Sam Miller

We help Recruiters Build their brand and get more Clients and Candidates Approaching Them. 👉 New Training: The Inbound Academy - Message me for more details 🚀 £3.5 Million Generated for Clients 🚀

Recruiters Business Owners 
If you have 5000+ connections on LinkedIn
You could be winning IMMEDIATE business




A lot of recruiters don't think twice about their connections on LinkedIn

But the truth is your connections arn't just a number

They’re filled with dormant business relationships waiting to be rekindled.

Think about it...

Those hundreds of coffee meetings you've had over the years? They're still connected to you.

The clients you worked with 2-3 years ago? They're still following your updates.

Those fantastic candidates who weren't quite ready to move? They're still watching your content.

The problem is, that most recruiters aren't leveraging this effectively.

They're posting sporadically, with no real strategy or purpose.

I'm here to change that

If you're ready to start utilising your network on LinkedIn 

Then come and try out our free trial...

We’ll write you two world-class pieces of content designed to get maximum engagement in your niche 

Here are some results recruiters have had on our free trial: 

- Won $30K worth of business (Money in the bank 2 months later) 
- Hundreds of thousands of impressions 
- More warm conversations with decision-makers and candidates 

Just from TWO posts. 

Oh and let me say this again….It's FREE! 

Interested? 

Check out the featured section below or visit our visit!

Director

▶︎HERE'S WHAT WE DO: I help Companies Struggling to Stand Out In A Competitive Market By helping them To Be Seen by More Customers And Speak to More Decision Makers



I interviewed a recruiter who's billing $2.4 Million 
He makes a CLEAR distinction between these two things
A Placebale Candidate VS a Closeable Candidate...




Here’s where recruiters get caught out

They spend weeks selling a brilliant candidate to a client… 
Only to discover, at the offer stage, that the candidate:

• Was “just seeing what’s out there.”
• Was waiting for a counteroffer
• Had no real reason to leave
• Needed to interview everywhere before deciding
• Was never emotionally ready to move
  
Placeable candidates look great on paper. 
They’ve done the job. 
They interview well. 
Clients love them.

And yet… nothing happens.
Why? 
No Urgency to move. 

Closable candidates are different.
They don’t just 𝘧𝘪𝘵 the role, they’re actually prepared to leave what they’re doing now.

Great recruiters don’t just ask “𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣?”

They ask things like:
• “What problem are you trying to solve by leaving?”
• “Could your current employer fix that?”
• “If the right offer was in front of you tomorrow, would you take it?”
• “What would stop you saying yes?”

Because placeability gets interviews. 
Closability gets offers accepted.

And clients don’t pay recruiters to run interviews.
They pay them to close.

Full Podcast in the comments below....

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We Interview the top 1% of recruiters and share their PROVEN strategies to Win More Placements. 100+ episodes with top billers: from $500k to $2.5 Million producers.

I interviewed a recruiter who's billing $539K 
on average, he only works 6 hours a day 
Here are the 2 BD tactics he swears by....



1. MPC marketing via email and LinkedIn
2. Job-opening approach (pitching a candidate directly against an open role) 

He makes sure he does 10 new business activities every single day (50 a week) 

That's it...

No AI 
No Fancy Automation system 
No mass outreach

Just giving the clients what they want
Which is........ great candidates. 

With this simple formula
He's able to bill half a million dollars a year 
While only working 6 hours a day 

Its a fantastic reminder to every recruiter 

MASTER the fundamentals 

Because they will always work 
And they are simpilist path to making good money. 

<FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW>

I spoke to a recruiter who was laid off in Jan 2024 
She sold her LA apartment and decided to travel the world
6 months later, she closed $200k of business...



Yep...

Laid off in Jan 2024 

6 months later...

• Running her own business 
• Traveling the world 
• Recruiting in a brand new market (legal) 
• Closed $200k of business (money in the bank) 
• Living life on her terms 
• Having the most mind-blowing experiences 


Why am I sharing this with you? 

Well its Jan 2026 

Which means whatever happened last year — good or bad — is now locked in.

What isn’t locked in is where you’ll be by mid-year.

This story is useful not because of the outcome, but because of the timeline.

Six months, done properly, is enough to rebuild momentum.

If she can do it....so can you. 

If you want the full story and some inspiration

Full podcast in the comments below.

I interviewed a recruiter who's billed $750K+ for 30 years straight! here are 4 questions he will ask candidates to get consistent HOT leads......



1. “Out of curiosity, where else are you interviewing at the moment?”
→ Identifies 3–6 companies that are actively hiring right now

2. “That’s helpful — was that direct, or through a recruiter?”
→ Tells you whether the company already pays fees (high-probability BD)

3. “And who did you actually speak with over there — hiring manager, HR, ops?”
→ Reveals the real decision-maker or buying influence

4. “Got it. And what triggered that hire — growth, a backfill, or something else?”
→ Explains urgency and hints at future roles coming behind it


Funny how some of the best BD tactics are the most simple. 

FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

I spoke to a recruiter who's billing $700K
She sends every prospect a LOOM video before the call
Her show-up rate is now 100%! Here's how it works...




I'm sure every single recruiter can relate...

You've managed to get a response from a new potential client
You book a meeting in a calendar 
And then NO SHOW.....


This recruiter has an ingenious strategy to make sure this never happens again 

12-24 hours before the meeting begins, she sends a Loom video to the prospect 

Here's what the video says...

“Hey [Name] — looking forward to our meeting.  
Based on what you shared about [role/problem], here are 1–2 thoughts on how I’d approach it. 
<Share thoughts> 
We’ll dig in properly on the call. See you at [time].”

Why it works 
It does three things instantly:

1. Signals respect for their time: You’re not “another vendor.” You did work before you got paid.
   
2. Creates micro-commitment: They’ve now engaged with you (even passively). Much harder to ghost.
   
3. Sets a serious tone: It quietly communicates, “This isn’t a random sales chat. This matters.”


Since implementing this strategy, Julia has had a 100% show rate with every new potential client call. 

Want more details? 

Check out the full podcast in the comments below.

This guy started a recruitment side hustle and billed $200K (while holding down a full-time SaaS job) 
Here's the numbers he did over a 4 year period




2021: $100k (while employed)
2022: $200k (while employed)
2023: $250k (first year full-time)
2025: $539k (Second year full-time)

Here’s the honest part that people need to hear, though...

In 2023 when Jeffrey Zabrin decided to go full-time into recruitment
he expected to do $400k in his first year. 

Double the amount of time so double the billings right?

Wrong. 

He only hit $250k. 

He was frustrated and extremely deflated

There was no overnight hockey stick growth that he was expecting to see

But he kept going....

What actually moved the needle from $250k → $539k+ wasn’t a new tool or market timing.

It was two very unsexy things.

1) Compounding niche momentum
After a few years in the same niche, something changes.
You stop “introducing yourself” and start becoming the person.
Clients come back. Candidates come back. Conversations get shorter. Trust is already there.

It doesn’t feel dramatic day-to-day…
But year-to-year, it compounds fast.

2) He deliberately upped outbound again
This is the part people miss.

Even with repeat clients, didn’t coast.
He consciously increased activity to around 10 new business touches per day.

Not spam.
Intentional outreach, every single day.

The takeaway?

Growth isn’t linear.
Quitting your job doesn’t guarantee a jump.
Momentum + consistent outbound beats motivation every time.

FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

I interviewed a recruiter who's billing £850K 
He uses CVs to gather market intelligence on companies
Then uses it in his pitch to win more clients... 




Most recruiters look at a CV and think:
“Can I place this person?”

He looks at a CV and asks something different:
“What does this tell me about the market?”

To Craig, a CV isn’t just a candidate profile.
It’s evidence.

A real-world map of how companies actually hire, not how job specs say they hire.

He doesn’t skim CVs.
He strips them line by line.

- Tech stack.
- Tools used.
- Versions.
- Environments.
- System scale.
- Team size.
- Reporting lines.
- Business context.

One CV is interesting.
Ten similar CVs is intelligence.

He groups them into patterns or “avatars”.

Think things like:
• Java engineers from tier-1 banks
• Quants moving from sell-side to buy-side
• Backend engineers jumping from scale-ups to hedge funds

Each group tells a story.

- Where companies really source talent from.
- Which backgrounds convert
- What’s considered a “safe” hire vs a risky one.

And here’s where it gets powerful.

When he speaks to clients, he doesn’t ask:
“So… what are you looking for?”

He already knows.

Instead, he says:
“Most teams like yours hire people who’ve done X, Y, and Z. Does that sound right?”

Clients feel understood.
They feel challenged (in a good way).
They feel like they're speaking to an expert. 

And that’s ONE reason why he bills what he does.

FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

I interviewed a recruiter who billed $1.8 Million
He uses a simple 3-2-1 commenting strategy to win clients on LinkedIn. Here's how it works...

I interviewed a recruiter who billed $1M in his second year of recruitment! And guess what? He worked on any role in any niche. As long as there was demand. 






Everyone tells recruiters the same thing:

“Pick a niche. Go an inch wide and a mile deep.”

One of the best billers I’ve spoken to recently didn’t do that.

He’s built multiple $1m+ years in recruitment
without locking himself into one vertical.

His rule is simple:

If there’s demand, I’ll work it.

What makes this work isn’t randomness, it’s fundamentals.

Once you’ve learned recruitment properly (especially in a hard market), you realise something:

Most roles boil down to the same question:

What problem is this hire meant to solve?

Sales, marketing, product, engineering, different languages, same mechanics.

Where people get this wrong is thinking “no niche” means “no focus”.

It doesn’t.

It means:
– following demand
– backing strong candidates
– not turning away good business because it’s “outside the lane”

Sometimes the most profitable niche…

…is demand itself.

FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

I spoke to a recruiter who billed $2.4 Million 
He places Internal talent acquisition for free 
So he can be fed specific roles in the future...





This move is GOLD

But context matters. 

Here's when to use it...

You’ve made 3–6 placements already

The company is:
- 25–150 employees
- Growing fast
- Complaining about agency spend

You hear 𝘢𝘯𝘺 version of:
“We’re thinking of hiring internal”
“We need to get costs down”

Instead of walking away and saying, "We had our run, on to the next one." 

That’s your moment to secure long-term business 

Here's what you say...

“Honestly, at your stage, continuing to rely only on agencies doesn’t make sense long term.
If I were in your shoes, I’d hire an internal recruiter.
And if you want, I’ll help you do that for free.”
 

If they ask 𝘸𝘩𝘺, you say:
 
“Because if I place the right internal recruiter,  they’ll understand how agencies actually work,  they won’t waste time fighting the market,  and when they inevitably need agency help again, I’d rather be the person they trust.”


On your first call with the internal:
 
“I’m not here to compete with you.
You own the core hiring.  I’m here for:
• niche roles
• urgent spikes
• confidential searches
When you need help, I’ll be faster and easier than starting from scratch.”
 
This creates alliance, not friction.

Try it out. 
If you get it right, it could create a fountain of business for the long term. 

<FULL PODCAST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW>

I spoke to a recruiter who's billing $500K
His business is doing $5 Million with a team of 10
Here's how he uses lead magnets to win business

Had a sales call with a recruitment business owner
He said he wants his team to start posting content
Because he knows he's leaving money on the table




Here’s what he told me…

“Sam, I’ve got a team of 7 recruiters. They’re brilliant at what they do.
They know their market inside out, they care about delivery, and clients genuinely like working with them.

If I could somehow get that across through content, I know we’d win more business… I just don’t know where to start....and I don’t want them posting rubbish or coming across cringe or salesy."

So this is what we did.

Instead of turning them into ‘LinkedIn influencers’…

We took what they already say on calls with candidates and clients
And turned that into posts.

No trends.
No dancing on camera

Just:
– What they’re seeing in the market
– What candidates are actually asking them
– What hiring managers keep getting wrong

We did this exact process with a manager of a recruitment firm over in the US
The manager had never posted before.
In the first month, he generated 1.5M impressions.
3 booked meetings with the exact type of clients they want.

That’s why we offer a free trial.

We write 2 free posts for you or one of your team.
You see the traction.
You decide if it’s worth continuing.

If you're interested, the link is in the comments below

I spoke to a recruiter who built a $1 Million desk 
He generated 20 warm leads with one LinkedIn post
Here's how he did it (So you can copy it for free)

Recruitment business owners....
If you're the sole breadwinner of the business
Here are 4 signs that things need to change






1. Pipeline drops the moment you stop hunting
Take a week off and new roles dry up.
Not because the market changed, but because 𝘺𝘰𝘶 weren’t selling.

2. Most new jobs still come from your network
Your consultants deliver well…
But the work almost always starts with 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 relationships.

3.  Hiring more people feels risky
Not exciting.
Because more heads = more pressure on 𝘺𝘰𝘶 to bring in work.

4.  You’re the sole breadwinner
Everyone knows it.
If you stop winning, growth stops.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve worked with dozens of founders in that exact position.

Here’s what changed for them...

Instead of chasing every conversation manually, they started showing up consistently 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 being online all day.

Their network stopped going quiet when they took a week off.

Past clients and candidates started reaching out first, already warmed up.

Not because they suddenly became “content creators”.
But because their experience, opinions, and market insight were finally visible when they weren’t in the room.

Behind the scenes, this is what we actually do:

We handle the heavy lifting.
We turn what you already know into content that sounds like 𝘺𝘰𝘶.
We distribute it consistently so it compounds.
The result we hear most often?

“Conversations feel easier.”
“People already know what we do.”
“My pipeline doesn’t disappear when I step back.”

If you want to see how it works, we’re running a free trial.

Link’s in the comments.

Spoke to a recruitment business owner last week. 
12 years in business. Great delivery team.
But all new work still comes from him networking.




Me: “After 12 years, you’re still the main source of new business?”

Him: “Yeah. If I’m not out there networking, it’s a quiet month. There’s no real marketing system behind it.”
 
Me: “So growth only happens if you keep pushing?”

Him: “Pretty much. You just hope someone needs you.”

Me: “What would actually take the pressure off?”

Him: “Honestly? One new client a month would be massive.”

Then he said something I hear all the time:
 
“I don’t want to post for the sake of posting.” 
“I don’t want to come across cringe.” 
“And I’m not doing TikTok dance videos.”
 
Me: “Good. You don’t need any of that. You just need content that speaks to decision-makers.”

So I made him this offer:
 
I’ll write 2 LinkedIn posts for free.  Targeted. Intentional. Built to attract the right clients, not random likes.

