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The 3 Keys to Growing a Startup Recruitment Agency to $950,000 in the First Year, with Ben Cross, Ep #157

Dec 23, 2022

Imagine starting your own recruitment agency with no recruiting experience and growing it to almost a million dollars in the first year.

Sounds unbelievable, right? 

Yet that’s exactly what my special guest, Ben Cross, has accomplished in his first year in recruitment. In this interview, we break down exactly how he achieved those remarkable results.

Ben is the founder and CEO of GLOMO based in Dallas. GLOMO specializes in the global mobility industry providing talent search as well as consulting services in sales and marketing plus mergers and acquisitions. 

 

So what’s the secret to Ben’s success? It comes down to an intangible asset that doesn’t appear on a balance sheet – his personal brand. Ben was already extremely well-known in his industry prior to launching his own business. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how Ben became a micro-celebrity within his niche using the 3R formula: Reach, Relevance and Relationship.

 

Episode Outline and Highlights

  • [02:55] Ben’s background and his journey as a startup recruitment agency owner.
  • [06:28] Ben explains the 3 R’s of personal branding - reach, relevance, relationship
  • [08:01] The LOVE + RELO podcast - Spreading love and community building during the pandemic.
  • [11:28] What is Global Mobility?
  • [18:26] How setting up virtual conferences led to ‘unintended good stuff’.
  • [24:58] What motivated Ben to start his own recruitment business?
  • [28:35] A critical ingredient for recruitment business owners when starting or scaling.
  • [33:52] What GLOMO has achieved this year and what key success factors?
  • [42:07] Why should you consider raising your rates?
  • [50:00] The value of meeting people in person to build personal relationships.
  • [51:28] Failing daily! Ben’s biggest challenges in growing a business.
  • [56:27] Things Ben would have done differently.
  • [01:04:14] New offices in Dallas and challenging the work-from-home (WFH) setup.
  • [01:08:21] What is next for GLOMO?

 

LOVE + RELO - Hosting Daily LinkedIn Live Streams During the Pandemic

Ben is a genius when it comes to personal branding - a skill that has translated well to his recruitment firm’s success. Ben has been creating content on LinkedIn since 2006. When the platform rolled out a Live Feature, he was one of the Beta testers to utilize the feature. It became his resolution on January 1st, 2020 to go live every day! 

 

You will hear how their program - Love + Relo came about. It’s a LinkedIn Live stream for the Global Mobility industry where they interview leaders while responding to audience questions. In retrospect, his timing could not have been better. When this pandemic hit in March 2020, people were seeking that sense of connection and community that LOVE + RELO provided.

 

Ben’s live stream attracted speaking opportunities and invitations to host virtual conferences (and later in-person conferences) for trade associations in the global mobility space.  

 

You will also hear about their Get Talent! Podcast - which has been a valuable way to connect with both clients and candidates. Ben explained the 3 keys when it comes to personal branding: Reach, Relevancy, and Relationships.

 

Secrets of Starting a Successful Recruitment Agency

How did GLOMO’s startup recruitment business perform in its first year? 

 

Ben revealed, “We're coming on the end of the calendar year 2022, I think we are gonna be in the $950k range, I am proud of that.”

 

There could be several explanations for Ben’s rapid growth. For one, GLOMO was founded in June 2020 as a consulting firm. So Ben was adding recruiting and executive search to an already established business. Secondly, prior to launching GLOMO Ben was the VP of Sales for a moving company so he has a deep knowledge and understanding of the industry he serves.  But that alone doesn’t explain his outstanding results.

 

Here are some of the factors that Ben attributes GLOMO’s success to: 

  • Leveraging his Personal Brand and the momentum of his LinkedIn content
  • Hiring the right people, including an experienced and reliable fee-earner
  • Giving to the community: creating meaningful content for their industry.
  • Raising their rates above their competitors and overdelivering.

 

We also get into the nitty-gritty of starting a recruitment agency, from getting an ATS/CRM, building the systems and processes, LinkedIn Recruiter, and more. 

 

Ben’s Perspective on Failing Daily

I asked Ben about the challenges and struggles he encountered and what he would have done differently.

 

What really resonated with me is Ben’s perspective on the importance of failure: “We fail daily, like every day, all day… If you are not failing, you are not trying. As business owners or professionals, we think that success is avoiding failures. It is not. It is about embracing them, learning from them, and even memorializing them in our mind palace and saying ‘I'm gonna pay homage to this ridiculous epic failure that I had’... We are really big in celebrating failures.”

 

Our Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

 

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained



Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters who they can invest in. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including: funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, backoffice support, marketing and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

 

Ben Cross Bio and Contact Info

After 15 year career in the moving and relocation industry, Ben Cross quit his job to start a consulting and recruitment firm called GLOMO. In his first full year of recruiting, this small startup has billed over $1 million US dollars. Over the past three years, Ben has hosted over 400 episodes of his podcast "Love + Relo" which has become "the voice of the relocation industry".

He has also co-hosted a recruitment podcast called the Get Talent! Podcast which shares recruitment insights for hiring managers.

Ben's approach is to build reach, relevancy and relationships through Linkedin Live streams and hosting in-person events where he and his team build their personal brand's social capital. He also hosts conferences within his niche industries and speaks on numerous panels.   

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