How do you drive consistent business development and growth in a recruitment agency? While many leaders turn to training, Ben Browning, founder of sales consultancy Resonant, argues that it's often overrated. Drawing on insights from surveying over 500 recruitment businesses, Ben joined the Carrot & Stick podcast to explain why a well-defined sales process is the most crucial element for success, consultant confidence, and moving beyond transactional relationships. Resonant Founder Shares Insights from 500+ Agencies on Sales Process and BD.
Key Takeaways:
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- Process Over Training: Consistent results stem from clear, repeatable sales processes, not just training interventions (which often fade).
- Data Reveals Gaps: A survey of 500+ agencies showed 76% lack a clear sales methodology and 80% struggle to turn calls into meetings.
- Efficiency Metrics Matter: Focus on sales efficiency (quality client acquisition, conversion ratios) not just delivery metrics (CVs sent).
- Craft Your Sales Story: Clearly define client problems, your solutions, and the measurable impact to build consultant confidence and clarity.
- Solution Selling is Key: Move beyond pitching candidates/services to understanding client problems deeply and offering transformational solutions.
- Reframe Rejection: View outreach 'no's' not as personal rejection, but as data points for refining your approach and hypothesis.
- Upfront Contracts Work: Clearly setting meeting objectives creates a decision-making environment and builds trust.
- Consultative Expertise: Focus expertise on hiring process knowledge (metrics, assessment types, branding) more than specific role technicalities.
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Ben Browning doesn't mince words: "Training in recruitment is overrated."
While valuable, he argues that without a robust underlying sales process, the effects of training often dissipate. His consultancy, Resonant, surveyed over 500 recruitment leaders, finding a staggering 76% lacked a clear sales methodology. This process gap, Ben believes, is the root cause of inconsistent billings and wavering consultant confidence. He advocates for a shift away from reactive, transactional pitching towards a proactive, solution-selling approach. This requires defining a clear "sales story" focused on client problems and measurable outcomes, understanding key sales efficiency metrics beyond just delivery, and embedding frameworks like upfront contracts to create decision-making environments.
Crucially, it involves reframing rejection not as failure, but as feedback on the sales hypothesis, empowering recruiters to focus on the value they bring in optimizing the *entire* hiring process for their clients.
"...the best recruiters have a rep"I think to a large extent, training and recruitment is overrated... what so many recruiters lack is a real clarity over their sales process."
Ben Browning's insights challenge the industry's reliance on training alone. By focusing on building and refining a clear, buyer-centric sales process, recruitment agencies can foster greater consistency, boost consultant confidence, and elevate their offering from transactional placements to truly transformational hiring partnerships.
Ben Browning
Ben Browning is the founder of Resonant, a sales consultancy helping recruitment agencies build effective sales strategies through playbooks, coaching, and process implementation. He's also the host of the Recruiting Better podcast.