If they create traction, we work together.  
If they don’t, we part ways as friends.

Zero risk.  All the pressure is on me.
 
If you run a recruitment business and you’re looking to add a more predictable flow of the right client conversations alongside what already works

Check out the Link in the comments below....

This recruiter has spent $12.5K with us over 5 months.
Last night he told me he secured $100K of new business
That’s a 700% return on investment…




And that’s JUST the direct Inbound he's had

Alongside that, he’s had:

- Candidates reaching out directly (that's he's gone to place) 
- Senior sales reps engaging with his content
- Conversations that used to start cold, now starting warm

If we did another 5 months, spent another $12.5K, and he closed just one more deal like this…

He’d have $200K in revenue on $25K spent.

That’s a consistent 700% ROI over the year.

This is not unrealistic.

We see this kind of compounding effect all the time once visibility kicks in.

Nothing clever here.
Just consistent visibility With the right content To the right audience.

What makes this even more interesting is how it started….

He originally came through our free trial.
We wrote him 2 free posts.
We got some early traction, he could see the potential, and he decided to stick with it.

Five months later, the content’s doing what it usually does… compounding.

If you're a recruitment business owner and you want to experience results like the client above, Come and try us out for free. You have absolutely nothing to lose And everything to gain.

Link in the comments below 👇

Just started working with a recruitment consultant
The CEO wanted him to start building more pipeline
Here's the results we've had so far...






We’ve been posting twice a week for 3 weeks.

Post 01: 3,000
Post 02: 5,000
Post 03: 110,000
Post 04: 96,000
Post 05: 50,000
Post 06: 65,000

Before working with us, his average impressions per post were 900.

And in just 3 weeks, we’ve generated 300,000+ impressions.

I know what you might be thinking…

“Great Sam, impressions are cool.
But what about tangible ROI?”

Here’s where it gets interesting.

He places senior sales leaders and commercial talent into life sciences & pharma companies.

Since posting Dozens of decision-makers and plenty of high-quality candidates have been liking and engaging with his content.

He’s followed up with warm intro messages.

And he’s already booked 2 solid calls with new potential clients.

Is that earth-shattering?

No.

But those 2 conversations could easily turn into $50k–$150k+ in fees.

Not bad for:

6 posts
And a handful of follow-up messages

If you’re a recruitment business owner and want to test our system for free,
check out the free trial in the comments

Recruiters, if people are ghosting your messages
And no one is reaching out to you after posting content
It's probably because of your offer. let me explain..

“I don’t need more leads. I need better ones.".... That’s what a recruitment business owner told me. She's billing $500K and managing a team of 10 full desk recruiters




She’s been booking calls consistently for months.
Calendar looks full.

But then she leaned in and said:

“Sam… 90% of them are tyre kickers.”

"That’s draining," I remember thinking.

Not because she’s failing.
She’s not. (She's smashing it)

But because every bad call still costs:
– time
– energy
– momentum

And at that level, wasted conversations hurt more than no conversations.

I asked how people were finding her.

“Mostly outbound,” she said.
“They don’t really know me before the call.”

Which made sense to me.

When people book calls cold:
They’re curious, not committed.
Interested, not ready.

Typically, the call requires more explanation and convincing.

I said:
“If I could show you for free how to flip that, so people book calls already knowing who you are and why you’re relevant, would you try it?”

She didn’t hesitate.

We invited her into our 2-week free trial.

We helped her publish a couple of sharp LinkedIn posts.
Nothing fancy. Just clear positioning to the right people.
They racked up 40,000+ impressions in her niche

Within days:
→ More people knew who she was
→ Key decision makers were liking her content
→ 2 fantastic calls booked with serious potential clients

You don’t need more leads.
You need fewer, better ones.

If you’re booking calls but sick of tyre kickers

You can try it for free, just like she did.

Links in the comments below.

This recruitment business owner closes £45K deals
After one month of working with us
He’s now got 2 of those conversations lined up






 “I don’t want to be a thought leader. I just need the right people to notice me.”
That's the first thing he said to me when we spoke. 

Which makes sense.

He’s already very good at what he does.  
He just wasn’t very visible to the people who matter.

In the last month, his LinkedIn content reached just over 300,000 impressions.

That visibility is now turning into £45k conversations with the right clients.

That’s basically our job.
Take what already works and make it visible in the right rooms.

When we first spoke, I didn’t pitch him a long contract.
Or tell him to give me 10K upfront….

I said:
I’ll write 2 LinkedIn posts for you, free.

Posts built around:
* how you actually get results
* The problems your clients are facing
* Why you’re the obvious solution
 
You can post them, see how it lands, and then decide if it’s worth continuing.

If it works, we carry on. If it doesn’t, we part ways as friends.
No obligation. All the pressure is on me.

If you run a recruitment business , and you're interested in seeing the results for yourself 

Check out the link in the comments below…

I help recruitment firms grow profitably by designing & recruiting offshore teams.

