Lead Generation for Staffing & Recruiting Agencies
Staffing agencies operate in one of the most commoditized B2B markets: HR directors receive pitches from 10+ agencies per week, every agency says “we fill roles fast,” and the only visible differentiators are price and speed — which race to the bottom. Outbound for staffing requires a contrarian approach that breaks the pattern. Bundoran Group achieved a 36% reply rate in dental staffing by challenging the standard agency pitch instead of echoing it, generating $33K in revenue at an 817% ROI from a single niche.Why Staffing Outbound Is Different
Staffing is the rare B2B market where every buyer has already used the product category — they’ve all worked with agencies before. That familiarity creates unique outbound challenges: Buyers are desensitized to staffing pitches. HR directors and talent acquisition leaders receive more cold outreach per week than almost any other title in B2B. Standard “we help companies find top talent” messaging is invisible — it sounds identical to the last 10 emails they deleted. Bundoran Group’s 36% reply rate came from messaging that directly challenged the assumptions staffing agencies typically make. Specialization is the only defensible differentiator. Generalist staffing agencies compete on price. Specialist agencies compete on expertise. Outbound messaging must communicate deep vertical knowledge in the first sentence — dental staffing, accounting temps, warehouse logistics, executive search — because generalist positioning triggers the “I already have three agencies” response. Timing drives everything. Companies hire in waves driven by growth, seasonal demand, and turnover cycles. A staffing agency reaching a company that posted 15 new job openings this month is reaching a buyer with active urgency. The same message to a company with stable headcount produces nothing. Timing-based signals are the difference between 1% and 10%+ reply rates in staffing.The commodity trap in staffing outbound: Every staffing agency says the same things — “we fill roles fast,” “our candidates are pre-screened,” “we reduce time-to-hire.” When every competitor makes the same claims, none of the claims create differentiation. The contrarian take framework breaks this pattern by challenging the conventional wisdom directly, creating curiosity where sameness creates deletion.
How We Target Staffing Buyers
| Targeting Criteria | Details |
|---|---|
| Primary Titles | HR directors, talent acquisition leaders, VP People, COOs |
| Company Size | 100-1,000 employees — large enough for recurring hiring needs, small enough that vendor decisions are accessible |
| Signal Filters | 5+ job openings posted simultaneously, new HR director hire (changing vendors), rapid headcount growth, office expansion |
| Specialization Match | Prospects matched to the staffing agency’s vertical or role-type specialty |
| Infrastructure | Standard Azure setup with high-volume capacity for competitive market |
| Exclusions | Companies under 50 employees (insufficient volume), companies with exclusive agency contracts |
Our Staffing Outbound Approach
Vertical Specialization Positioning
Before campaign launch, messaging is built around the agency’s specific vertical or role-type expertise. A dental staffing agency doesn’t message as a “staffing agency” — it messages as a dental industry hiring specialist who understands licensure requirements, compliance, and the specific challenge of finding qualified dental hygienists in competitive markets. This specificity is what separated Bundoran Group from the 10 other agencies in every prospect’s inbox.
Timing-Signal Targeting
Lists are built from active hiring signals, not static HR department databases. Companies posting 5+ roles simultaneously are in hiring mode. Companies that just hired a new HR director are evaluating vendors. Companies expanding to new offices need local talent pipelines. These signals produce 5-8x the engagement of demographic-only lists because they catch buyers with active urgency.
Contrarian Take Messaging
The framework opens by challenging a widely-held staffing assumption — then offers a specific alternative backed by data. Instead of “we help companies hire faster,” the message might challenge the assumption that speed is what matters: “Most dental practices lose candidates not because their agency is slow, but because the onboarding process takes 3x longer than the candidate expects. Here’s how 12 practices in [region] solved that.” This creates engagement because it offers insight, not a pitch.
High-Volume Multi-Channel Execution
Staffing markets are competitive enough that email alone often isn’t sufficient. LinkedIn reinforcement builds awareness with HR leaders before emails arrive. AI calling converts email-engaged prospects who haven’t replied — particularly effective in staffing because HR leaders are phone-oriented buyers who make decisions in conversations, not email threads.
