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 why recruitment BD is busy, inconsistent and too often disconnected from commercial strategy.
What the report covers
A practical look at how recruitment firms are approaching business development today.
- How recruitment firms are tackling BD today
- Where sales performance is improving
- Where activity is failing to become a repeatable system
- What leaders should question in their own commercial model
- Over 30 critical insights into the state of BD today
Based on research with 500+ recruitment businesses, plus commentary from recruitment and sales leaders.
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?
The report introduces the pattern. The workshop helps you see where it may be showing up in your own 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.
Where to next