Your team is working at pulling new business and closing it, however, the net fee income per head is just not high enough to meet revenue goals. Your consultants don’t have the tools or, maybe even the confidence, to push back on clients when negotiating. You’re losing deals or working below market average.
Anyone in this position would feel defeated. You’re doing all the work, but not getting the return you deserve.
Does this resonate with you?
This guide explains productization and how doing so can help you negotiate higher fees. We're also sharing how to use recruitment technology when productizing your services with examples and the steps you should take to prepare your tech offerings for the market.
Why productize your recruitment services
Well-defined service packages are easier to sell, fees are set up front and provide a better as well as more transparent experience for your clients.
Packaging your services into products is increasingly beneficial. You'll get a streamlined and scalable recruitment process, but more importantly, a unique value proposition which can equate to increased profitability.
What is productization?
“Productization involves taking a skill or service and developing it into a standard, fully-tested, packaged, and marketed product,” according to Investopedia. Essentially, any service can be productized. Productization put very simply is selling your services, not just your database, which gives you a clear differentiator from your competitors.
For an agency like yours, productizing your recruitment services could look like image the below. Here’s a simple example of what productization could look like when “bundling” your services into express, standard and premium packages:
This is your opportunity to show your potential clients exactly what you’re offering. If you're using recruitment technology then you'd explain how the tech is used and what they can expect as a result.
Give an outline of each service, or bundle. Each package will include a little more than the previous, but with an increased fee. The benefit of packages is that you won’t get stuck creating new solutions for each client, making your services scalable.
Negotiate higher fees with a differentiated service offering
One of the main goals of productizing is to enhance your business which includes increasing your net fee income.
When negotiating with a current client or new business, recruiters are often faced with having to lower the fee through trade-offs. Most of your key trading variables mean getting more roles, shorter payment terms or exclusivity. These are all good things to have, but key trade-offs usually mean lower fees. Of course, there is not one successful recruiter who wants to lose a deal, understandably so, but it doesn’t have to be like this.
You have a service worth paying for.
With a premium and tangible service, potentially with recruitment technology, your agency would have a value add that differentiates you. This also reinforces that your service is worth being paid for and not just a database of CVs. What’s the best part? You can prove it during negotiation.
Using recruitment technology to differentiate your service
Do you have the same value proposition as thousands of other recruiters in your niche? For example, you might use words to describe your “large database,” “innovative approach,” and “x years of experience.” Although these are all accurate ways to describe your business they are not tangible, and your competition is likely using similar verbiage for their own branding.
Recruiters use Hinterview's video recruitment tools to differentiate their services. An element of this includes white labelling the platform with their own branding, including colours and logos. Here is an example from ‘ABC’ on how they customised the platform to their branding:
When ‘ABC’ is reaching out to potential new business, or repeat clients, they would list out the benefits of each package. They would show the client the tech that sets them apart from the rest of their competitors. To secure this job they might offer a trial of the premium package to prove that it works in order to grow a client.
Your tech should provide a tangible solution that is beneficial to clients as well as candidates. It should solve common pain points like time to placement, getting quality talent and a smoother process for all involved. Our video recruitment platform checks a lot of boxes for not only our clients but their clients too, that’s why it works so well in packages like the one you saw above. You’ll see how below.
Simply click the button below to see an example of recruitment packages from a real agency that uses Hinterview in their premium services and a few steps on how to get started:
Getting started
In this guide you learned that by productizing your recruitment services you’ll have:
- A standardized service offering packaged up and priced as if it was a product.
- Clearly defined parameters, SLAs and pricing.
- A product you can repeat and sell across your market at a continuous price point.
If this sounds like something your recruitment agency could benefit from and you’re prepared to take the next steps to productize your business with recruitment technology, then let’s talk. Book a call with one of an expert team of former recruiters, who have a wealth of knowledge about this process. Simply click the button below.
