The method is simple. It only works if it happens every week, to the right names, with the message already drafted.
Why do quiet past clients matter?
Past clients already know the agency. A hiring manager you placed with two years ago does not need an introduction, so the message can be two lines long.
The problem is knowing which of them are hiring again. Nobody opens an old client record every Monday to check. A weekly list that flags the clients who have gone quiet and are now advertising roles gives a recruiter a reason to write that is true and current.
Start with your own records. Sort clients by the date of their last job order, and look at everyone you placed with in the past two years who has not sent you anything since.
How do you find new companies hiring in your sector?
Look at what companies publish. Open roles on a careers page or a job board are a public signal that a company needs people now, and they show what kind of people.
Narrow the list to your niche before you read it. An agency placing project managers and estimators for construction should see construction employers, not every company that posted a role. A shorter list gets read.
Then write one message per company, built on the specific role. "I saw you are hiring a preconstruction manager" gets read. "We help companies hire" does not. Keep the message short and ask one thing.
Why does speed on stalled submissions matter?
Because a submission that sits waiting is fee at risk, and the client's attention fades each day it sits.
Keep a daily list of submissions with no movement, with the fee attached to each. Chase every one within three working days. Send the client a short reminder and the candidate a keep-warm note.
Reply speed is also the thing a founder can measure. Take your current average time to client reply, then check it again after 60 days of chasing the list. We have set our own target on this, that clients reply a third faster by day 60, measured against a baseline taken at the start.
How do you know it is working?
Count job orders, not activity. A job order scorecard shows how many new job orders arrived, from which source, and how many came from past clients versus new companies.
Add a short forecast every Monday covering expected placements, expected cash and the risks to both. One page on Monday means a thin week shows up on Monday.
Change one thing a week, on whichever part is weakest, and keep it only if next Monday's number improves.
How does Alchemi do this for an agency?
Alchemi is a small team that does this work for founder-led recruitment agencies in the US and Canada. There are three parts. Job flow is the weekly list of quiet past clients who are hiring again and new companies hiring in your sector, with a drafted message for each. Client speed is the daily list of stalled submissions with the fee at risk, plus reminders and keep-warm emails. Visibility is the Monday forecast.
The offer is the 5 Job Order Guarantee: 5 new job orders in 60 days. See How it runs and the job order guarantee.
Next steps
Get Your Next 5 Job Orders: a free one-page report, then a 15-minute call. More answers on Questions.
Updated 25 October 2026 ยท Alchemi