Outsourced business development

Your outsourced business development team.

The end-to-end BD function — prospecting, outreach, qualification, booking — run by an external team that gets paid to perform. Consultants focus on placements. You focus on closing. We focus on filling your diary.

Book your free strategy call No commitment. 20 minutes. We'll show you exactly how it works.
The BD problem

Why most recruitment agencies are stuck on BD.

Almost every recruitment agency below £3m revenue has the same problem. It is not a strategy issue. It is a capacity issue.

The founder is the BD function

In 9 out of 10 recruitment agencies the only person consistently doing BD is the founder. The moment delivery gets busy, BD stops — and 60 days later the pipeline runs dry.

Consultants resist cold outreach

Recruiters are trained on candidates, not on outbound to hiring managers. Asking them to write cold emails after a full day of placements is a recipe for low quality and high turnover.

Internal BD hires are expensive and slow

A junior BDR costs £45k+ all-in, takes 6 months to ramp, and 35% don't make it past month four. The ROI window is brutal.

Referrals are unpredictable

Referrals are excellent — when they come. They are not a system. You cannot plan a hiring forecast around them.

The Sapphire Revenue model

A full BD function. Without the overhead.

One flat monthly fee covers every step from naming the ideal client to dropping the meeting on your calendar.

Strategy

Kickoff workshop to define ICP, messaging, qualification gate, and KPIs. We re-run this monthly to refine targeting.

Sourcing

200–400 matched prospects sourced every month using Apollo, Clay and LinkedIn Sales Navigator (your Sales Navigator licence, operated by us — ~£80–100/month paid direct to LinkedIn).

Outreach

Multi-channel — cold email, LinkedIn — sent under your brand. Sending domains are registered in your name (~£10–15/domain/year, paid by you) and fully configured and operated by us.

Engagement

Reply management within working hours, conversation handling, objection handling, and qualification calls where needed.

Booking

Calendar-direct booking on your Calendly, with pre-meeting briefing notes attached 30 minutes before the call.

Reporting

Friday weekly report covering volume, reply rate, meetings booked, pipeline value, and what we are testing next.

Division of labour

What you keep. What we handle.

The clearer the line, the better the partnership. Here is exactly what stays internal and what moves to Sapphire Revenue on day one.

You keep
  • Closing client meetings (we book them, you sign them)
  • Brand voice and positioning decisions
  • Pricing and contract negotiation
  • Candidate sourcing and placement delivery
  • Final say on which industries and roles to target
We handle
  • ICP definition and ideal client research
  • Target company list building and enrichment
  • Cold email sequence writing and split-testing
  • LinkedIn prospecting and DM sequences
  • Inbox and DM reply management
  • Prospect qualification before booking
  • Calendar booking and briefing notes
  • Weekly performance reporting
ROI calculator

The maths usually pays for itself in week three.

Drag the sliders to match your average placement fee, target meeting volume, and conversion rate. The estimated monthly ROI updates live.

£12,000
10
15%
Estimated monthly revenue
£18,000
Estimated ROI multiple
12x
Estimated payback time
3 days

Based on £1,500/mo retainer. Illustrative — actual results depend on niche, fee model and qualification rate.

For agencies running this model alongside an internal team, see also appointment setting for recruitment agencies or how to grow a recruitment agency in 2026.

Ready to fill your pipeline?

Book a free 20-minute strategy call. We'll walk you through exactly how Sapphire Revenue works and whether it's the right fit for your agency.

Book your free strategy call No commitment. Takes 20 minutes.