Struggling to find new Clients Please help!

[Atino]

We are a start up Recruitment Business and Employment Agency. We are currently struggling to with the client acquisition part of the business. Could anyone withinthe forum share any tangible advice that could help us in our quest to acquire new clients? We specialise in the Residential Health and Care sectors. Thanking you for your time and consideration.

 

[fisicx]

How much are you spending on marketing? Are you visible in trade magazines, send out mailshots, attending job fairs, use billboards, Adwords or advertising on sites like this one?

 

[Atino]

We are doing some of the above already. Thanking you for your time and consideration.

 

[fisicx]

If you are only doing some then you need to do more. Recruitment marketing is expensive, some are spending hundreds of thousands each year attracting clients and job seekers. Your niche is not something you can do on the cheap. So double your marketing spend and employ copywriters and advertisers and anyone one else you need to promote your service.

 

[MOIC]

Network with the following ,areas: Doctors surgeries, Hospitals, Health Care Practices, Old Age Homes, Nursing Homes.

Wasn't this part of your business plan before you set up?

 

[Atino]

That was part of the business plan and l am networking in those areas. Thank you for your time.

 

[David55]

We are a start up Recruitment Business and Employment Agency. We are currently struggling to with the client acquisition part of the business. Could anyone withinthe forum share any tangible advice that could help us in our quest to acquire new clients? We specialise in the Residential Health and Care sectors. Thanking you for your time and consideration.

Can I ask why you specialise in Residential Health and Care sectors specifically? Have you done this before? Usually when people start a business, they have key contacts and relationships that they can obtain work from and then build from there. Is this not the case with you?

 

[fisicx]

That was part of the business plan and l am networking in those areas.

But it's not working, which means you need to do something else. And the something else means spending money. Is your marketing budget tens or hundreds of thousands? Less than 10 won't even register when compared to your competitors.

 

[Atino]

The two Directors of the company have many years experience as RGN Nurses within the Residential Care Home sector. Their warm market (family and friends) are being contacted as we speak. We do not do only Health and Care. We do permanent recruitment in: lT, Clerical and Administrative, Domestic and Catering sectors as well. Thank you for the advice.

 

[MOIC]

"Family and friends are being contacted as we speak"

I think that says it all.

 

[fisicx]

Family and Friends won't build the business. Being an experienced RGN Nurse doesn't mean being great at recruiting. Does the business employ an experience recruiter and/or telemarketeer?

 

[David55]

The two Directors of the company have many years experience as RGN Nurses within the Residential Care Home sector.

That seems to be your problem then. Being good at nursing is a world away from being good at recruitment. You need to get out and make appointments with various target customers but you have to be sure you can deliver too. This market isn't just about placing recruitment ads in the press or online. Big learning curve.

 

[NickGrogan]

Forget about all the advertising, networking and other soft marketing - they aren't working and they won't work unless you've got £10,000's+ to spend and even then you'll struggle.

Being an experienced RGN nurse is great for being a nurse and completely irrelevant for recruiting them.

I've recruited programmers, artists, animators, project managers and directors for the games industry, clients like EA and Rockstar. I've never programmed anything, I've never played on an Xbox and have probably less than 30 minutes on the Playstation, ever (despite having 4 in the house). I still got the sound engineer for Grand Theft Auto his job.

Recruiting is not nursing, and vice versa. Would you take medical advice from a recruiter?

What you need is a hook, why would anyone recruit from you and not their existing provider? and it's not price.

The fastest and simplest way in is for find a small niche role which is difficult to fill and then fill it. Use your knowledge and contacts to find the role and then search like mad for candidates.

No-one is going to use to you to fill day to day roles, but if they've been trying to fill a position for 6 months and you pop-up with a great candidate, they'll bit your arm off.

Worked in every other sector I've done, and it's hard, but very cheap.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Get on the phone. Talk to people, introduce yourself and your services. Keep doing it. Eventually just through sheer hard work you'll get a vacancy. Provide that new client with an awesome service and fill the vacancy. Rinse, repeat.

 

[kelvin1950]

You're doing something wrong, our local care service are desperate to recruit staff and just cannot get any.