Welcome to the weekly Recruitment Podcast by The Recruitment Network (TRN) – where we share real conversations to help you build your recruiting team, level up recruiter performance, and stay ahead in an ever-changing recruitment market.

TRN – Enabling recruitment businesses to maximise their performance, productivity and profitability.

In this episode, we tackle a growing challenge for recruitment business owners and leaders: why the traditional agency model is hitting its ceiling — and what to do next.

With margins under increasing pressure and clients expecting more value than ever before, many agencies built on transactional delivery are finding it harder to grow profitably. Simply doing more work is no longer the answer. The model itself needs to evolve.

The businesses pulling ahead are those making a deliberate shift towards a consultancy-led approach — one that allows them to increase margins, strengthen client relationships, and differentiate in a crowded market.

In this session, we introduce TRN’s New Consultancy Model, designed to help recruitment businesses move from typical margins of around 18% to 35%+ by rethinking how they position, sell, and deliver their services.

This is not a theoretical discussion. It’s a practical breakdown of what actually needs to change — from your offer and pricing structure to the conversations you’re having with clients and the value you demonstrate at every stage of the engagement.

This is a no-fluff, commercially focused conversation aimed at helping you build a more profitable and resilient recruitment business.

If you want to move beyond transactional delivery, increase your margins, and create a model that clients are willing to pay more for, this episode is essential listening.

This episode covers:
• Why the traditional agency model is structurally capped on margin
• What defines a consultancy-led recruitment business
• How leading agencies are achieving 35%+ average margins
• The services, behaviours, and conversations that justify higher fees
• How to reposition your business without losing existing clients

Whether you’re looking to scale, improve profitability, or future-proof your business, the fundamentals remain the same: align your model with client value, elevate your positioning, and build relationships based on expertise — not transactions.

If you are serious about higher margins, stronger client relationships, and long-term differentiation, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

What is TRN?
The Recruitment Network is the ultimate support network for recruitment business leaders. We offer a wide range of benefits including:
• An inclusive leadership club
• Recruitment Trailblazers – a programme tailored for billing managers
• Full back-office support and training
• TRN World, our innovative online community
• Access to investment insights, technology guidance, expert content, and much more

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