Recruiters in Mexico, Sales Reps in South Africa, Sourcers in the Philippines, you name it.

We help you design the role (Function, Country, Comp Plan), and then recruit the best the country has to offer.

From there we help you set-up the tools/tech to employ them directly (instead of using an overpriced agency).

The result? A reliable employee who delivers results on-par with your onshore team at a fraction of the cost.

Before launching Well Oiled Machine, I spent a decade building my own agency from scratch. We hit $1.4M in EBITDA with 40 employees, 40% of them offshore. I went from working 60 hours/week to 35, and completely removed from daily ops. I know firsthand how transformative offshore talent can be when it’s structured right. Now, I help other firm owners & operators implement the same model I used to grow sustainably without burning out.

Wondering what that looks like? 

Here’s a success story from Josh, one of my favorite clients:

We partnered with Astra Works, a staffing agency working with Power, Infrastructure, and Renewable Energy companies. They had a high volume of searches but were not producing enough candidates to keep up with client demand. Their recruiters were spending all their time sourcing, instead of speaking with candidate.

We helped them hire Lei, a wicked-good Sourcer in the Philippines who came with nearly a decade of experience and a wry sense of humor. 

But did it work? I’d say so! 
The following Quarter they DOUBLED their Candidate Submittals and smashed their Placements goal for <$1,200/mo.

Enough about work, here's a bit about me:

After a decade of living in Los Angeles, I felt like a Pine Tree in Palm Beach: out of place. In 2022 I joined the Californian exodus to Colorado (very late to the party) and haven’t looked back.

I now live in a small mountain town (Evergreen) with my 4-legged sidekick, Willow. When I’m not whipping-up offshore solutions, I typically can’t be found. That’s because I’m as far from digital devices as I can be: climbing up a mountain, snowboarding, stomping & hollering at a music fest (hello, Telluride Bluegrass!), or writing in the woods.

If you're a recruitment agency owner ready to scale with less stress and more profit, let's connect.
Email me @ greg@welloiledmachine.co or DM on LinkedIn.

Greg Fischer

I recently met a VERY successful agency owner (annual profit ~$1.5M) with an unusual practice- in the early days when most owners are HUSTLING he made the decision to take every Tuesday off.

He made himself unavailable, and as a result two things happened:

1. The team learned how to problem-solve without him

2. It forced him to create systems that worked without him overseeing them 24/7

And that was in the early days, when every dollar counted.

We're in the early days (agency launched in July, we're swimming in new business, and scaling quickly).

My instincts are to "go, go, go."

Which is exactly why I won't be.

At least not 1-2 Fridays/month.

So if I don't happen to answer your friday email till monday, it's probably because I have a beard full of frost and a big grin on my face (and one of our phenomenally talented team members will jump in to take care of you).

PS and my hope is that my team will join me in periodically playing hooky as well!

Greg Fischer, CPP

Recruiting top 1% Global Recruiters for Agencies | Founder @ Well Oiled Machine | admittedly obsessed with the Mountains ⛰️

HUGE shout-out to Poornima Krishnan for making her first placement of the year at WOM just 12-days in to the year 🥳 

She blew this one out of the park, finding a stellar AEC Recruiter (Architect, Engineering, Construction) in ~4-weeks.

She inflicted the best form of torture one can on a client- the excruciating decision to pick between two "A-hires" 😎 

What impressed me-

1. She understood exactly WHO our client was looking for - not just a reliable AEC Recruiter who could work US hours, but the personality traits needed for the role (the position is initially sourcing-only, but will evolve in to a full-cycle recruiter role)

2. Immediately produced 4 strong candidates, two of whom were in our existing network.

3. Built a DEEP relationship with the two finalists, and beyond guiding our client on the comp plan needed to secure them, got deep insights into motivators beyond money (because we all know it's never just about the money).

On that note, if you recruit in AEC and want to hire a full-cycle recruiter <$1,500/month we should talk ;-) Shoot me a message or comment, and I'm happy to share a snippet of them riffing on recruitment

What Recruitment / Staffing-specific podcasts do you listen to?
This is a (mostly) selfish ask here. Two reasons-

1. Always looking for more podcasts to listen to

2. I've gotten loads of value speaking on podcasts (see my post from yesterday), and would like to get on a couple more.

My list includes:
Elite Recruiter - Benjamin Mena
Resilient Recruiter - Mark Whitby
Digital Recruiter - Clark Willcox
TopBillers Toolkit - Sam Miller & Ben Miller
Talent Titans - Suky Sodhi
Become a Hiring Machine - Sam Kuehnle
Staffing Signals - Dan Mori (outstanding newsletter w/ Podcast component)
The Value of Recruitment - Jon Brooks (recording next week)

Would love to hear about more!

The week we got "THE text." The one every recruiter dreads: "I need to withdraw."

Actually Poornima Krishnan recieved this message from two separate candidates this month....

