What you say
Your positioning, message, market story and sales language. Can the market quickly understand what you are genuinely the right firm for?
REPORT · 2025 · FREE TO READ
The State of Business Development in Recruitment
Independent research into how recruitment firms actually win, retain and grow client revenue — what moves the number, what doesn't, and where the sector is quietly losing ground.
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Read the full report in your browser or download the PDF. No form, no email required.
What the report covers
- Data from over 500 recruitment businesses. Plus commentary from Neil Carberry (the REC) and Dougie Loan (SourceWhale), along with Firefish, Hinterview and Ben Browning of Resonant.
- - Clear indication of how recruiters are tackling BD today
- - Data showing how businesses are improving sales performance
- - Over 30 critical insights into the state of BD today
The framework
The Golden Thread
The Golden Thread is the alignment between three things. When they line up, the firm is easier to understand, sell, deliver and price. When they drift apart, the same problems keep returning under different names.
What you do
Your BD strategy, sales process, delivery rhythm and client experience. Does the way you sell and deliver prove the claim you make in the market?
What you get paid for
Your pricing, products, retainers, scope and value capture. Are you paid for the value you create, or only for the recruitment output the market already knows how to buy?
This page names the pillars. The Commercial Review is where we analyse how they stand in your firm.
About Ben
Ben Browning
Ben Browning is the founder of Resonant. He has spent 18 years in and around recruitment sales, including senior roles at Robert Half and work as an in-house consultant at EY.
Resonant began in BD training and building sales playbooks for recruiters. During work with over 100 firms we noticed the same pattern kept showing up. Businesses with a clear commercial strategy grow. Those who don't, struggle. Today we support customers tackling a gap between the way they sell, market, deliver, aligning all three with the Golden Thread.
Ben has worked with and interviewed many of the world's leading sales authors and thinkers, including Mike Weinberg, Anthony Iannarino, Justin Michael, Benjamin Dennehy, and Todd Caponi. These conversations shape Resonant's approach to commercial strategy for recruitment firms.