If staffing firms have one thing in common, it's their need to engage with clients and candidates better than anyone else in their industry. Yet understanding what best-in-class looks like can be difficult. One thing is for certain, having a consistent and persistent approach is key. 

But what do I actually mean by consistency & persistency and what tactics should recruiters use as part of that approach? You may be asking yourself questions like how many times should I reach out in order to be persistent? What channels should I use? How do I measure the quality of my output and what is the optimum quantity of people to be engaging with at any one point? You might even be wondering does the focus on any of this even matter?

The quick answer? Yes, it matters a lot. Adopting a consistent and persistent approach to your recruitment strategies can make the difference between hitting your targets and not.

Let's get down to the data 

Neglecting best practices in recruitment is a common pitfall - there are simply not enough hours in the day. But to elevate your business to the top 1% in your industry, a more robust and data-driven approach to headhunting and business development strategies is crucial. By consistently and thoroughly testing your own methods, not only can you identify the most effective practices, but you can also scale your approach to accelerate growth.

At SourceWhale, we’re fortunate to have access to a wealth of data through our business development and headhunting platform. This invaluable resource allows us to continually analyze outreach efforts and effectively measure the efficacy of tactics on a quarterly basis.

Here are key data insights from thousands of recruiters, across millions of engagement points, from the past 12 months:

• 66% of new business meetings were a result of using the phone 
• 23% of meetings from Email
• 8% of meetings from LinkedIn
• 3% of meetings from Other (Events/Referrals being most common)

It doesn’t come as a surprise that the phone comes up trumps when it comes to booking new business meetings. However, it’s important to recognize when used in isolation (calls with no other touchpoints) the results were significantly worse. Our results showed that while the phone is the main conversion point, using a multitouch, multichannel approach that incorporates LinkedIn, email, the phone (and often other channels such as SMS in the US/Canada) is much more likely to lead to new business meetings than those which don’t. The same can be said for headhunting. Not all candidates will use the same channel. A multichannel approach to your outreach ensures you tap into a wider pool of talent and offer up multiple opportunities for engagement. 

It is crucial to mention that out of the meetings generated in April, a significant 73% originated from sequences* where the individual demonstrated a purpose-driven approach.

* a sequence is a series of touchpoints executed via multiple channels

Leading with purpose 

Why does “leading with purpose” matter and what does it mean? It’s very simple. Essentially, recruiters that focus on how their messaging, approach and call content could offer value to the individual they were trying to engage vs just themselves are far more likely to succeed than those who lead with “Hi, I wanted to introduce myself - got any jobs?”. 

Examples of value-add content when “leading with purpose” include:

• Training & coaching programs (my favorite)
• Webinar/event invites
• Content shares such as maps, insights, one-pagers

What about the best place to use a call step in BD?

Our data shows that the best place to incorporate a call into your BD outreach is the third step. It was tight between that and the 2nd, (3% difference in success rate) but insights show that the highest converting first call was the third step, when predominantly led with email and LinkedIn touchpoint beforehand.

This highlights again the importance of using a multichannel and multi-touch approach to outreach to yield the best return on efforts.

Consistency + persistency = results

If you think back to the very start of your recruitment career, many of you likely received advice from management emphasizing the importance of a consistent and persistent approach. Yet, we recognize that putting this advice into practice is easier said than done. Nonetheless, we can all agree that regular engagement with contacts for headhunting and business development is fundamental to success. 

Based on our analysis, here is the combination of touchpoints that leads to the most conversations for both business development and headhunting.

Business Development

Outreach working across Calls, Email and LinkedIn for BD has the highest returns, with the call being the most common conversion point.

Multitouch

• Minimum 9 steps
• 71% of conversations start from a follow-up 

Multichannel 

• Minimum 3 channels including phone 

Quality 

• Personalized content
• Unique content such as Video messages or GIFs

Quantity 

• Minimum 30 new clients targeted per week

Headhunting 

Outreach working across a minimum of two channels plus the use of unique content such as videos/GIFs and personalization proved to get the highest engagement from candidates. 

Multi-touch 

• Minimum 6 steps

Multichannel 

• Minimum 2 channels

Quality 

• Personalized content
• Unique content such as Video messages or GIFs

Quantity 

• Minimum of 50 new candidates targeted per week

The top 3 things you must avoid if you want to engage new candidates and clients 

1. Having an ill-defined target market

When markets are tight, it can be tempting to simply “do more” and adopt a spray-and-pray method. However, it's important to combine quality with quantity if you want the best results (you don’t have to give up one to get the other). 

2. Doubling down on single channels

When times are tough, many individuals want to do more of what they know (i.e. more email). However, being multichannel is key to engaging people where they live - the phone is your friend, don’t avoid it. 

3. Giving up after 2 attempts 

71% of conversations come from the 3rd step onwards. When doing more it’s easy to forget the follow-up. Ensure a process and system in place to achieve this so that no opportunity is left on the table.