Here's what happened next:

She took a deep breath, and calmly... okay no, that's BS. lets be real for a sec.

There was a minute, or two, or twenty of tumbling in to a pit of despair.

We all go there when we're inches from the Win-Win-Win that comes from making a hire (Client-Candidate-Us all on cloud 9).

But she pulled herself together.

Didn't allow herself to get mad.

She was able to understand that the candidate had a perfectly good reason.

Unexpected offer that blew our clients' out of the water.

So she called the candidate- not to "sell" them on our client's role, but simply to understand:
1. What made the other offer so attractive
2. What could our client do to change their mind

Those what's turned-out to be hefty- 50% more pay, and a degree of schedule flexibility.

Poornima took it to the client.
Explaining the candidate's situation in a way that my client didn't take personally...

and our client- decided that this was THE hire.

So we got the final interview back on the books.
And I have to give our client CREDIT- same-day offer (matching the other), and sold the heck out of the opportunity. Not a pitch, but simply sincere interest in investment she'd make in our candidate's growth & success.

And just like that, our Candidate accepted.

For those wondering... the other one that initially fell through did as well.

This is what a great recruiter does-
1. They develop deep relationships with their candidates that allow for honest, difficult conversations.

2. They may be afraid of those scary conversations, where someone might get upset or offended or flat-out reject them, but they have them anyways.

3. They don't give-up. If there's a chance to make a perfect match, they pursue it till their very last breath.

Poornima's only been with us since October, and continues to impress me more and more every week.

PS and to those who don't think recruiters outside of the US have what it takes, Poornima is living proof that it doesn't matter where you live, but who you are and what you're capable of

Looks like there should be loads of value in this one. I'm signing up ASAP 

Oh wait... I'm running one of these 🙄

Will definitely be joining some other sessions!

Need to hire? We can help! - Headhunter - Managing Partner

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘂𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲?

Recruiting never slows down. If you want to build a bigger book and stronger relationships, you need fresh tactics and the right network.

That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that Greg Fischer, CPP will be sharing his expertise at our Sales & BD Summit this month. This summit will show you:

How to fill your pipeline with high‑quality leads and bill more
Proven outreach and negotiation strategies that convert
Ways to use AI tools and automation to save time without losing the human touch
The mindset shifts needed to create repeat business and referrals

The summit is packed with actionable playbooks from 30+ industry leaders who will help you hit the ground running in Q1. Live sessions are FREE, with options to upgrade for replays and deeper learning.

Building strong professional networks and relationships is one of the most effective ways to find new opportunities and accelerate your career.

Don’t miss the chance to learn from the best and connect with other driven recruiters.

Join us and set yourself up for success in 2026!
Link in the comments!

Whoah that was unexpected... and COOL. Vikas .. compiled this roadmap of WOMs core principals.
Would love to hear what resonnates.

Also, if you're looking to hire an experienced offshore recruiter who knows the US market inside and out... and is also clearly very tech savvy, I highly recommend reaching-out to him.

Hate to admit this; the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with launching a new agency led to a lot of stress eating. That coupled with holiday indulgence has led me feeling out-of-touch with my gut.

I'm having a tough time listening to my stomach when it tells me it's time to stop eating.

Instead just eating for the feeling and enjoyment.

Nothing wrong with the latter on Occassion, enjoying food is a GOOD thing, it just can't be the only factor that determines when I'm done eating.

So I'm returning to one of my old practices- fasting

Beginning this week I'll do a 1x/wk 24-hour Fast (still will have plenty of water, tea, black coffee, etc.).

Fasting reminds my mind what hunger is, and you form a rather close connection and understanding of it.

It also tells you that it's OK to be a little hungry, and that you won't die from it (I'll also find myself proactively eating because I'm afraid I'll get hungry and just "want to feel good").

Curious who else has used fasting similarly.

Also interested in hearing about experience with fasting from those who do it for other reasons i.e. religious.

The feedback, ideas, and insights I get for Well Oiled Machine from my Business Peer Group, aptly called "LFG" is the SECOND biggest benefit. The first?

It's the:

Relationship advice shared while mountain-biking

Letting loose while wrestling on a frozen lake

Sharing anxieties about AI replacing us while making homemade tortillas from scratch (the extra effort IS worth it Elle Simmons, MPH & Poornima Krishnan 🤣 )

Breaking down about relationships with our parents by the fire

And lastly (as pictured) taking a break from the burden of running a business- pigging-out on ice cream and homemade cookies while playing Catan...

Eternally grateful for the LFG crew (yes, it stands for what you think it does 😉 ) Carl Nickel, Jason Ayachi, & Eli Rubel.

We ask our candidates to PROVE they can do the work. Here's an example of a "Test" our client used to hire a STELLAR Executive Assistant.

The first two interviews already told us they could do the "easy stuff" i.e. write well, were detail-oriented, etc.

We wanted to test for their ability to "Figure it out" when given a complex project and minimal direction.

