Most consultants who sell to recruitment agencies have never carried a sales target themselves. I took a team of five earning £13k a week and grew it to ten people earning £49k in a single week — so when I tell you what's wrong, it's because I've had the same problem myself.
Who this is for
Most of the money coming in comes from one consultant, and everyone else just makes up the numbers. You already know what happens if they leave.
You're losing jobs on price because nobody's had the pricing conversation with the client. It's not a pricing problem. It's a confidence problem.
No mapping, no qualifying, no idea which clients are actually worth chasing this year. Just activity, and hope.
What I'd do
Every team, every service they might need, who actually makes the decisions — and for public sector clients, a Freedom of Information request to see the real amount they spend with agencies each year, because that single number tells you whether the account's worth chasing.
This is the fastest money in your business. Charging properly for every placement means the same number of people working brings in considerably more — and every improvement shows up in a consultant's numbers the same day.
Getting your other consultants into the accounts one person currently owns. Weekly one-to-ones, daily coaching, sitting alongside them listening in on calls.
I've taken a consultant from £500 a week to £2,500 through a performance review and weekly coaching. I've also run the disciplinaries when that's what it needed.
Not activity for its own sake. I made every consultant meet their candidates face to face while competitors signed people up over the phone — it cost time and our conversions were far better for it.
I carried it. Where the target was five per cent growth on the year, we came in nearer fifteen to twenty.
I'm not going to tell you recruitment is a people business. You know that. I'm going to sit with your numbers and tell you which part of your team is losing you money, and why.
Proof
First conversation is free — a full hour, no pitch deck.
