Don’t just grow your business, shape it by hand-picking your clients
It’s in your interest as a recruitment agency to be choosy about the clients you work with. Let’s be brutally honest: some clients aren’t worth your time. Companies that have unrealistic expectations, pay below the market rate and are slow to progress the recruitment process will leave your candidates with a poor impression of your agency through no fault of your own.
Constant business development is key to ensuring you have a client list that works for you. By keeping an eye on the businesses posting vacancies, you will be able to constantly refresh your client list and gradually weed out the clients that are causing you problems.
After all, it’s a common misconception that business development is purely a growth strategy. It’s also an opportunity for you to shape your agency. Using a vacancy database tool like Vacancysoft can help you to find companies that fit your business model and win them as clients.
Once you’ve identified a client that fits your agency, you need to prove that you’re right for them. Impressing a new client is just like going for a job interview. Follow the advice you so regularly dole out to candidates: do your homework and show the potential client that you know their company inside out.
With Vacancysoft you don’t just have access to current vacancies, you can also research the openings that companies have posted in the past, giving you a better idea of what they might be looking for in the future.
Even once you’ve signed the agreement with a new client, it’s best practice to continue with this research process, so that you can win as much of their business as possible. Vacancysoft’s filters will ensure that you keep on top of what’s happening in the businesses you want to work with. You can also use our filters to research the client’s competition. What firms are they losing top candidates to and how can you help them to reverse this trend?
Not all business is necessarily good for your agency. Yes, your role is to represent clients for candidates, but in a candidate poor environment, you need to manage your own reputation. Working with difficult companies puts talented candidates off working with your agency and makes it unlikely that they’ll recommend you to friends and associates in the future.
Armed with the right information, you can afford to be picky about your client list and concentrate on shaping, rather than just growing your business.
Recruitment Industry Insights is a free Market Intelligence Tool that can help you to become a thought leader in your niche, increase your brand awareness, and attract clients. Read about this free Market Intelligence Tool here.
Author: Larysa Chaplin