So here's the Assessment we designed for our client:

Step 1: she sent a Loom video with the following "homework"

"Every quarter I build a list of 50 target companies. A+ potential clients who have regular hiring needs and are more likely than others to use our service. 

PART 1: Walk me through your process for how you'd:
A. Find the companies (they recruit a HYPER-niche market)
B. Determine which are "worthy" of being on the list
C. Decide who the top 3 decisionmakers are that I should target
D. Find their contact information

Include any tech/tools you'd use.

PART 2: Build me a spreadsheet I could use to evaluate them. Include the fields for Companies & Contacts that'd be relevant without adding too much information.

Before starting the project, you can send me a Loom with up to 3 questions (maximum 60-seconds)

Step 2: in a live interview review the results and dig-in to.

What had you stumped?
Why didn't you ask me about this?
Share feedback and see how they respond (a MUST to offer some in the final interview)

The goal isn't to see if they produce perfect results (they won't), it's to get inside their head. See how they think, solve problems, work with limited direction, ask questions, and recieve feedback.

Recruiters always blame clients for failed hires, never themselves. Last year we failed to fill a search and it was completely on us.

Here's what we missed:

To set the stage: our client was a small agency and came to us looking to hire a Sourcerer. we recommended keeping the costs down given their size and making the higher in Southeast Asia, targeting a $1,000 a month base salary and $500-$800 a month in commission.

Mistake 1: who we were targetting
Our client needed a Sourcer accustomed to running sophisticated search processes for highly-niched roles. We were targetting high-volume recruiters in related niches, but their search processes were too simplistic. We should've been going after premium Executive Search firms i.e. Hiedrick Struggles Mexico City Office.

This would've meant an uncomfortable conversation with our client increasing the salary to $2,000-$2,500/month from ~$1,000/month.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the warning signs

Our client interviewed 4 candidates, and found one they liked, but nobody they loved.

This should've been a bigger red flag for us, we thought we needed to double down and just find a recruiter with stronger niche specific experience. Really what we needed was a recalibration. 

So what happened?

As the next 2 to 3 weeks passed, our client interviewed several more "OK" candidates, and ended up reconnecting with a colleague she knew in the United States. 

The cost was quite a bit higher, but the client was confident this Sourcer could "hit the ground running," whereas our candidates would take an immense amount of energy. 

We eventually made the pivot, and produced a higher-level candidate who impressed our client (based-in Nigeria), but at this point, it was too late. 

Here's the unfortunate reality: I am CONFIDENT we could've made the hire, and even at the increased budget it would've been 1/3 the cost of the US Sourcer. 

Costly mistakes, but mistakes we won't make again.

Have you ever done a "post mortem"? If so, what did you learn?

I spoke with 92 agency owners in 2025 and profit margins are looking bleak. The new norm for a $10M in Direct Hire Agency is 15% Net Profit.

I connected with multiple agencies in this range.

Initially that sounds crazy, but it makes sense if you're running the 360 model where 50% of revenue goes to the Recruiter, another ~15% to tech (LinkedIn's getting damn expensive), and another ~20% to admin costs and internal layers of management.

Don't get me wrong, $1.5M profit ain't shabby if it's a solo owner, but it starts to look less sparkly if there are multiple partners, and even less so when considering how much effort it takes to build a $10M agency.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Take my last agency as an example:

Placement Fees: $4.2M
Net Operating Income: $1.4M (before paying myself and the other owner)

That's 33% for those who left their calculators at home.

The difference?

18/38 of our team members were based-outside of the US where labor overhead is 50-80% less. It's not just the salaries, in the US we have to pay a 25-30% "employer burden" in taxes, medical coverage, & payroll expenses, whereas outside of the US this is ~5%.

Hiring outside of the US is NOT an "Easy Button." Anything but that, it took us years of failed hires to get it right, but it was magic once we did. 

Not just for the owners, but for the team that also got to reap the rewards.

Have you asked your international team members about their favorite traditions? I recently found-out Poornima Krishnan's and decided to experience it for myself this morning.

Poornima grew-up in India (Tamil) and told me about Pongal; a regional festival that began today.

We only scratched the surface, but I learned that it's a celebration of the natural world that supports our life- crops, livestock, and most importantly the Sun.

I'm not Indian, and I'm not going to pretend that I fully grasp all aspects of the holiday.

But what what I took a way resonated-
Taking time to appreciate the natural world, and the things we take for granted- in my case simply that the sun rises every morning, is a powerful practice.

So I took the dogs out on a walk to our favorite rock to watch the sun rise and took a moment to be grateful for those rays of light that give us all life.

"We take our work seriously, but never ourselves." Thinking of making this our company motto.

Whenever possible I use silly names for internal files.

I tell myself that it's reminder to just relax and not be too uptight, but if I'm being honest I'm still shaking the years of being a corporate robot.

