Beyond the Transaction: How to Achieve Growth in an Uncertain Economy

The key factor that ensures successful recruitment business growth while navigating an uncertain economic climate is having sticky client relationships. 

My special guest, Greg Hollis, newly appointed Group CEO of Recruitment Entrepreneur, shares how focusing on the 3 Cs (customer, candidate, consultants)  and developing a strong client relationship can bring about significant opportunities for growth to your recruitment firm. He shared their practices on how they add value to their clients and establish a relationship beyond the transaction.

Greg has 27 years in the recruitment industry, working across multiple sectors and delivery models, he’s launched and managed several businesses, brought an entrepreneurial spirit into a global PLC’s senior leadership team, and successfully lead many high-performance organizations. 

 

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [02:41] What Greg learned from spending 17 years at Manpower
• [06:30] Greg shares his insights on Vision and creating a high-performance culture.  
• [13:24] The 3 Cs of scaling a recruitment business.
• [16:29] The philosophy and strategies for developing client relationships.
• [22:15] What are the specific action steps to create more strategic relationships?
• [30:00] Discussion on developing solution-selling skills.
• [34:30] Greg shares how Project RPO works and how it differs from a retained assignment with multiple hires.
• [41:23] Adding value via Post-Deployment Training.
• [43:30] Delivering added value to client relationships.
• [47:58] Facing the current economic situation - what message is Greg giving his stakeholders in navigating this interesting chapter?
• [51:48] With the current condition of the global markets, is there a significant opportunity to scale?
• [53:38] How do you know when is the best time to make your next hire?
• [57:36] What does 2023 hold for Recruitment Entrepreneur?

 

Creating a High-Performance Culture and Focusing on the 3 Cs.

Greg has a wealth of experience in the recruitment industry and invaluable insight when it comes to managing and scaling your recruitment business. You will hear his thoughts on the importance of having the core focus on the 3 Cs, which stands for Clients, Candidates, and Consultants. 

 

Greg also discussed what is needed to establish a high-performance culture: it is centered around people with clear goals and expectations. However, the main part is having a clear how. A high-performance culture aligns not only with the objectives but also with learning and skill development.

 

Critical Keys to Client Relationship Development

For Greg, focusing on the client is a critical factor to scale successfully. Rather than just becoming transactional, it is important to step back and consider your customer base. Some of the factors you may want to consider, as mentioned by Greg, are as follows:

 

Who are they as an organization? What are their plans not just now but in the next 12, 18 months, 2 years, or 3 years? When you scale your business, do you consider building your team to support your clients as aligned with their plans? On top of onboarding talents into their organization, what support can you provide to take care of their existing talents by improving their unique value proposition in the marketplace? How do we understand the challenges and pain in their processes? 

 

To summarize, Greg says, “By taking a step back, seeing what we could do differently… starting to think: how we can deliver a service to the customer that is relevant to them?”

 

With the Current Market Conditions, Are There Significant Opportunities to Scale Your Recruitment Business?

Greg also shared his insight on the current market conditions where there is a recessive economy but strong hiring demand and massive skill shortages in many areas. For him, it has been an interesting few years and his advice is to be attentive, agile, and adaptive as we are only able to address the things that we are aware of. But ultimately, get close to your customers by having a sticky client relationship.

 

Are there still opportunities to hire and scale your business with the current economic climate? For Greg, “the reality is that there are still significant opportunities to scale out there.” It is about focusing on the 3 Cs - Clients, Candidates, and Consultants.

 

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

 

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

 

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

 

Greg Hollis Bio and Contact Info

With 27 years in the recruitment industry, working across multiple sectors and delivery models, Greg launched and managed several businesses, brought an entrepreneurial spirit into a global PLC’s senior leadership team, and successfully lead many high-performance organizations. Greg now works with some of the industry’s leading entrepreneurs; helping them to grow consistently and predictably, in both new ventures and scaling businesses. With one goal; to turn equity into personal wealth.

 

• Greg on LinkedIn
• Recruitment Entrepreneur website link

People and Resources Mentioned

• Abid Hamid on LinkedIn
• Elain Tyler on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call
• Mark on LinkedIn
• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
• Mark on Facebook
• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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• TRR#147  How to Make 40 Placements per Month by Setting High Standards, Speed, and Having Fun, with Elaine Tyler 
• TRR#124 How to Recession-Proof Your Recruitment Business While Accelerating Growth, with Abid Hamid

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