With correctly tailored messaging and personalisation strategy, your response rates can go up by 20% - and the profits, as well as your competitive advantage, right alongside them. In a market where live job vacancies dropped by 23%, it’s vital that your agency is at the forefront of clients’ minds whenever they do have a role they need to fill. In order for that to happen, you need to have two things: A great relationship with your clients and a ready-to-be-placed list of relevant, engaged candidates. If your reputation is stellar and you’re able to provide the client with a warm list of candidates straight away, you can continue to make a profit, no matter the market situation.

Gain More Clients by Standing Out

The first step to knowing how to stand out from your competitors is to understand exactly where your agency falls short and where it excels compared to other agencies in your sector. Analysing your data against that of your competitors will give you real-time insights into how you’re doing compared to others, which, in turn, allows you to draft messaging and strategy that highlights your strongest suits.

In order to become more agile and create a strategy based on facts, not intuition, you need to:

Benchmark Key Data Against Competitors

Especially when the market is fluctuating, if you only notice the shifts after they’ve already happened, you’re losing potential clients and dragging behind. With real-time data that gives you insights into how you’re performing against competitors, you can make decisions faster and plan strategically. The key data to look at includes:

-       Sector placement performance, which will give you an indication of how the sector placements are fluctuating and allow you to allocate resources accordingly.

-       Revenue per recruiter, which will show you how the success you’re experiencing stacks up in the broader economic environment.

-       Application sources, which will show you any untapped areas that you’re missing when searching for talent.

By analysing these key stats, you can easily create an overview of where exactly your agency stands in comparison to others. This allows you to identify not only your overall position on the market, but also the unique features that make you stand out from the crowd. Chances are, you won’t be the best at everything – but if you can brag about your success in the number of successful placements in your top key job roles being higher than the industry average (or higher than any of your competitors!), you’ve got a really strong USP in the bag. This process will also show you areas you need to work on to improve and achieve effective growth in your business.

Survey Existing Clients

Apart from data, make sure you keep track of how your brand is perceived by your current clients. Engage with your existing clients and candidates to gather insights into their experiences with your agency. Conduct surveys or interviews to understand the specific value they have derived from your services and identify common themes or patterns in their feedback, which can help you pinpoint your agency’s key strengths and areas for improvement.

Remember, determining your agency’s value is an ongoing process. Continually reassess your value proposition to stay relevant and aligned with market dynamics and evolving client and candidate needs. By doing that, you can effectively communicate your distinct advantages and establish a strong market presence.

Make Sure You’re Ahead of the Market Changes

Without an overview of the current market situation, you won’t be able to make adjustments or know what struggles your potential clients might be facing at any given time – which takes away a massive opportunity for you to come in and solve their problems. If you’re not yet following monthly industry reports or annual data insights, it’s high time you take a look at the data others provide for you!

Firefish subscribers receive a monthly Job Flow Index with the top industry insights each month, which allows them to be more agile, make data-driven decisions, and predict possible market shifts a lot more accurately.

Compare Your Data Against Industry Stats

The key action here is not to just follow the economic situation but also compare monthly industry insights to your agency’s performance – this way, you will know exactly how you’re performing, what are as could be improved or where to allocate (or take away) your resources. Most importantly, you will have a selling point for your potential clients. If you can find data that leverages your agency’s services and USPs, especially in comparison to a tougher market situation, you’ve got your clients hooked.

Find Your Strengths in Reporting

Lastly, if you want to win your clients' hearts, there is no better way than to do it with proof of your agency’s stellar performance. With only 7% of agencies having sufficient data analytic skills within their teams, it’s your time to take a closer look at your reports and find areas that can be used as selling points to your clients. Make sure you consider:

-       Sales Performance, such as placements made, client contribution, time to fill, and job-to-fill ratio

-       Candidate Sources, especially focusing on applications from your existing candidates. If you have a list of warm candidates ready at all times for your client, you won’t have any issues persuading them that they should work with you!

Relying on data in your recruitment negotiations will not only bring you more clarity and confidence in your strategy but also paint you as the expert in your field, unwavering no matter the market conditions.