Don’t be adaptable

Stick to your guns (make sure you have good guns)

Your pricing strategy should not be adaptable.

Your strategic direction should be set in stone. 

You can’t adapt from being a high value consultative recruiter to a pile ‘em high CV sender when market conditions change. And you can forget trying to change back once the market picks up again.

Of course, market conditions do change. And your strategy should definitely include well thought through ways to shift your tactics when you need to.

The strategy remains the same, then you choose the right tactics - ones that fit the conditions - to help you achieve your strategic goals.

Now, if you don’t have a pricing strategy then the chances are your clients are having a field day getting discounted rates from your consultants without having to give you anything of value in return.

When you start a relationship with a new client by giving them everything they want and getting nothing in return, that relationship is going to feel like a master-servant engagement.

They tell you what to do, you do it and then wait three weeks for them to reply to your last email.

The strange thing is, this relationship doesn’t change based on market conditions. When your client sees you as a commodity, they can replace you in good times or bad. 

So if you have a pricing strategy, stick to it.

If you don’t have a pricing strategy, it pays to get one.

Your first step is a consultation to understand where you are now with your pricing, where your biggest opportunities are, and what you would need to do to get there. If you’re ready to take the first step on that journey then simply reply to this email. 

Jon

P.S. In my experience, the majority of recruitment leaders haven’t sat down to plan out their pricing strategy.

The more honest tell me they ‘inherited’ their pricing approach from their previous agency. Others lick a finger and hold it in the air to show me how they set their prices.

This goes a long way to explaining why average recruitment fees have been going south for decades. While clients have been bringing in procurement experts and incentivising HR to drive down the prices they pay, recruiters have been watching their rates drop.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Recruitment leaders are pushing back, defining their value and setting a strategy that drives their prices up - whatever the market.

If you want to take the first step on your pricing journey then simply reply to this email.