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In a challenging recruitment market, loyal clients continue to be essential to the success of recruitment agencies. Loyalty goes beyond simply doing repeat business; it means building trust, providing knowledge, resources, and connection, and growing alongside your clients.
How can agencies move beyond a transactional relationship with their clients and build loyalty for months – or years – to come? To learn more about creating loyalty in recruitment, we hosted a roundtable alongside Bullhorn Marketplace partner Great Recruiters.
Below, see what recruitment leaders had to say about what loyalty means to them, how they’re using automation to improve service, and why good data is an important part of building client relationships.
On what loyalty means for their business:
For James Walker, Managing Director at BWD Search and Selection, it all comes down to trust. Loyalty means providing long-term value over short-term gain, giving value, and operating with trust and respect. His team has seen success with bringing clients into roundtables or providing them with market reports.
“Be present, not just when someone is looking for a job or candidate,” added Richard Lesser, Director at EC1 Partners. “Be present throughout, offer your clients with insights, and be a trusted partner.” Keith Grant, Recruitment Manager at Engage People Recruitment, agreed, adding that his team makes meeting people a need to have, not a nice to have.
Recruitment is too often transactional and short-term, added Malin Rudolfsson Fransson, Head of Global Partnerships at Thor Companies. She and her team are always looking to find what they need to do to keep their clients in the journey with them, how they can give back to their most loyal clients, and how to add more value.
On the value of data in building client loyalty:
“We need a better relationship with data,” Walker said. Making time to speak to people is important, but it all starts from a data point of view – capture who you’re talking to and all the details you can in your database. Automation can help with this by parsing information from your emails directly into your database.
Ewan Anderson, Marketing Director at Eden Scott, added that it’s about recording information so you have a better picture to return to people afterward. “See the value of having data beyond first name, surname, and email address,” he said. “You can only do this with the right data.”
“If the data isn’t clean and relevant, then you can have all the automation and AI, but with bad data, it won’t work,” Tracey George, Chief Operating Officer of TPP Recruitment, added.
On maintaining the balance between tech and the human touch:
While tech can help drive productivity, the roundtable participants agreed that it’s important not to lose the human touch. Automation frees up time, Rudolfsson Fransson said, especially when it comes to sending reminders. The more time you have, she added, “the more time we can spend on actually interacting with clients.”
A simple way that Ben Aidla-Robson, Associate Director – Industrial at Flint Hyde, leverages automation is to organize interviews, noting that leaving rote tasks like scheduling to tech is better for both clients and for agencies.
George noted that automation isn’t just for consultants to improve productivity; it can – and should – be used to benefit the client as well. Walker agreed, adding that automation can help improve service in addition to efficiency.
Leveraging tech can also improve your agency’s brand; Anderson noted that leveraging AI-driven search creates a smoother experience overall and helps to build brand loyalty.
On the overall importance of client loyalty:
Building a trusted relationship with clients isn’t just important for bringing in repeat business; it can improve your agency’s reputation and bring in new business as well. Rudolfsson Fransson spoke to the importance of a strong reputation, noting that in tough market conditions, word-of-mouth recommendations are more important than ever.
“As markets become tougher, the natural inclination is to push business development through the roof,” Aidla-Robson said. But a focus on relationships doesn’t just benefit your existing clients. “If you’re building loyalty, you should be able to build good case studies and word-of-mouth.”
When it comes to getting started with a loyalty strategy, take a look at your own experiences, Gary Cordery, Regional Sales Director, UK&I, Bullhorn suggested. “Look into your own personal life and see what makes us loyal, especially in a digital capacity.”
