How to hold your recruitment fee and trade for exclusivity

Why the fee gets cut on the call

Many fee reductions are not decided. They happen. A hiring manager says another agency quoted less, the consultant wants the job on the board, and a few points come off the fee before anyone has thought about it.

The client did nothing wrong. Asking is free. The problem is on your side of the table: the consultant had no limit written down and nothing to ask for in return. So the only way to keep the call friendly was to give.

The fix is preparation, done before the call and written on the job record. It uses four of the eight moves in The Salecopy Method: Anchor, Concessions, Options and Yes.

Anchor: price the empty seat before you defend the fee

If the only numbers in the conversation are your percentage and a competitor's percentage, you are being compared on price alone. Put a different number on the table first: what the vacancy costs the client each month it stays open.

Ask the hiring manager, and use only their figures. Contractor cover, overtime, a project that cannot start, a manager doing two jobs. You are not looking for a precise figure. You are looking for one the client agrees with.

Here is an example with made-up numbers. Say the salary is $100,000 and your fee is 20 percent, so $20,000. The client wants 15 percent, which is $15,000. The gap is $5,000. If the manager has told you the empty seat costs about $6,000 a month, the whole argument is about less than one month of vacancy. Say that, calmly, and ask if it is roughly right.

Concessions: write the give and get list for terms of business

Before any terms call, write two columns. On the left, what you can give. On the right, what you want back for each. If the client asks for something, you answer with a line from the list. There is more on this in never concede, trade.

For a recruitment agency, the list usually looks something like this:

• A lower fee, in return for exclusivity: you are the only agency on the role for an agreed period.
• A lower fee, in return for a retained first payment or several roles committed together.
• A longer rebate period (the window in which you refund part of the fee if the hire leaves), in return for faster payment.
• A place on the client's PSL (preferred supplier list) at their rate, in return for direct access to hiring managers and agreed feedback times.
• A fixed fee, in return for interview slots held in the calendar now.

Options: decide the walk-away before the call

A trade only works if you know where you stop. Before the fee is discussed, write down the lowest fee, the longest rebate period and the slowest payment terms you will accept, and who in your business can approve an exception.

Then write what you will do instead of going below it. Usually that is a second, smaller version: the same role on a non-exclusive basis at your standard fee, worked alongside your other jobs. It can also be a polite no.

This matters most when a client has given the role to several agencies. On contingent terms (you are paid only if your candidate is hired), a low fee on a role five agencies are working is a small chance of a small invoice. Knowing that in advance makes it much easier to offer two versions instead of matching the number.

What to say when the client pushes

Your consultants need lines they can say without thinking. Write them down, practice them out loud, and keep them next to the give and get list.

• When another agency is cheaper: "I can move on the fee if we work this exclusively for four weeks. Which matters more to you, the fee or keeping other agencies on it?"
• When HR sends standard terms: "I can work to those terms on a non-exclusive basis. For a dedicated search, here is the version I can do."
• When they want a longer rebate period: "I can extend it if the invoice is paid within 14 days of the start date."
• When the number is below your limit: "At that fee I cannot run a dedicated search. Here are two versions I can do."

Yes: get the terms signed, with a date

A hiring manager agreeing on a call is not agreement. HR, finance or procurement may still change the terms, so ask who else has to sign and what they will want to see. The post on listing everyone who can say no covers this.

End the call with a named person, an action and a day: who signs the terms and when. Do not send candidates on a verbal fee. If the client will not put a date on the signature, the job is not yet live, and your forecast should say so.

Have your lawyer review any change to your standard terms before it goes out. The consultant's job is to agree the trade. The wording is a separate job.

Where AI helps and where it does not

AI is useful before and after the call. It can play the client so a consultant can practice the fee objection, and it can check a planned concession against your list and your limits. A person makes the offer, speaks to the client and sends the terms.

If you want the full program for your team, including the pipeline stages and a scored role-play, see sales negotiation training for recruitment and staffing teams.

What to add to your CRM

A prompt to try

I run a recruitment agency and I am preparing for a terms of business call with a client. Help me prepare. Do not contact anyone and do not write messages for me to send without my review.

The job: [job title] at [type of company], salary around [salary].
My standard terms: [fee], rebate period [length], payment in [days] days.
What the client has asked for: [their fee, rebate period, payment terms, or PSL terms].
What the client told me the vacancy costs them: [their figure, or "not asked yet"].
Other agencies on the role: [number, or "not known"].
My walk-away: [lowest fee and terms I will accept, or "not decided"].

First, list anything above that is missing or marked not known, and give me one question to ask the client for each.

Then build a give and get table with three columns: what I could give, what it costs me in money using only the figures above, and what I should ask for in return. Show your arithmetic.

Then write three short lines I could say on the call when the client asks for a lower fee. Each line must offer a trade, not a discount.

Do not invent facts about the client or the market. If you need a number I have not given you, ask me for it.