Business Development should be a key focus of any business and executive search firms are no exception. Business Development is the means by which your executive search firm can achieve higher long term value and remain a permanent fixture in the industry for years to come.
Are you leveraging your executive recruiting software to maximize your Business Development process? Like any great search firm, your executive search software plays an important role in your firm's long term success. Because finding work in executive search is so dependent on past work, placements and clients, it makes a lot of sense to have your search process and business development process in the same place. Let's take a closer look at how you can implement your own Business Development process in Clockwork using Configurable Project Types.
Download the Clockwork BD InfographicNurture Your Leads
The key to any lead generation strategy is knowing how to effectively communicate with your leads. Understand what drives them to make an important decision — like choosing a search firm — and how you can build rapport with them. That way, when you do convey your firm's value, they are more likely to invest in what your firm has to say.
You can simplify this task by creating a 'Marketing List' project type with the statuses and settings unique to a Marketing List. With the capability to segment your contact database into customized Marketing Lists, you can generate messages tailored to your clientele. You're able to keep track of what messages are sent to which contacts so you can measure the success of your lead nurture strategy down the road. Read our blog on the Best Practices for Marketing Your Executive Search Firm to learn how to best position your firm.
Add Prospective Clients to Deals
After garnering interest from prospective clients, you'll want to add these prospects to deals. By adding a prospective client to a deal, you can then track what deals are in your pipeline and what stage they are in. You can go into your Business Development pipeline and update the deals as you work towards closing them, just like any other CRM system. Now that the prospective client has become the target of a deal, it becomes your responsibility to win them over.
Win Your Deals Using Pitch Projects
So your lead nurture strategy is on a roll, you've got prospective clients flowing into your pipeline and you're targeting prospects on current deals. Win them over on a deal by creating a Pitch Project.
Just like it sounds, a Pitch Project is a great way to showcase past relevant work to the client and demonstrate the actual process and tools you'll be using for their project. Using Clockwork as your foundation, invite the prospect to the Pitch Project like you would any other client and demonstrate your search process. Your pitch can make or break the deal so make sure you get the right message across by communicating:
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What your firm specializes in
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What's unique about your service
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What your process is and how it will serve to find their ideal candidate
Learn more about the best way to pitch your firm to clients in our Best Practices for Winning New Work for Your Executive Search Firm blog.
Turn Pitch Projects Into Search Projects
Once you've finally won over the prospective client on a deal with an outstanding pitch, all that's left to do is to turn that Pitch Project into a Search Project. It's as easy as it sounds and can be easily done from within the project's settings by changing the project type.
Business Development is always a challenge, which is why Clockwork provides you with the tools to create, implement, and sustain a healthy Business Development pipeline. Using Configurable Project Types to create different projects adds a measure of flexibility by using them in ways that will streamline your firm's search process. With the capability to create communication channels, build better relationships, and win more deals, Clockwork allows you to achieve greater results using the least amount of effort