interview where the client’s head of talent went away for two weeks and handed nothing over. On their return the offer was £88k, against the candidate’s £95k. By then the candidate had a better offer elsewhere, and took it.
Two weeks of silence told the candidate the client wasn’t serious, and the low offer confirmed it. Here’s how the same recruiter keeps a process moving:
- Agree the timeline at the brief. Clients want a quick hire, but filling an interview schedule takes about two weeks. Book the slots early and aim to fill the role within a month.
- Debrief the candidate first, then the client, at every stage. Pass on anything the candidate needs for the next round.
- Prep candidates for the real process. Clients give you a schedule, then add a coding task nobody mentioned. Warn candidates it can happen.
- Put time on the table. “They have two other interviews this week. If you want them, the offer needs to come quickly.”
- Be open with both sides at the final stage. Salary, other offers, start date. Surprises at offer stage are how fees die.
- Ask the client how you came across. A short debrief after the hire tells you what to fix before it costs you the account.
When a client does go quiet, don’t wait it out. Here’s how to chase a hiring manager, and what to do when the client goes quiet.
Business development from the shortlist you already have.
A placement shouldn’t be where the loop ends. The candidates you know best are how you find the next client.
- Hunt finds companies likely to hire the same candidates
- Drafts the spec email with a client-safe CV
- Spots a hiring manager with no reply for over a week, and drafts the chase
Questions
What is business development in recruitment?
Winning new clients, and new roles from the clients you have. For a small agency that means picking companies likely to hire, giving them a specific reason to talk to you, such as a strong candidate or a recent placement, and agreeing terms before you name anyone.
How do small recruitment agencies find new clients?
Mostly through the placements and candidates they already have: calling companies like the ones they’ve placed with, and specing strong candidates to companies hiring for the same role.
How much time should I spend on business development?
Enough that it happens every week. Put it in your diary before the chasing and admin, even if it’s only an hour.
Is it worth specing candidates to companies with no live role?
Yes, if the candidate is strong and the company is like ones you’ve placed with. Keep it short, send it to the person who’d manage them, and ask for a quick call.
What’s a good reason to call a prospective client?
Something about them, not you: a placement with a company like theirs, a strong candidate for a role they’re likely to hire, a funding round, a new team lead, or a run of job posts for the same role.
When is a good time to call a company about an open role?
Often in its third week. Many companies give their own team about two weeks before they use an agency, so a role still advertised after that is a good moment to call the hiring manager.
Will a tool do my business development for me?
Not the part that wins clients. That still happens through people who trust your judgement. A tool can find the openings and draft the first email, so your time goes on the calls.