Business development software for recruitment agencies
See who prospects, what gets replies and what signs.
In your recruitment agency, each consultant runs their own campaigns, with a sequence or by hand. Leonar tracks the replies, meetings and deals, and shows you which approach brings in job orders.
- Campaigns per approach
- Statuses that update themselves
- Results per consultant
- Biz Dev agent
Used by 400+ high-growth recruiting teams and agencies globally
The problem
Without a shared tool, business development lives in ten inboxes.
Each consultant has their own spreadsheet, follow-ups jotted in a notebook and messages sent from their own account. On Monday, nobody knows who called Brevia, or if the “Midlands finance directors” approach got a single meeting. The owner runs the agency on gut feeling.
How it works
A campaign is an approach you want to test.
“Scale-ups hiring data engineers”, “Finance directors in Midlands manufacturing”: each approach has its own prospects, board and results.
1 · The campaign board
Prospects move forward on their own.
An email sent, a call made, a meeting in the calendar, a deal created: the card changes column without anyone dragging it.
- With a sequence, by hand, or both
- Add from a record, a company, the Inbox or a CSV file
- A “Not the right time” prospect becomes a dated follow-up
2 · The consultant’s day
Every morning, they know who to call back.
In the “Me” view, the “To do” strip gathers what is waiting: replies to qualify, follow-ups, interested prospects without a meeting. One click opens the prospects in question.
3 · The results
You know which approach signs.
The Results tab tracks each campaign from prospect added to deal, by first-contact channel and by consultant. You compare one approach with another on the meetings they get.
For the agency owner
The whole team on one screen, no Monday meeting needed.
Switch from “Me” to “Team” to see every campaign and every prospect. Analytics compares your consultants, and your monthly goals track what really counts.
- Funnel per campaign, per channel and per consultant
- Goals: prospects added, replies, meetings, deals, amount won
- Every deal keeps the campaign that brought it in
Set up by the Leonar team
The Biz Dev agent: a client acquisition machine that runs for your agency.
We install it and tune it to your market. It spots the companies that are hiring and the ones to pitch your best candidates to. It keeps those inside your target and writes to the right person. You approve each opportunity. Once approved, it goes into your sequence and the campaign tracks the replies.
From job posting to meeting
What the agent does at each stage, on one example: Nordwind is looking for two Account Executives.
Signals
- Job offers Recent, dragging on or published again
- Hiring announcements Employers announcing their hires
- Fundraisings Recent rounds
- Arrivals of leaders A new position announced
- Moves of people you know Placed candidates, client contacts
Sorting
Only the companies that fit you get through.
- Inside your target
- The right size
- Not contacted already
- Your clients kept apart
Writing
A dedicated agent writes like your agency.
- The right recipient
- A message and its follow-ups
- Your style, your examples
Campaigns
You approve, the sequences do the rest.
- Opportunities to approve
- Sequences sent
- Replies tracked
Replies come back to sharpen the sorting
What the Leonar team does
- We start from your marketThe roles you place, the companies to target and the ones to leave aside.
- We tune the machineThe signals to follow, the sorting rules, a writing style drawn from your real messages, the sequences.
- You approve, the sequence takes overOpportunities land in your Inbox. Once approved, they go into a sequence and feed your campaigns. Each one goes to the right consultant: the account owner, the one who looks after the candidate, or the next in a round robin.
From prospect to job order
The client CRM takes over at the first meeting.
The deal is created from the prospect’s card, with Prospecting as the source and the campaign it came from. As soon as the client confirms, open the project from the deal. The job order and its candidate pipeline stay linked to the campaign.
-
Step 1
Interested prospect
Paul Girard, CFO · Ferrandi SA
Campaign “Midlands finance directors”
-
Step 2
Meeting
Thursday 10am, in the calendar
Meeting status updated on its own
-
Step 3
Deal
Financial controller · €18k
Source: Prospecting
-
Step 4
Job order
Project created from the deal
Candidate pipeline opened
Your questions
What agency owners ask us before they get started.
-
“My consultants already prospect their own way.”
They keep their channels. A call or an email is logged on its own. A LinkedIn message sent from their own account is logged in one click. The campaign counts everything, sequence or not.
-
“We don’t have time to log everything.”
Contacted, Replied, Meeting and Deal fill in on their own from emails, calls, the calendar and deals. Your consultants only mark interest, closing, and any exchange made outside Leonar.
-
“We might chase an existing client.”
A contact is active in only one campaign at a time, so two consultants never prospect them in parallel. The agent leaves out “do not contact” contacts and keeps your clients apart.
-
“What if the agent writes nonsense?”
Nothing goes out without your approval. Each opportunity lands in your Inbox, and you edit, accept or reject it. Your rejections sharpen the next round of sorting.
The recruitment business development guide
Method, hiring signals and KPIs: what you need to know to run business development for your recruitment agency week after week.
Contents
Definition
Business development for recruitment agencies, in plain words
Business development for a recruitment agency means finding new client companies and winning job orders. A consultant reaches a decision maker (a founder, an HR director, a hiring manager), books a meeting, then signs a mandate.
The best time to get in touch is when a company is hiring, or about to. A job ad that has been live for six weeks, a funding round or a new sales director are all good reasons to call. The rest is about rhythm: follow up, take notes, and know what works.
A client CRM for recruitment agencies keeps the contacts, follow-ups and meetings of the whole team in one place. It is the base of recruitment agency software that also covers candidates and placements.
Method
How to get clients for a recruitment agency in five steps
This is the method agencies with steady business development follow. It fits on one page, and you can start this week.
