The Power of the Post-Placement Process review: Turning One Win into Many

Use post-placement follow-up to build trust, referrals, and future roles.

Did you know that most recruiters lose over 40% of potential revenue simply by not following up after a placement?

The post-placement process isn’t admin, it’s business development in disguise.

We all know that follow-up is key in BD, but how often do you think about following up after a placement?

Most recruiters don’t.

You put all your effort into new business development (finding prospects, making cold calls, chasing leads) because that’s what your agency wants you to focus on.

But take a look at the top performers in your agency. How much of their billing comes from brand new clients?

Probably not much.

Most of their revenue comes from a handful of key clients, relationships they’ve built, deepened, and expanded over time.

So why do most recruiters still spend their BD time chasing strangers who don’t know who they are, what they do, or why they should care?

They grind through lists, trying to get someone on the phone for more than two minutes, burning time and energy chasing “new” while ignoring what’s right in front of them.

It’s stressful, inconsistent, and exhausting.

The truth is, new business isn’t the only kind of BD you should be doing. One of the most powerful, and overlooked, forms of business development is account expansion.

A divisional director I used to work with called it “making your clients more sticky.”I love that phrase.

The aim of BD with existing clients is to bring them closer, to make it hard for them to use anyone else. You want to be the person they automatically call when they need to hire. You want to be stuck at the hip when it comes to their recruitment.

But that kind of BD takes a different approach.

Why Most Recruiters Get This Wrong

I’ve seen plenty of recruiters try to grow existing accounts, but they usually take the wrong approach.

They use the same tactics they’d use for new business.

The thing is, these aren’t prospects. They’re clients.

They’ve already bought into you and your service. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have used you in the first place. They don’t need another pitch.

What they need is partnership.

And the best way to build that is through something so simple that most recruiters overlook it entirely:

the Post-Placement Follow-Up Meeting.

The Post-Placement Follow-Up

When I started doing proper follow-ups with my clients, everything changed.

It made a huge impact not just on my billings, but on the relationships I built.Before I did them, I was like most recruiters, placing one or two people per client and moving on to the next.

Once I started following up properly, everything clicked.

Clients started trusting me more. They came back with new roles. Some even called with lists of people they wanted me to fill.

My job became easier, less stressful, and I finally started to get some consistency.

So What Is a Post-Placement Follow-Up?

It’s simple. It’s a meeting that happens after your candidate starts, to review how everything went.

I like to schedule it around two weeks after the start date. That gives your candidate time to settle in and your client time to see how they’re fitting.

Yes, you should have check-in calls during those first two weeks to make sure nothing’s gone wrong, but the follow-up meeting goes beyond that.

It’s not about “how are they doing?” it’s about reviewing the whole process.

Here’s what you should cover:

• How the client found the overall process

• How clear and accurate the vacancy briefing was

• The quality and relevance of the shortlist

• Communication, speed, and ease of working with you

• Any gaps, frustrations, or areas to improve

Encourage honesty. Make it clear that you want genuine feedback, it shows professionalism and helps you improve your service.

Once you’ve gathered their feedback, use it as a springboard to discuss how you can make things even smoother next time.

Then flip the conversation. Share what you learned from the process, how you found working with them, where the process slowed down, or how you could collaborate more effectively.

This naturally opens up discussions about their upcoming hiring plans. Ask:

• What’s next for the team now that this person’s joined?

• Are there other areas you’ll need to strengthen soon?

• What challenges are you seeing in the next quarter?

These are the kinds of conversations most recruiters never have. But when you do, you position yourself as a partner, not a supplier.

You’re showing real interest, adding value, and building trust.

And when the next role comes up, whether it’s next week or next quarter, you’ll be the first person they think of.

The Bottom Line

Most recruiters finish a placement and move straight on to the next brief. The best recruiters use that moment to build a partnership.

A 20-minute post-placement meeting can do more for your future billings than a hundred cold calls. It strengthens relationships, builds loyalty, and turns one placement into many.

Don’t let your last placement be the end of the conversation, let it be the start of the next one.

If you found this helpful, this is just one of the topics we cover in The Recruiter Academy, where we dive deep into practical strategies to help you grow accounts, win clients, and build a consistent desk.

If you’re ready to stop chasing and start building, it’s time to join the Academy.