Wondering if I'm alone in these minuscule acts of "rebellion" against corporate blehhhh.

"How do you balance priorities?" The question makes me squirm. It's one of the hardest parts of running an agency. Here are the rules I implemented for myself:

In classic "Greg Fashion" here's some important context-

We run a 180 model, and currently have 1 Recruiter who I manage, while also owning Account Management & Sales.

Okay now lets jump in to the nitty gritty:

First, My "Rules"

Rule 1: No meetings before 9am (except Mondays)

Why? I'm a happier, healthier human when I can wake-up on my terms (no alarm), and slowly soak in the morning before plunging in to the madness.

Rule 2: Minimum of 1-hour of break per 3-hours of meetings

Why? As a big introvert I get drained without time to decompress, process, and slow down.

Rule 3: No meetings Fridays (other than by choice)

It's marked as unavailable and will remain this way. Fridays are my unstructured thinking time. Sometimes I do complex project work- the big thinking that requires time and space, sometimes I hike and reflect, and when I need a break from it all I snowboard. Yeeeeew!!

Other Structure: these are recurring timeblocks

Business Development Outreach: Tuesday, 9am-1pm

Write Content (LI + Newsletter): Every other Tuesday, 3pm-5pm

Business Review & Planning: Final Weekday of month, 10am-1pm

Headspace (Project / Thinking time): Wednesday 12-5pm

How do you manage yours? Selfishly, I'm curious to hear what others do!

PS Let me know if you'd like a separate post on what my calendar looked like with a team of 38.

If you run an Agency you have a problem that you think it's unique to you (it isn't): "I either don't have Searches or not enough Recruiters." Here's what (almost) everyone misses:

THIS IS THE NATURE OF THE BUSINESS

Literally every one of your colleagues and competitors has the same problem.

It will never truly be "Solved"

You'll always either be understaffed or overstaffed because client volume ebbs and flows.

The closest thing to a "solution" I've seen is:

1. Figure out a lead generation system that works (If this is your challenge, DM me and I'm happy to recommend coaches / programs for this)

2. Be VERY good at closing those leads (first you, then your team)

3. Master delivery: and no, the answer isn't "I'm going to hire experienced recruiters." That doesn't scale. You need to have a set of processes and standards for those processes that's repeattable.

4. Determine WHO can run that system: namely the core personality attributes

5. Become exceptionally good at:
A. Training
B. Management (yes these are separate skillsets)

Your growth trajectory (and profits) won't be linear. And there will be times where your overstaffed and eating in to your margins.

However, this is the path that literally 100% of the agency owners I met last year have reliably grown.

Will I hit my goal this year?

I regularly lose sleep over this question. Recruitment & Staffing are such long games. 

The bread you eat in March was baking in January (or perhaps even December).

So how do you know whether you're on track?

And if your goal is realistic?

And what you'll need to do to get there?

It starts with sales planning.

Here's the exercise we do quarterly to plan and course correct:

Step 1: how much do you expect in repeat business from existing/former clients, and how much will you need from new clients? The below will help you solve for the latter.

Step 2: what's your expected 12-month revenue for a new client? Here at Well Oiled Machine it's $20,000 (we work on a volume model). From there you'll know how many new clients you need to hit your goal. Keep in-mind that a client signed in June is only worth half the 2026 revenue as a client signed in January.

Step 3: what's your closing % on sales calls? For us, it was ~27% in Q4. This will tell you how many sales calls you need.

Step 4: where will these calls come from by Source? we track our sales leads by source meticulously. In 2025 roughly 30% came from LinkedIn Inbound, 25% from referrals (from other businesses i.e. our friends over at Digital Recruiter), and 15% from Podcasts. If you don't already do so, there's no better time than now to start!

Want to see what these calculations look like for Well Oiled Machine and have a handy dandy spreadsheet to use for your calculations? 

Check the comments section for the link to the template (and our actual forecasts here at WOM)

PS want more juicy value-filled posts like this? Well if you are a weekly newsletter subscriber you already read it last week. Use the link next to my name in the profile. It's where I nerd-out on what I see working for the 100+ agencies I speak with/year.

Has anyone ever created an "ask my boss" LLM for recruiters to use to ask their boss questions they'd prefer not to ask in a live conversation?

Thinking of feeding all coaching conversations i've done along with loads of data in to a claude project that my team could use as a resource.

Could see it being helpful for quick hits i.e. "what would Greg think of this outreach content I wrote?"

or

"How would he feel about this client write-up?"

or

"Here's a transcript of a call I did with a candidate- what would he say I did well and what could improve?"

I'm not looking to replace myself, but want to make my knowledge and experience more accessible to my team.

Yes, there are a million ways this can be misused, but I also see value-adds if done right.

Curious if anyone's given this a shot. Benjamin Mena & Mark Whitby you know loads of successful agency owners- have either of you encountered one who's implemented something along these lines?

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The Battle

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Greg Fischer

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sam Miller's LinkedIn Performance

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