What's inside - Six modules

• Define your universe - Build your niche right
• The performance framework - The numbers behind every successful desk
• Contractor engagement - build better relationships and get more leads
• The BD routes to market - onboard more clients
• Job qualification - Make placements whilst picking up jobs
• Turn one runner into two - Scale your book fast

The problem

Most desks are running on instinct, not a system. That shows up in ways that are easy to miss until they've already cost you:

• Niche wrong at the start, and you're growing against the grain for the rest of your career in that market not slowed down, actually working uphill.
• A contractor call ends with “I'll be in touch” instead of a controlled forward action. The relationship never blossoms because nobody stayed in charge of it.
• 85% of clients only buy after 6+ points of contact, but 75% of recruiters give up before attempt 4  most of the BD opportunity in this industry is sitting in that gap, uncollected.
• Chasing every “maybe” job because saying no feels like leaving money on the table, when a five-question filter would have told you inside the qualification call.

The runner machine - 6 module breakdown

Module 1 — Define Your Universe (Niche)

Get your niche wrong at the start and you don't just slow yourself down, you let the horse bolt. Your niche is defined by three parameters: job titles (max three), a single client geography, and the organisational sweet spot where you actually trade best.

You'll build a Candidate ICP and Client ICP, then score your universe against a Niche Readiness Score covering TAM size, average day rate, and weekly GP potential, so you know whether you're building a desk worth three years of your career, or whether to go back to the drawing board.

Module 2 — The Performance Framework

The number logic behind every desk that consistently hits target, made visible, so you can build it on purpose instead of discovering it by accident.

Four layers, in strict order: Non-Negotiables → Inputs → KPIs → Target. Most desks that miss target aren't failing at the target: they're failing two or three layers below it, and nobody's looking there.

The weekly KPI benchmark: 1-5-3. One new A-grade job. Five CVs sold into it. Three first interviews.

Module 3 — Engaging the Contractor

Every contractor call has a job to do beyond the conversation itself. Four non-negotiables on every single call: confirm they're an ICP, get their end date, mine market intelligence (current manager, previous manager, referrals, interview leads), and control the forward action: never let a contractor's vague “I'll be in touch” close the call.

You'll get the exact four-part intro script, the fixed call structure, and the specific questions to ask depending on whether a contractor's renewing or finishing, including how to go in for a reference without it feeling like an ask.

Module 4 — BD Routes to Market

BD isn't a talent, it's a skill set. This module breaks it into four learnable approaches: the BD Intro call, the Lead Chase call, the Reference call, and the Reverse Headhunt.

85% of clients buy from a supplier only after 6+ points of contact, yet only 25% of recruiters ever push past 3 attempts before giving up. That gap is where most of the opportunity in BD actually sits.

You'll get the four-part call intro, the “six deadly sins” of sales questions to avoid, three question types that actually move a client toward a pitch, and the exact pitch structures including the two-time close (“he could do 10am tomorrow or 1pm Friday — which works best for you?”).

Module 5 — World-Class Job Qualification

The ADIEU framework — five questions that tell you inside the first call whether a job's actually winnable:

• Autonomy — can it just be you and I on this? Do I have exclusivity?
• Demand — how many do you need in the next six months, not just this one?
• Importance — why does this role actually matter?
• Existence — does the contractor you need actually exist, at that rate, in that location?
• Urgency — what happens if you don't get someone started by X date?

Adieu — French for goodbye. Get all five, and you can say goodbye to working B-grade jobs.

Module 6 — Turn Every Runner Into Two

Most desks treat a placement as a finish line. The best desks treat it as the start of a second one:

• Download the contractor — get previous line manager, previous interview, and referral info while goodwill's highest
• The weekly service call — an SLA, not a favour: head off site problems, find out what's really happening
• Face to face every 13 weeks — with your contractor and the whole team, including other agencies' contractors, include as many stakeholders as you can as well.
• The bi-weekly client call — Uncover any problems and loads of market intelligence.
• The exit interview — every time someone leaves, find out what's next

What agency leader's say about working with Trevor