Case Study

RD Financial Recruitment

Background

RD Financial Recruitment Limited was founded in 2002 by Paul Ryan and Geoff Dowling, who collectively have over 60 years of experience in the Accountancy and Recruitment industry. Now run by Paul Ryan, who has used his extensive senior-level financial expertise to build an extremely strong, professional, and friendly team in all aspects of the business.

Tell us more about RD Financial Recruitment and your breadth of accountancy experience?

I’m Paul Ryan, and strange though it may sound from an early age, I always wanted to be an accountant. Most people want to be football players, pilots; I always wanted to be an accountant!

I had various roles within the industry, from accounts assistant to analyst roles in Johnson and Johnson. I then moved to different group consolidation roles within Del Monte

That was because I had started to move from mainstream accountancy to a more consultative role. Then about 20 years ago, another qualified accountant and I decided there was a need for a consultancy, run by accountants, for accountants, and spoke the same language as both clients and candidates alike. Twenty years ago, RD Financial Recruitment was established.

There aren’t many financial recruiters with such a broad range and depth of finance experience, from large corporates as an accountant and across many different functions of finance, either, so lots of value to add to the client base we have.

We’re based in Windsor; we specialise in a whole range of accounting roles, from accounts systems to FDs, and we cover a broad range of sectors.

Before you joined Superfast Circle, give us an insight into where you were as a business and what you wanted to achieve?

We were quite small and didn’t have a marketing department; In fact, I could probably hardly spell marketing at the time. Our marketing was non-existent. It comprised maybe sending a mailshot out once a month and no real posting on social media as such. We were non-existent, really, in terms of marketing as an organisation before we joined Superfast Circle.

What challenges were you starting to face in terms of growth?

It was the brand; though we have been going for 20 years, our brand awareness for RD was non-existent.

Our biggest challenge was getting ourselves out there. That expertise was missing; we didn’t have anyone in-house to guide us, and COVID changed things.

We realised that we needed to do something. I can’t remember how we joined Superfast Circle. I think it must have been some of your emails that, “Oh, look, maybe we could do what they are suggesting?” They were always catchy. I’d investigate them. Then obviously, we had a couple of chats, and we joined up from there.

What was it that you thought we could help you with?

It was your sales call and the way you described the offer in Superfast Circle. I think it was a couple of calls we had.

At the time, you showed me the various packages and templates and the training library, and so forth. I don’t know why I took a second call, but that’s probably me as an accountant.

I had questions about how all the elements you just mentioned would fit together. I had an internal marketer in the past and didn’t want to go down that route again. What I liked was the reassurance I would get support and wouldn’t be left on my own.

What would you say have been some of the benefits of your time with us, and what have you been able to put in place and achieve?

I love the support. There’s someone there whereas before, there was no one to go to, it was the consultants and me here, but no real marketing expertise. That support and development have helped so much.

It has personally developed me and has given me confidence that I never had, in terms of marketing, posting, or communicating about the RD brand.

Since we’ve been a member of Superfast Circle, we have implemented your different campaigns that have resulted in jobs, and you helped us create a new website through your contacts.

We have also started video interviewing. There’s a lot of things that we’re doing now that you have given us the confidence to act on.

We are using video interviewing. We signed up with Hinterview, and I must admit, the first few videos I took, people did say I had a face for radio, and now I am getting into it.

We’ve used video to sell candidates to companies. One example was an international FD roll. We had a shortlist of five candidates, which I interviewed and had various questions directed to them, which they then answered. People around the globe then had access to see those candidates anytime, in any place. Again, it has given us more confidence to then go out to the outside world and demonstrate what we can do as an organisation which a lot of us come back from joining Superfast Circle.

Having access to marketing materials and campaigns has been invaluable as a company that hasn’t done much marketing before.

It’s great to know that once a month, there is your template. I look forward to seeing the monthly topic, which we can use in several ways.

Now, I get comments like, “I see you, Paul”, “I see this,” “I saw that.” “I saw the video interview.” Or whatever it may be. The marketing side of things has just grown.

What would you say you have seen from an ROI point of view, in the different ways that you might measure ROI?

Marketing ROI isn’t always easy to measure because it’s the underlying brand awareness going out there.

The reignite campaign you put together, which we utilised in the early stages of joining, delivered two large placements. The return on that investment was considerable.

How have you found it working with Denise and over the last 18 months?

I look forward to the calls. On a Wednesday morning at halfway eight, I’ll get my coffee ready, I’ll sit in the boardroom here, and I look forward to it. It’s a pleasure, but it’s not only you and Denise; it is all the other members of the group as well. It is sharing ideas and thoughts and the ability to network when you are running a business.

Sharon: Yes, and, interestingly, you show up most Wednesdays. I think that discipline and routine isn’t there of getting into the groove of it, and you have moved quite a long way in a relatively short space of time for the fact that you are the main person that’s working on marketing your business. When you think about what you’ve done and what you’ve embraced technology-wise, it’s great to see how you move with that.

What would you say to somebody that perhaps is teetering on, “Do I or don’t I join Superfast Circle?”

I would tell them to join straight away. One of the things I know is it doesn’t come down to finance. Give it a go, and you won’t regret it.

I continued to invest past the first year because I want to continue moving the business forward. I love that there will be marketing material there, which is added to every month and the support.

As a company, we are continually evolving and will continue to be members; it’s great to have support to help us move forward.

Being an SFC member has developed me; it’s given me confidence, and I regard you two as friends who genuinely care about my business.

Recommendation

“The very first reignite campaign you put together that we sent in the early stages of joining delivered two large placements. The return on that investment was considerable. Being an SFC member has developed me; it’s given me confidence, and I regard you two as friends who genuinely care about my business.”

Paul Ryan
RD Financial Recruitment

To find out more about RD Financial Recruitment, please visit their website here.

www.rdfr.co.uk

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