Pick a narrow target
One sector, one type of role, one area. “SaaS scale-ups hiring salespeople in London” is a good target. It is narrow enough to write a message that speaks to every person on the list.
Turn it into a campaign
Give it a name, an owner and a list of decision makers. In Leonar, a campaign is an approach you want to test, with its own board and its own results.
Mix your channels
An email, a call, then a follow-up. Email, SMS and WhatsApp sequences keep the pace. Calls and messages sent by hand count too.
Keep to your follow-up dates
Follow up on a fixed day. In Leonar, the “To do” strip lists every morning the follow-ups due and the interested prospects without a meeting.
Judge after 90 days
Compare campaigns on the meetings and deals they bring. Keep what signs and drop the rest.
Buying signals
The signals that show a company is about to hire
These signals are public. The Leonar Biz Dev agent tracks them with the same thresholds: under 14 days for a fresh job ad, over 45 days for one that drags on.
A job ad that drags on
An ad live for more than 45 days, or published again, means the company is struggling to hire on its own. That is the best time to offer your help.
A brand new job ad
An ad under two weeks old shows a real need. Get in touch before the role turns urgent.
A hiring announcement
When a leader says in public that they are hiring several people, the team in place has no time to handle it all.
A funding round
Fresh money often pays for new hires in the months that follow. The signal is stronger when a job ad is live at the same time.
A new leader
A new sales director or finance director often builds their team in the first weeks.
A contact on the move
A candidate you placed becomes a manager somewhere else, or a client changes company. These are your best ways in.
Tracking
Which recruitment business development KPIs to track for a team
An agency owner does not need twenty numbers. These five are enough to see if business development is moving, and where it gets stuck.
| KPI | What it tells you | Where to see it in Leonar |
|---|---|---|
| Prospects added | Whether the team really fills the top of the funnel | Goals, per consultant |
| Reply rate | Whether the message and the target are right | Campaign results, per channel |
| Interested without a meeting | The deals you lose for lack of a follow-up | The “To do” strip |
| Meetings booked | The real sign that an approach works | Analytics › Prospecting |
| Deals and amount won | What business development brings to the agency | Goals and deal source |
Prospects added
- What it tells you
- Whether the team really fills the top of the funnel
- Where to see it in Leonar
- Goals, per consultant
Reply rate
- What it tells you
- Whether the message and the target are right
- Where to see it in Leonar
- Campaign results, per channel
Interested without a meeting
- What it tells you
- The deals you lose for lack of a follow-up
- Where to see it in Leonar
- The “To do” strip
Meetings booked
- What it tells you
- The real sign that an approach works
- Where to see it in Leonar
- Analytics › Prospecting
Deals and amount won
- What it tells you
- What business development brings to the agency
- Where to see it in Leonar
- Goals and deal source
Leonar greys out a rate while its base is under 20 people (for example 20 contacted prospects for the reply rate), so you never draw a conclusion too early.
Tools
Client CRM for recruitment agencies or a spreadsheet: when to switch?
A spreadsheet works for one consultant on their own. It gets in the way as soon as several people prospect the same companies. Here are the three most common signs.
Two consultants call the same client
Without a shared view, nobody knows who already spoke to whom. In Leonar, a contact is active in only one campaign at a time.
Follow-ups rely on memory
A prospect who said “Not the right time” needs a call back in three months. Leonar creates the dated task the moment you close the card.
You do not know where your job orders come from
A deal created from a campaign keeps its source. The recruiting CRM then links the job order to the candidates you put forward.
Guides
More on business development for recruitment agencies
- Guide
How to Get Clients for a Staffing Agency: 17 Proven Methods
The full guide, from your network to partnerships.
- Templates
Staffing agencies introduction email to clients
Templates for a first message and its follow-ups.
- Scripts
Recruitment Cold Calling Scripts That Win Clients
What to say on a first call to a decision maker.
- AI
Find Clients for Your Recruiting Agency Using AI Agents
What AI agents do for business development.
- Tracking
Recruitment business development: the complete guide
Rhythm, goals and KPIs of a business developer.
- Signals
Lead Generation for Staffing Agencies: Sources That Convert
The best sources of hiring signals.
Do I have to use sequences?
No. You can run a whole campaign by hand. Each call or email moves the prospect forward, and an exchange that happened somewhere else is marked as contacted in one click.
How do I add prospects to a campaign?
From a contact record, a selection of contacts, a company record, the Inbox or a CSV file. Enrolling a contact in one of the campaign’s sequences adds them too.
Do I need to connect my mailbox and calendar?
Yes, so the statuses fill in on their own. The Replied and Meeting columns are fed by your messages and your calendar events. Without a connection, your consultants move the cards by hand.
Can the Biz Dev agent pitch our own candidates?
Yes. Mark a candidate as an “MPC” (most placeable candidate) for 30, 60 or 90 days, with their pitch. The agent looks for companies hiring that profile, finds the decision maker and drafts the message. These opportunities feed the “Agent · Candidates to place” campaign.
Who on the team gets the agent’s opportunities?
The company owner if the company is already in the CRM. If not, the consultant who added the candidate or the search. If not, a round robin or a fixed team member. Each member can have a monthly cap, and an opportunity can be reassigned from the Inbox.
What happens when a prospect becomes a client?
You create the deal from their card, with Prospecting as the source and the campaign it came from. The recruitment project then opens from the deal. That way you know which approach brought in each job order.
Your business development, measured at last.
30 minutes to see the Prospecting tab on your own campaigns, and to talk about the Biz Dev agent for your market.