Case Study

Advance Recruitment

Background

Karen McCurdy is one of the directors of Advance Recruitment, an established and respected medical sales recruitment agency since 1987 with over 27 years of successfully placing candidates and serving clients.

The team of five had done incredibly well, and now they wanted to take their growth and business to the next level, so they contacted Superfast and joined Superfast Circle.

What Were Some of The Challenges You Faced With The Business Over The Last Couple of Years When It Comes To Marketing?

We didn’t have any marketing in place and were experiencing feast and famine within the business.

We weren’t getting a consistent flow of leads, and off the back of Covid, we were in a candidate short market and not getting the candidate registrations we wanted.

We didn’t know anything about marketing. We knew it was something that we needed to do, but we didn’t know where to start. We had a website that was eight years old and quite out of date.

Our site had no content, and we had no social media presence at all.

People were talking about things like funnels and lead generation; we just had no processes in place and didn’t know where to start.

And didn’t have the time either. You know, there are two directors within this business, and we both bill, so just trying to find the time to think about marketing was not an option then.

We relied on referrals, and we know many people because we had been around so long. There were candidates that we placed who’d become sales managers and would come to us.

So, a certain amount of business just ticked over from who we knew.

But we weren’t getting enough new candidates and new clients through the door; we knew we had to do something.

How Did You Come Across Superfast Recruitment?

I had seen you on LinkedIn, and I was aware of you. I was in another recruitment group, and your name came up quite a few times as a recommendation.

So I decided to have a conversation with you. We had an initial chat, and then I dilly-dallied around and eventually thought, right, I need to take action and do something about this now.

I think I was getting to a point and thinking we’re not where we want to be, and this can potentially help us get there, so why am I not doing anything about it?

What Have You Been Able To Achieve Since Joining Superfast Circle?

A lot, and as a business owner, I am never satisfied as there is a lot more we can achieve.

We have started.

We have a new website with content on it and we have all the blogs reports and social media that you give us, which drives traffic and means we’re getting more quality leads both candidates and clients.

We’ve got a presence on social media, which we didn’t have before, and we are using social media scheduling software, so we are in front of our market three and four times a day, which is working.

Email automation is set up so candidate and client campaigns go out consistently.

We now have a great supply of quality candidates coming to us that often are not registered with other agencies.

We’ve had a lot more new businesses come to us.

I remember having a conversation a couple of years ago saying; we’re just not getting enough new companies coming to us, and by new, I mean, start-up organisations, for example, that we enjoy working with.

So we’ve definitely had many more of those types of organisations and businesses who come to us and inquire about our services.

We had one company who we’ve never dealt with before, and they called us out of the blue and said, Look, we’ve been using another recruitment agency for the last couple of years, but you’ve been sending this brilliant content that we find useful, and it’s made us want to work with you.

It’s made us think this is the kind of recruitment agency that goes the extra mile.

So it was just wonderful to hear somebody say that.

What Have Been Some of The Direct Benefits of Working With Superfast and Being Part of Superfast Circle?

I think one of the great things about working with you and doing marketing this way is that you’re not just getting marketing content and collateral.

You’re actually learning about it.

We have all been on a journey in the organisation in terms of learning and developing. And I guess with you guys, it’s not just about the marketing.

So we’re learning about marketing, but we’re learning about so much more. And I think with the live calls that you do, for example, you get to speak and hear other small business owners, share their challenges, and discover what they’re doing and approaching things.

You are learning so much more about your business. In fact, quite often, I come off those calls, and I think, Oh right, I need to look at this; we’ve not done this. So, I usually come off with a list of things that I need to do, but it’s good because you’re constantly thinking about things and always challenging what you are doing within your business. So it’s, it’s much more than marketing.

How Do You Implement Marketing Now?

So we are lucky that we’ve got a fantastic admin person here who has been implementing and setting up the processes for us.

And I think that’s one of the nice things about what you do at Superfast Circle because sometimes there are various training platforms or companies that provide services.

Only one person is allowed to be part of the training and coaching, but I think what’s good about how you do things is that the team is allowed to be part of it.

And it’s not just me who can come on the calls with you. It’s everybody in the team. So, you know, if anybody has a question, they can come on and ask, which means that I can delegate a task to somebody else to do, and then they can come to you and ask for help to do it, and it gets it done.

I do put a lot of time in, too, absolutely.

I guess it’s just recognising that this needs to happen. And if it means that I need to roll my sleeves up, it’s my business. So that is what I am willing to do.

How Are The Systems and Processes You Have In Place Helping You Reach Your Goals?

I think just having some automation in place is invaluable. There was so much that we were doing that was manual.

For example, we were sending out emails about jobs and sending out emails to clients and candidates, but it wasn’t automated, so obviously, it was taking time for somebody to do that.

But working with you, we’ve been able to put automation in place for various things, which has freed up more time for us to do the parts of the job that we should be doing.

The team recognises the benefits too.

If you get more clients and candidates at the end of the day, the business is making more money. You know, you’ve got nicer clients and good candidates to work with.

It makes it a much more enjoyable job.

The other thing is when you look at the marketing collateral we are putting out there. It projects a very professional image, and that’s important for our brand.

How Has Being Part Of Superfast Circle Exceeded Your Expectations?

Oh, it’s definitely exceeded expectations.

By working with you both, I feel you get to understand our business. You get what we’re about, which is obviously really important.

You are very accessible.

It’s very much a two-way street. So if there is something that we are having challenges with, you’re very quick to react to that and produce something for us, which will help.

We’re considering growing the retained side of our business, which we’ve discussed with you in the last few weeks, and you have produced something we can use.

I think it’s that personal touch of accessibility, the flexibility, and the collaboration.

So I think if somebody is going to be part of your journey and somebody is going to provide you with advice and support to help you get there, they need to understand what your values are and what’s important to you in your business.

Going back to the start, that is one of the reasons that I wanted to work with you and made the decision to work with you because I did feel that what was important to you and what’s important to us were very closely aligned.

Working with both of you is very enjoyable and very easy. I don’t ever feel like there’s any question that I ask you; that’s a stupid question.

Recommendation

I would say definitely go for it; the support that you get is more than I expected and invaluable.

You have to put the time in, and you will see results.

You know, you’ve just got so much to gain from being a member of SFC. As I mentioned before, it’s not just marketing. You’ll learn so much more, and a supportive community of people exists.

Absolutely, I wish I’d done it sooner. We have had our best half of the year ever in over twenty years of business.

Karen McCurdy – Director
Advance Recruitment

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