Client CRM for recruiting agencies
The client CRM for recruiting agencies: Companies, Deals, and BD in one workspace
Most "recruiting CRMs" only track candidates. The client side, the firms that actually pay you, ends up in a separate HubSpot or a Salesforce build that never talks to your placements. Leonar carries Companies and Deals as native objects, linked to the candidate pipeline, so business development and delivery live in one workspace.
Trusted by 400+ high-growth recruiting teams and agencies
Used by 300+ high-growth recruiting teams and agencies globally
Why most recruiting CRMs only track candidates
An agency runs two businesses at once. One finds candidates. The other wins clients. The candidate side has plenty of software. The client side, the part that decides whether you make payroll, is usually an afterthought.
Open most tools sold as a "recruiting CRM" and you find a candidate database with a thin client tab bolted on the side. Real business development lives somewhere else. So the agency runs a candidate CRM in one tool, tracks client deals in HubSpot, and keeps a spreadsheet to reconcile the two at month end. That spreadsheet is where the forecast goes to die.
The tools that do carry a proper client sales funnel tend to be either enterprise-priced or a generic sales CRM you have to rebuild from scratch. Neither fits a boutique or mid-sized agency that just wants to see its deals and its placements in the same place.
Leonar takes the other path. Companies and Deals are native objects, sitting next to Contacts and Projects in one schema. The client relationship you nurture for a year and the mandate you deliver in six weeks reference the same record. Our recruiting CRM for agencies pillar covers the full picture, and this page is the client half of it.
The Companies module: every client and prospect as a native record
Every firm you work with or want to work with becomes a Company record: domain, industry, size, revenue, location, owner inside your team, and status. Custom fields carry the things a sales CRM was never built for, like annual placement budget, preferred consultant on the account, or the contract type you agreed. Every contact and every Deal tied to that firm surfaces on its profile, so the relationship history is always one click from the open opportunity.
- Custom company fields: Placement budget, preferred consultant, contract type, anything you want to filter on.
- Linked contacts + deals: Every contact and Deal on an account rolls up onto the Company profile.
- Status per account: Prospect, active, dormant, lost. Clear state on every firm, never guess again.
- CSV import: Bring your existing book of business in minutes, no re-keying required.
The Deals module: pipeline, forecast, and revenue in one view
A Deal carries the commercial side of the agency: opportunity name, the linked Company, expected fee amount, probability, expected close date, stage, and owner. Kanban and table views let a partner read the whole book at a glance or drill into one account. Deals move by drag and drop, and every stage change writes itself to the activity feed. This is the client sales funnel a recruiter actually recognises, not a generic sales object you have to bend into shape.
- Expected fee + probability: Weight every opportunity so the forecast reflects reality, not hope.
- Kanban and table views: Read the funnel visually, or sort and filter the table by stage, owner, or company.
- Open, won, lost, unqualified: Clean deal statuses so win rate and pipeline value are always accurate.
- Filters that matter: Filter by pipeline, stage, owner, company, and tags in one click.
Custom fields where a generic CRM charges enterprise
Twelve field types ship out of the box and apply per entity: text, long text, number, currency, percent, date, datetime, boolean, single select, multi select, link, and team member. A workspace admin creates them in Settings in seconds, with no developer and no upgrade. Filter, search, sort, and CSV import all map to every field, including the one you added five minutes ago. Generic sales CRMs lock most of that behind their higher tiers, then charge for the consultant who sets it up.
- 12 field types: From simple text to currency to team member, no enterprise upgrade required.
- Per entity: Company, Deal, Contact, Project. Each object carries its own field set.
- Instantly filterable: Every custom field is searchable and sortable the moment it exists.
- No developer needed: Your admin clicks through Settings and ships the field in under a minute.
How a won Deal becomes a live Project
The reason two-tool stacks fail in agencies is the seam between them. When Companies, Deals, and Projects share one workspace, the commercial side and the delivery side stay connected without a spreadsheet in the middle.
Step 1, prospect
A consultant pitches a target firm. The firm becomes a Company, the buyer becomes a Contact, the pitch becomes an activity on the record. If the conversation lands, a Deal opens with an expected fee and a stage.
Step 2, mandate won
When the Deal is won, you open a Project on the same Company. The Project carries the candidate pipeline for the search, and the partner who closed the Deal stays the owner. Nothing gets re-keyed into a second system.
Step 3, deliver
The consultant sources into the Project pipeline, runs outreach, and shortlists candidates. The Company record shows both the open Deal and the live search, so the account history is never split across tools.
Step 4, renew
After the placement, the Project closes and the Company stays warm. The next mandate opens as a new Deal on the same record, with the full relationship history one click away. The persona-led companion is recruiting agency software.
