Outbound for Staffing and Recruiting Agencies
We run outbound for staffing firms. Email, LinkedIn, and phone to hiring managers, all about the same open role, run by someone on our team who’s on your account.
At most firms, business development belongs to the recruiters, and the recruiters have candidates to place. So the BD calls happen on Friday afternoon, if they happen at all. We fix that part. We build the list every day from roles that have been open too long, companies whose postings just spiked, and managers who just got budget or a new boss. The email goes first, about that role. Then we call and connect on LinkedIn about the same role. When the manager says “send me the profiles,” it goes to the recruiter on that desk. Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month, for the email, with the calling layer priced for your volume.
Why the call works when it’s about one open role
Hiring managers get called by staffing firms all the time. The call they hang up on starts with “I’m reaching out from a staffing agency that specializes in accounting and finance, and I wanted to see if you have any hiring needs.” That call is over before the word “needs.”
The call that works is different. “Hi, Marcus here. I sent a note Tuesday about the Senior Accountant role that’s been up since July. Is that seat still open?” That’s not a sales call. That’s a question about a problem she has right now, and she’ll answer it. Sometimes she says “we filled it,” and we close the file. Sometimes she says “it’s still open, who did you say you were?” and the next thing she says is “send me the two profiles.”
The call works for two reasons. It’s the second touch, so she’s already seen the email with the date in the subject line. And it’s about one specific role, so there’s nothing to pitch. We’re only asking whether the seat is open.
LinkedIn does the same job. A connection request from a stranger at a staffing firm gets ignored. A connection request from the person whose email about her open role is in her inbox gets accepted, and now there’s a second way to reach her.
Who does the calling, and what to ask about them
On our programs the person making the calls is one named member of our team, on your account. They see the list every morning. They know which manager got which email about which role, how long the role’s been open, and what your recruiter on that desk has in process.
That last part matters. When a manager says “what have you got,” whoever’s calling has to know that your accounting desk has two controllers in process and both are within commuting distance. If they don’t, the call ends with “I’ll have someone get back to you,” and the manager forgets. So the first week is spent learning your desks and your pipeline, and it’s checked every morning after that.
Whoever you hire for this, ask them:
Who is actually going to be on the phone, and do they know the difference between contingency and retained? A caller who doesn’t understand your fee model can’t answer the first question a hiring manager asks.
Is that person dedicated or shared? Shared across two accounts is normal for a single-market staffing firm, because the list is small. Shared across six means your managers get called on Thursdays.
What happens when a manager says “send me the profiles”? The answer should be “it goes to your recruiter inside the hour.” If the answer involves a CRM stage, keep looking.
What the sequence looks like
Here’s 14 business days for a Senior Accountant role at a manufacturing company, posted 52 days ago and reposted last week. Every touch is about that seat.
Day 1. Email. Saw the Senior Accountant posting’s been up since mid-July and was reposted last week. We have two accountants in process from manufacturing companies your size, both within commuting distance, both able to start inside three weeks. Is the seat still open? Day 2. LinkedIn. Connection request to the hiring manager. No note. Day 3. Call. “Marcus here. I sent a note Tuesday about the Senior Accountant role. Is that seat still open, or did it get filled?” Day 5. Email. Reply to day 1. One line about the month-end close and inventory costing in the posting, and that one of the two has done both on the same ERP. Day 7. LinkedIn. If she accepted, a message. “Sent you a note about the Senior Accountant seat. Still open?” Day 9. Call. Second attempt. Voicemail if no answer, under 20 seconds, names the role and the date. Day 12. Email. Last one. Asks whether to close the file or check back if the posting’s still up next month. Day 14. Call. Final attempt. If nothing, the company goes back into monitoring, and it gets a fresh sequence the next time a role there passes 45 days.
Eight touches, three channels, three weeks, all about one seat. The moment she says “send them,” the sequence stops and your recruiter takes over.
The five signals
The list gets rebuilt every day from these. Whoever’s calling sees which one fired for each company before picking up the phone.
A role open more than 45 days. That’s the sequence above.
