SaaS companies don’t waste time trying to scale up. As their products live in the cloud, they have big salaries to pay, and plenty of competition – they use many tactics to try and win customers fast.
Recruiters may not have physical products like SaaS companies but many of their BD tactics can be used to help you build a more scalable agency.
5 Tips for Recruiters to Scale like a SaaS Company
1. Offer Freemium Models & Trials
It’s common for SaaS companies to offer a free 30-day trial or a ‘freemium’ model (a stripped-back version of their product). This gives trial users/freemium users time to experience the value on offer, tempting them to become paying customers at the end of the trial. It works as people don’t like going back to the ‘old way’ of working after finding a better one.
Recruiters can let potential clients trial their services too. Offer them a free trial period or ‘first-hire for free’ to remove the risk on their side. And once they see the value in your service and trust you, they’re likely to become a paying customer.
2. Automate Lead Nurturing
SaaS websites tend to offer free downloadable content such as ‘how-to’ guides, whitepapers, checklists, etc. To get the free download, visitors need to give your name and email address. Then, the nurture email sequence is triggered to move the lead further down the sales funnel.
Creating a high-converting sequence makes you highly scalable as it can lead to many sales every month – without customers needing to speak to the sales team. Recruiters can use automation to their advantage too.
How recruiters can use automation to scale:
- Social media engagement – post updates, job openings, and industry-related content to attract interest from followers and prospects.
- Email campaigns – drip campaigns, follow-ups, and appointment reminders remove manual work on your end while keeping prospects engaged.
- Chatbots and AI assistants – if your agency’s inbox has become an unmanageable nightmare, AI assistants can answer questions, gather information, and nurture prospects for you.
3. Build a Customer Success Process
Maintaining relationships is key. SaaS businesses know this better than most as they rely heavily on monthly subscriptions, so they put systems in place to keep customers satisfied. They look way beyond the sale.
Customer success deep dives into customer satisfaction, goal achievement, retention, proactive support, feedback utilisation, long-term relationships, value maximisation, advocacy, and education. Every angle of their service is reviewed to ensure clients keep seeing measurable results.
Recruiters can build this into their service too. Keep client communication open and regularly check in with them to make sure clients are satisfied with your services.
4. Add Reminders to Upsell and Cross-Sell
A SaaS sales team knows their product inside out, which makes it easy to spot upsell and cross-sell opportunities when speaking to leads and customers.
Opportunities for upselling and cross-selling:
- During onboarding
- Usage patterns
- Milestone achievements
- Renewal time
- Targeted campaigns
- Customer support interactions
- Product updates and releases.
Recruiters can automate reminders in their sales and prospect funnels to introduce clients and candidates to additional services.
Upselling opportunities for clients:
- Premium packages – offer clients extended guarantees, in-depth candidate assessments, dedicated account manager, etc. create a solution based on their unique needs.
- Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) – if a client is growing fast and they keep contacting you for help, offer to upgrade your service to take full ownership of their hiring process.
Cross-selling opportunities for clients:
- Training and development – offer services to help clients equip their team with any skills that they are lacking. Help them to become more competitive in their space.
- Brand development – help clients enhance their brand to build their reputation and stand out to become a more attractive employer.
Upselling opportunities for candidates:
- CV services – help candidates improve their CVs to increase their chances of getting an interview. As you talk with companies all the time and know what they want, this service will be invaluable for candidates tired of being ignored by companies they’d love to work for.
- Interview prep – interviews can be nerve-wracking, so an interview prep service will be of huge help to candidates struggling with the interview stage. You can offer coaching, interview prep, and mock interviews to boost their confidence.
Cross-selling for candidates:
- Networking events – inviting candidates to networking events gives them a chance to meet potential employers and valuable connections.
- Referral programs – create a referral program that offers incentives for candidates referring others your way.
5. Build Social Proof
It’s easy to make some noise online but visitors will take a look to see what you’ve achieved. The power of proving that you can deliver results is invaluable. SaaS companies plaster clients’ results, case studies, and testimonials all over their websites as it’s a rapid way to build credibility and trust. The bigger the name, the more powerful it is.
Recruiters should always be collecting testimonials and case studies from their clients. Add automated reminders into your workflows post-placement, after achievements, etc. to ask clients for testimonials, case studies, and online reviews for you to share.
Social proof is a major asset. Just one great testimonial can be a powerful lead-generation tool that can be added to your website and shared on your social media channels.
