Selling retained search, even to clients who already use three agencies.

A client has been looking for a plant manager for three months. Three agencies are on it, the client has had twenty CVs and nobody fits. Now they call you, as number four. What do you do? Most recruiters put the vacancy online, send it to their network and hope they’re faster than the rest.

Then you’re doing exactly what the other three already did. With a vacancy like this, you don’t win by being faster, but by offering the client a different way of working.

Why no cure no pay doesn’t work here

When three agencies work on no cure no pay, it becomes a race. Each agency puts the vacancy online and emails its database. Anyone actively looking responds, and those candidates soon land with the client. But the best candidate for a key role usually isn’t looking. They have a good job and don’t respond to job ads.

To reach them, you have to call, headhunt and pitch the role well, and that takes weeks. No agency invests that time when the chances of making the placement are slim. You know the result: the client gets CVs from whoever happened to be available, candidates turn up badly briefed and the client loses time on interviews that should never have taken place.

A retained search turns that around. The client pays a retainer before you start, and you can put your time into the candidates you’d otherwise never call.

When to ask for a retainer, and when not to

Let’s not be naive about it: a retainer isn’t a trick to get paid sooner. Only take one on if you think you can fill the vacancy. Ask yourself these questions first:

• Is it a core role in your niche? Do you know the market, the companies and the people?
• Do you know enough candidates? A search on a handful of names isn’t a search.
• Is the job attractive enough? What would make someone with a good job want to move: the pay, the work itself, the growth?
• Are the deal-⁠breakers open to discussion? Pay that’s too low or an impossible profile isn’t something a retainer will fix.
• Is the client committed? The line manager does the first interview, you get feedback quickly and the offer goes through you.

If the answer to any of those questions is no, say so honestly. A retained search you don’t deliver on costs the client money and costs you your reputation.

The method: how to sell a retained search

Six steps, from the intake to the proposal.

01Do a full intake with the line manager first

You don’t sell a retainer over the phone. You need a meeting with the decision-⁠maker, ideally on site, about the company, the job, the deal-⁠breakers and how the client has searched so far. Without that intake, you can’t promise to do better.

02Explain the difference in terms of the client’s interests

Don’t talk about your security, but about the client’s result. With no cure no pay, the client mainly sees the people who are actively looking. With a retainer, you approach the whole market, including people who aren’t looking today, and you bring them in with a strong story about the company. The client gets fewer CVs, but better candidates and fewer wasted interviews.

03Make it clear the client doesn’t pay more

The retainer doesn’t come on top of your fee. You deduct it from the fee the client pays when they hire, so the total is the same as with no cure no pay. The only difference is when they pay part of it.

04Name the shared risk

If you don’t fill the vacancy, the client loses their retainer. But you lose the weeks you put into it, and those cost more than the retainer. That’s why you do an analysis first: how many candidates there are, how you’ll reach them and how likely you are to fill the vacancy. If you don’t see it working, you say so before you start.

05Make it concrete

Explain what the client gets: a list of all the relevant candidates in the market, who you’ll approach and how, a weekly update and a shortlist on a fixed date. The more concrete your plan, the smaller the risk looks to them.

06If that fails: exclusivity, then a head start

If the client says no to a retainer, ask for exclusivity: a few weeks in which you’re the only one working on the vacancy. If that doesn’t work either, ask for a head start, for example two weeks before the vacancy goes out to other agencies. If you do want to give ground to land the retainer, do it in exchange for that retainer, not for nothing.

The objections you’re bound to hear

An example

Take the client with the plant manager from the start. You ask about the twenty CVs and hear that most of the candidates came from another sector and that none of them had experience in a production environment of that size.

You do the intake with the operations director. Then you map out the market: around eighty people in Flanders who can do the job, most of whom aren’t looking. You propose a retained search: a retainer that comes off the fee, a weekly update and a shortlist within five weeks. They hesitate over the retainer, so you ask what’s holding them back. It turns out to be a bad experience with another agency. You set your plan against what that agency did back then, and they sign.

Checklist

• You’ve done a full intake with the line manager.
• You know you can fill the vacancy: a core role, enough candidates, an attractive job.
• You explain the difference in terms of the client’s result, not your security.
• The client knows the retainer comes off the fee.
• You have a concrete plan: who you’ll approach, how and when the client gets a shortlist.
• If that fails: exclusivity, then a head start.

Frequently asked questions

What does a retained search cost?

Usually the same as a placement on no cure no pay. The client pays part upfront and the rest when they hire, and the retainer comes off the fee.

What if you don’t fill the vacancy?

Then the client doesn’t get their retainer back: they paid for your time and your approach, not just for the result. That’s why you only take on a retainer if you think you can fill the vacancy, and you say so honestly if you don’t see it working.

What’s the difference between retained and exclusive?

With an exclusive assignment, you’re the only one working on the vacancy, but the client only pays if they hire. With retained, they also pay a retainer. Both give you the time to approach the market thoroughly.

When are you better off sticking to no cure no pay?

When you already have strong candidates in your network who fit, when the vacancy falls outside your core niche or when the client won’t commit to the process. Then asking for a retainer isn’t a good idea.

You’ll find how to hold on to your fee when the client starts to negotiate in How to defend your fee without discounting.