Postings spiking at one company. The email offers to take the overflow. The call asks which of the eleven roles is hurting most.
A round, a contract win, or a new facility. The email offers to build the pipeline before the reqs post. The call asks when hiring starts.
A new department head. The email offers a first search on contingency. The call asks whether they’ve picked firms yet.
An in-house recruiter leaving. The email offers to cover the open reqs. The call asks how many are sitting.
What we mean by “lead”
A hiring manager with an open role that fits your job families, geography, and fee model wrote back or picked up, and she asked for profiles or agreed to a call with your recruiter. We don’t count an HR director saying “send us your capabilities.” We don’t count a manager at a company that runs a VMS with a locked vendor list, because we screen those out before the first send.
Before anything sends we write down the line with you: job families you place, direct hire or contract or both, salary bands, geography, and the VMS exclusions.
You see every reply and every call outcome. We don’t report dials. We report what the manager said.
How it runs
Week one we set up sending domains and mailboxes in your name, agree the line and the VMS exclusions, turn on posting-age tracking and the other four signals for your market, and assign the person on our team who’ll be on your account. They spend part of that week learning your desks and what’s in process.
Week two the first emails go out. Calling and LinkedIn start in week three, once the email’s shown us which roles are getting replies, so the calls go to managers who are already warming up.
Replies and booked calls go to the recruiter on that desk the same day, with the posting, the age, the thread, and the call notes.
Every morning we look at yesterday’s job orders against the target. If we hit it, we send more and we dial more. If we missed it, it’s one of four things: wrong companies, not enough of them, the message was off, or it didn’t land. We find which, fix it, and that’s what goes out today. You can follow it in the log, by signal and by channel.
When you leave, the domains and mailboxes are yours, and the call notes go with them.
What it costs
Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month, for the email program on domains you own. No setup fee, no minimum term.
The LinkedIn and calling layer is priced per program, based on how many aging roles a month your market produces and how much of a person that needs. We’ll give you the number on the fit call. It’s a flat monthly figure, not per job order and not per placement.
Results
Those are software, logistics, and restaurant clients. We'll put a staffing number here the first time a staffing client lets us use their name.
Book a 15-minute fit call
Tell us your job families, your market, and who's doing BD today. We'll tell you whether we'd take the account, what the calling layer would cost at your volume, and, if it shouldn't be us, who to call instead.
Other ways we work with Staffing and Recruiting Agencies
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if you haven't picked a channel and want the qualification line and the job order count first.
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if you just want the email and your recruiters will make the calls.
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if you want to retarget the same hiring-manager list with paid social while the sequence runs.
Outbound Sales for other industries
Questions people ask us
Our recruiters do BD now. Why would we outsource it?
Because your recruiters have candidates to place, and the BD calls are the first thing that stops happening when a placement gets close. We do the part that has to happen every day. Your recruiters do the part that requires knowing the candidates.
Can whoever’s calling talk about our candidates?
At the level of “two controllers in process, both within commuting distance, both available inside three weeks,” yes. They learn your desks in week one and check what’s in process every morning. Anything past that goes to your recruiter, and “let me have Dana call you with the details” gets a better reception than a bluff.
Do you go through HR or the hiring manager?
The hiring manager. HR owns the vendor list and says no. The manager with the empty seat says yes and tells HR to sort out the agreement.
What about companies on a VMS?
We screen them out before the first send, from a list of companies known to run Fieldglass, Beeline, or something like them, plus whatever you tell us. If one slips through and the manager says “you’d have to go through our vendor portal,” we send it to you as a note and we don’t count it.
Is the phone worth it? Hiring managers are busy.
They are, and that’s why the call is short. “Is the seat still open” takes ten seconds to answer. On our programs the call is always the second touch, after the email with the date in the subject line, so it lands as a follow-up and not as a cold pitch.
How long until the first job order?
Usually weeks two to four, faster than most industries we work in, because a role in week seven comes with a manager who’s already in pain. The call speeds it up further, since a lot of managers meant to reply to the email and didn’t.