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Today’s post and podcast are recordings from one of our most popular webinars: The Lead Generation Triad. This system helps you create consistent lead generation within your organisation or company. It will also work for you if you’re a solo recruiter or small micro recruiter.
The important thing about this system is consistency, ensuring it happens every week.
First, I’ll discuss why your current system might be failing, share some lightbulb moments that often get “I didn’t realise that” responses, and then walk through the exact process we teach our clients to use—a process that works exceedingly well in the current market. I’ll also explain how you can replicate this approach in your organisation.
Understanding The Buyer Cycle
Let’s start with the buyer cycle. People buy on their timeline, not ours. Before anyone can work with you, they need to know who you are. For high-value purchases, which human placement fundamentally is, they need to understand who you are and how you can help them.
Here’s a shocking figure: less than 7% of people are ready to buy right now. This is why cold calling alone, or simply sending email blasts, often fails. You’re targeting only a few potential clients who might convert immediately.
The gold lies in using different lead generation strategies that create results in the short, medium, and long term. This approach takes people from unaware to aware, then to understanding your expertise, moving to engagement and dialogue, and finally to the Holy Grail: placement and partnership.
Remember, we implement this system because people go through a buying cycle. There’s no magic pill to change that – we must work with their natural process when developing our marketing and strategies.
The Know, Like, Trust Factor
The second important concept is that people need to know, like, and trust us before they’ll part with money and work with us. Taking people through the buyer cycle requires multiple touchpoints, yet many give up too soon.
Let me share some data about points of contact from the American Sales Association. These figures always shock me:
- 48% of salespeople never follow up after initial contact
- Only 10% of sales teams make more than three contacts with prospects
- A mere 5% of sales are made on the third contact
- Yet 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
This highlights why the information I’m sharing today is pure gold – it’s about increasing meaningful touchpoints with prospects in different ways.
The Lead Generation Triad Explained
The Lead Generation Triad looks deceptively simple: Current Connections, Content as a Convincer, and Cold Outreach. The magic happens when you integrate all three components.
Many companies don’t make these connections when generating leads. Those who implement this system well – and I’ll share examples of clients who’ve done this – get tremendous results by having all these elements working together.
Before diving deeper, let’s look at common mistakes people make with lead generation in recruitment:
- Not making it easy for ourselves by having to generate leads with both clients and candidates
- Focusing solely on candidates and neglecting client outreach (or vice versa)
- Relying on a few main clients leaves you vulnerable
- Overfishing in the same small “pond” without replenishing the stocks
Many smaller recruitment companies, especially solo practitioners, often get caught up filling jobs and neglect lead generation. With today’s marketing collateral, content, systems, and processes, this doesn’t need to happen anymore.
The Power Of Current Connections
Let’s start with the first element: Current Connections and how content works with them.
One client who joined us last year had 20,000 people in their database but admitted, “I never talk to them.” This is a common situation – you’ve done the hard work getting people into your database, but they grow cold without nurturing.
This is where the content machine comes in. To warm these connections, you can send blogs, reports, and other valuable content. People respond when a new role arises because you’ve consistently added value and demonstrated your commitment to their interests.
The first step is segmentation. Consider your current clients – there’s still value even after placing a role. Don’t forget candidates, and what I call “the lapsed and lost.” It’s about getting to know the people in your database.
You can use Sales Navigator, Recruiter, and LinkedIn filtering to build current connections. Then, communicate with them consistently. LinkedIn offers newsletters, but what about the thousands in your database? Could you send a weekly value-adding email to stay at the top of your mind? When a candidate decides to move roles, or a client needs recruitment help, they’ll come to someone regularly in their inbox, not a recruiter they’ve never heard of.
Social media posting is crucial. If you do only one thing, post valuable content on social media. This gets you back on people’s radar. We focus on this with clients right from the start for quick wins. Posting consistently on social media (not just job ads, but value-adding content and personal branding) brings remarkable results. One client recently told me, “Someone I worked with years ago came back after seeing me on social media again.”
Creating A Content Machine
The content machine works with both current connections and cold outreach. In today’s knowledge age, we spend significant time on LinkedIn, social channels, and websites. Content helps promote your brand and stand out.
Even if you’re on your own, having a brand is important. Some solo recruiters we work with have magical brands that attract people specifically wanting to work with that individual. Good content helps you dominate your sector, generates leads, keeps you front of mind, and demonstrates expertise.
What can you do for content? I’ve highlighted several approaches anyone can implement:
- Post on social media – if there’s one thing you need to do, share valuable content on social media
- Write blogs – these can be used in multiple ways to add value
- Send emails – these consistently work well
- Develop personal and company branding – especially important now as people crave connection
- Create videos – despite doubts, videos work effectively
For larger companies, consider starting a podcast, hosting webinars, or developing other advanced content strategies that help you stand out in your market.
One client, Steve in Sydney, embraced content marketing after initially being unsure. His results speak for themselves: He sent reports (or “ebooks” as he calls them) on performance reviews and pay rises to his candidate database. This generated 538 downloads—538 people he could follow up with who were likely considering career moves. Steve created significant revenue from these campaigns.
Mastering Cold Outreach
Finally, cold outreach—everyone’s favourite (or not)! Cold outreach is essential for growing or entering new sectors. It is how you build your business.
People reached through cold outreach may not convert immediately, but they enter your connections and world. Once there, it’s much easier to influence and persuade them to work with you. The content machine works brilliantly with cold outreach – you can send cold emails with valuable content that people open, bringing them onto your list and generating interest.
Be consistent with cold outreach – don’t just do it sporadically. Make it an ongoing strategy. This gives you the luxury of choosing who to work with rather than taking on every client that comes your way.
Start by creating a list of ideal clients and candidates. You can either buy lists or build them. When someone registers for a webinar like this one, they enter our world. You can also purchase data or use software that collects email addresses.
After building your list, reach out through multiple channels:
- Phone calls (eventually, everyone needs a conversation)
- Direct messages
- Texts
- Video messages
- Emails
Cold outreach isn’t always easy—your mind may tell you people don’t want to hear from you or that you’re interrupting them. But it’s worth pushing through if you have a product or service that genuinely helps people. When implemented well, this long-term strategy will revolutionise your business.
For cold emailing at scale, consider platforms like Apollo.io and Mixmax. For LinkedIn, automation tools like Dripify work well. You can also use advertising through Indeed, Facebook (with 3.7 billion users), Google AdWords, and LinkedIn.
Remember that messaging apps such as WhatsApp, LinkedIn messages, and Facebook Messenger all work effectively. Combining messaging, calling, and email creates a powerful approach.
Thanks,
Denise and Sharon
How We Can Help
At Superfast Recruitment, we’ve developed proven systems like the Lead Generation Triad to help recruitment and search firms generate consistent leads and placements. Our Superfast Circle program provides all the content, campaigns, and strategies you need to implement this system effectively.
From ready-to-use blog posts and social media content to email campaigns and nurture sequences, we provide everything you need to keep your current connections warm, create compelling content, and support your cold outreach efforts.
Clients who consistently implement these strategies see results within weeks, not months. If you’re ready to transform your lead generation approach and create a more predictable business flow, we’re here to help you implement these systems.