Run retained, contingency, and executive search as separate pipelines
Not every deal moves the same way. A retained search is a different sales motion from a contingency role, and executive search runs on its own timeline again. Forcing all three through one set of stages hides more than it shows.
A Leonar workspace can hold several deal pipelines at once, each with its own stage definitions. Retained, contingency, and search sit side by side, and a consultant works the pipeline that fits the mandate. The partner still sees one consolidated forecast across all of them.
Funnel analytics roll expected revenue up by stage and by owner. That is the number a partner checks on a Monday morning: what is weighted to close this month, who is carrying it, and where deals are stalling. It reads like the reporting you would build in a sales CRM, without the build. For the deeper decision between the two categories, see ATS or CRM: the best software for recruitment.
Client CRM for recruiting agencies vs a generic sales CRM
A sales CRM tracks one relationship: prospect to customer. An agency tracks two: client to mandate, and candidate to placement. You can force the second into a sales CRM. It works on the demo and fails in the quarter.
| Capability | Leonar client CRM | Generic sales CRM (Salesforce / HubSpot) |
|---|---|---|
| Companies as native object | First-class, with custom fields | Generic Account object, heavy setup |
| Deal pipeline for recruiting | Built for agency BD out of the box | Blank sales pipeline you configure |
| Linked to candidate side | Deals, Projects, Contacts share one schema | Separate tool, manual reconciliation |
| Multiple pipelines | Retained, contingency, search in parallel | Add-on or enterprise tier |
| Custom field configuration | Self-service, no developer needed | Consultant project, months of work |
| Price to get here | Published tier, no BD add-on SKU | Enterprise seats plus implementation |
If you are weighing named tools, the head-to-head sits at Bullhorn alternatives, and the ranked roundup at the best recruitment CRM systems.
Built for the way agencies win business
Same client CRM, three different shapes of agency.
For agency owners running BD personally
Track every open Deal and the revenue forecast next to the candidate pipeline that delivers it. When you win a contract, the Project opens on the same Company record. No separate sales CRM, no reconciliation spreadsheet, no second license to justify.
For headhunters and boutique search
Keep confidential clients warm for years without paying enterprise money. Companies hold the full relationship history, Deals hold the mandate economics, and long-cycle opportunities never fall off the radar between searches.
For staffing and multi-desk teams
Run several desks on their own deal pipelines while the partner sees one consolidated forecast. Each consultant owns their accounts and Deals, and funnel analytics show who closes, who stalls, and where the revenue really sits.
The client CRM without the BD add-on tax
Contacts, Companies, Deals, Projects, and custom fields ship at the Starter tier. Sequences, the unified inbox, and AI sourcing come included from the Growth tier and up. The Deals module is available when enabled by your workspace admin, with no separate "CRM add-on" SKU and no "contact sales" wall. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.
Client CRM questions agencies ask
What is a client CRM for a recruiting agency?
A client CRM tracks the firms that pay you, not the candidates you place. It holds Companies, the contacts inside them, and the Deals you are working: expected fee, probability, stage, and close date. Most tools sold as recruiting CRMs are candidate CRMs with a thin client tab bolted on. Leonar carries Companies and Deals as first-class native objects, linked to the candidate side, so business development and delivery live in one workspace.
How is this different from Recruit CRM or Recruiterflow?
Those tools lead with the candidate pipeline and treat the client sales funnel as a secondary module. Leonar treats both as native. Companies, Deals, Contacts, and Projects share one schema, so a placement on the delivery side and the Deal on the commercial side always reference the same record. You get the client CRM and the candidate ATS at the published tier, not as an enterprise upsell.
Can Leonar replace Salesforce or HubSpot for business development?
For the recruiting use case, yes. Salesforce and HubSpot are generic sales CRMs that need months of custom objects, workflow rules, and integrations before they fit an agency. Leonar ships Companies, Deals, deal pipelines, and custom fields already wired to the candidate side. You skip the consultant, the configuration tax, and the second license.
Does the Deals module cost extra?
No. Companies, Deals, and multiple deal pipelines are part of the CRM, available when enabled by the workspace admin. There is no separate BD add-on SKU and no contact-sales wall. The ATS, the CRM, pipelines, tags, and notes all ship from the Starter tier.
Can I run separate pipelines for retained and contingency work?
Yes. A workspace can hold multiple deal pipelines, each with its own stage definitions. Retained search, contingency, and executive search can run in parallel with different stages, and funnel analytics roll expected revenue up by stage and by owner across all of them.
Do my clients or hiring managers see the CRM?
No. Companies, Deals, and the full contact database stay internal to your team. Hiring managers get a separate portal with read-only views of the project pipeline you choose to share and a feedback form on each candidate. Your commercial data is never exposed to a client.
Related reading on agency CRM and BD
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