Recruit Business Development

---
name: recruit-business-development
description: Builds a Business Development Plan for an agency recruiter, with a target account list from hiring signals you gather, a one-page approach per account, first-call questions and a four-touch outreach plan. Use for "run recruit-business-development", "recruiter business development", "find new clients for my desk", "who is hiring that I should call", "hiring signals prospect list", "BD plan for recruiters", "cold outreach to hiring managers", "win new recruitment clients", part of the AI for Recruiting Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Recruiter Business Development

## When To Use
Mass outreach to decision makers is dead, their inboxes are full of templates, and new clients no longer match the effort you put in. This answers: which accounts have a real hiring need right now, what do I say that proves I read the signal, and when do I stop chasing?

## When Not To Use
If you are writing to candidates, not clients, run Recruiting Email Templates. If you have no signals at all and no market you know, spend a week gathering them first; a plan built on guesses is just the template blast again.

## Inputs
- The hiring signals you have gathered: roles posted or reposted, a new talent leader, growth news, each with its public link.
- The searches your desk has actually filled, described as facts you can state.
- Your market (functions and locations) and how many weeks you have for this cycle.
If you have none of this, I start from your market and three accounts you already suspect, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
This is signal-based account planning, a practitioner method described generically: you call an account because something public says it needs help, not because it is on a list. Conduct follows the ASA Search and Placement Code of Ethics (americanstaffing.net), which asks for honest communication with clients and candidates. The failure it prevents: a pitch that says "we specialise in your space" to a hirer whose role has been reposted three times, and never mentions the repost.

## Workflow
1. Ask up to three questions: which functions and locations you cover, which searches you have filled that you can talk about, and how many accounts you can work properly this cycle.
2. Sort the signals by strength. A role reposted or open for weeks is the strongest; a new talent leader is next; growth news without a posting is the weakest. Drop any signal you cannot link to a public source.
3. Build the account list: account, the signal, the likely need it points to, the evidence link. Keep it to the number you said you can work; a long list gets a template.
4. Write a one-page approach per account: the need in their terms, what your desk has done in similar searches (true facts only, no client names without permission), and one small ask.
5. Draft first-call questions about the need, the process and terms: why the role is still open, who decides, what has been tried, how they work with agencies.
6. Plan four touches over [weeks], each adding something new (a market observation, a relevant piece of your own work, a direct question). After the fourth, stop and log the account as "not now".
7. Honesty pass: remove any claim you cannot back, any hint of poaching their staff, and any candidate detail used as bait.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Business Development Plan: [Desk or market]
## Target accounts
| Account | Signal | Likely need | Evidence link |
|---|---|---|---|
| [account] | [reposted role / new talent leader / growth news] | [need] | [link] |
## Approach per account
**[Account]** Need: [need in their words]. Relevant work: [true fact]. Ask: [one small ask].
## First-call questions
- [Why is the role still open?] [Who decides?] [How do you work with agencies?]
## Four-touch plan
| Touch | Week | What is new in it | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [week] | [content] | [channel] |
## Decision
[Your name] picks the accounts to work this cycle by [date] and reviews replies on [date].
```

## Done When
- Every account has a signal with a public link.
- Every claim about your desk is a fact you can prove.
- Each touch adds something new, and the plan stops after four.
- The list is no longer than the accounts you can work properly.

## Quality Bar
- No invented results, client names or market numbers; gaps stay [placeholders].
- No offer to move a client's own staff elsewhere, and no candidate used as bait.
- The first line of every approach names the signal, not your agency.
- Plain words; no "leading", "best-in-class" or "partner of choice".
- You send every message yourself; Claude drafts, never sends.

## Next
Run recruit-terms-of-business (Agency Terms of Business) to agree terms in writing before you introduce a single candidate.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).