Recommended Copy Frameworks
Contrarian Take is the primary framework for staffing outbound. The structure: challenge a common assumption in line one, present data or an observation that reframes the problem in lines two and three, then offer a specific alternative in the call to action. This works in staffing because every buyer is drowning in same-sounding pitches — the contrarian opener creates pattern interruption. Quick Question works as a secondary framework for time-sensitive targeting. When the signal is fresh — a company just posted 10 roles or just lost their HR director — a short, direct question about the specific situation produces fast engagement: “Saw you’re hiring 12 dental hygienists across 3 locations — are you staffing that internally or evaluating agency support?” For detailed templates, see the copywriting frameworks playbook.Staffing Campaign Results
Bundoran Group — Dental Staffing
$33K revenue from 11 meetings. 36% reply rate. 817% ROI. Contrarian take messaging in a niche vertical (dental staffing) where generic pitches fail completely.
3rd Degree Screening — Background Checks
24% response rate targeting HR leaders at companies with 10+ active job postings — timing-signal targeting at scale.
What Makes Staffing Outbound Fail
Commodity messaging. “We help companies find top talent quickly” is invisible in an inbox full of identical pitches. Every staffing agency says this. The agencies that generate meetings from outbound say something different — something that challenges what the buyer assumes, offers a specific insight, or demonstrates niche expertise the buyer can’t get from their current vendor. Targeting every company with an HR department. Not every company is a staffing buyer. Targeting the entire HR director universe wastes 90% of outreach on companies with stable headcount, internal recruiting teams, or existing agency contracts. Timing-signal targeting identifies the 10% with active hiring urgency — and those are the only prospects worth reaching. Ignoring the phone channel. HR leaders are among the most phone-oriented B2B buyers. They make vendor decisions through conversations, not email threads. Email-only staffing campaigns leave significant pipeline on the table. Adding AI calling to email-engaged prospects who haven’t replied can double meeting volume in staffing.Book a Staffing Outbound Strategy Call
Get a custom plan for your staffing agency — specialization positioning, timing-signal targeting, and projected meeting volume based on your niche and geographic reach.
Browse All Case Studies
See full metrics from 44 campaigns across 13 industries including staffing and recruiting engagements.
How does outbound work in a market where buyers already have staffing agencies?
How does outbound work in a market where buyers already have staffing agencies?
Nearly every company with 100+ employees already uses at least one staffing agency — which means the goal isn’t introducing the concept, it’s displacing or supplementing the incumbent. Timing-signal targeting identifies the moments when buyers are open to evaluating new vendors: new HR leadership (vendor review), rapid hiring surges (current agency overwhelmed), or geographic expansion (current agency doesn’t cover new locations). These triggers create openings that generic outreach doesn’t.
What staffing niches work best with outbound?
What staffing niches work best with outbound?
The more specialized the niche, the stronger outbound performs. Bundoran Group’s dental staffing niche produced a 36% reply rate because the messaging demonstrated expertise that generalist agencies can’t match. Healthcare staffing, skilled trades, accounting/finance temps, and executive search all perform well because the specialization itself is the value proposition — and outbound can communicate that specificity at scale.
How many meetings can a staffing agency expect per month?
How many meetings can a staffing agency expect per month?
Staffing campaigns typically produce 8-15 qualified meetings per month once ramped. The volume depends on geographic scope, niche specificity, and timing-signal density. In high-turnover sectors (hospitality, healthcare, warehouse/logistics), timing signals are more frequent and meeting volumes trend higher. In lower-turnover sectors (executive search, specialized engineering), meetings are fewer but deal values are substantially larger.
Is outbound effective for small staffing agencies under 20 people?
Is outbound effective for small staffing agencies under 20 people?
Yes — small agencies often see stronger ROI than large ones because the founder’s expertise is the differentiator. When a staffing agency founder with 15 years in dental staffing sends a contrarian take about dental hygienist retention, it carries credibility that a large generalist agency can’t match. The minimum viable size is typically $500K+ revenue and the operational capacity to handle 8-15 new prospect conversations per month.
How do you handle the competitive intensity of staffing outbound?
How do you handle the competitive intensity of staffing outbound?
Three mechanisms: timing-signal targeting reaches buyers when they’re actively evaluating (not when they’re satisfied with current vendors), contrarian messaging creates pattern interruption in a sea of sameness, and multi-channel sequencing builds familiarity before the pitch arrives. The combination produces 4-8% positive reply rates in a market where generic staffing outreach averages less than 1%.