For executive search firms
BD Shouldn’t Stop When the Search Starts.
Deliberate outbound for executive search firms. We work your market every week, and every message is read by a person before it goes out.
- Human approves every message
- Senior decision-makers only
- Backed by a source
Conversations with recruitment founders · Between Placements
The problem
Search BD Runs in Peaks and Troughs.
You win a mandate and delivery takes over. By the time the search completes, BD has slowed, the pipeline has thinned and you’re building momentum again.
A trigger sitting in your CRM isn’t pipeline. Someone still has to act on it, every week, including the weeks you’re busy delivering.
Outbound Isn’t the Problem in Search. Careless Outbound Is.
One market, worked properly, every week.
Doing it yourself
Personal and well judged, and the first thing to stop when a search lands.
Mass outbound
Runs every week, but generic, high volume and potentially reputation ruining.
What we do
Researched properly, checked by a person, and it doesn’t stop when you get busy.
How it works
One Process. Five Parts.
Not software to log into. A process that runs from the market you want, through to replies in your inbox.
01
Market
The companies and people worth approaching
02
Research
Context and sources behind each account
03
Draft
Outreach built on a real reason
04 · human
Human check
Every message read by a person first
05
Run
Send, follow up, hand over replies
Steps 02–05 · Research to approval
See Who’s Being Contacted. And Why.
Illustrative campaign
Company, signal, source, decision-maker and the message itself. Everything is visible, and nothing goes out unchecked.
| Company | Signal | Source | Decision-maker | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halden Systems | Acquired by Harbourline Capital. CFO stepping down. | Press release · 3 Sep | Chair | Awaiting approval |
Rationale
New PE owner and a departing CFO: the first finance hire sets the tone for the hold period.
Source
“…the CFO will step down once the transition is complete.”
Company website · 3 Sep · Richard Hale, Chair · verifiedDraft message
Subject: Halden’s next CFO
Hi Richard, Saw that your CFO steps down once the Harbourline transition completes. The first finance hire after a deal tends to shape the next few years, and it’s the kind of search we spend most of our time on. Best, Sarah
| Brightwater Data | Amsterdam office opened. Finance team hiring. | Company news · 28 Aug | CEO | Researching |
| Marlowe Pay | New PE owner. Two board appointments filed. | Companies House · 2 Sep | Chair | Sent |
- Event-led when something has actually happened
- Thesis-led when the business simply fits the market
- Candidate-led when you know someone they should meet
Companies, people and messages shown here are illustrative examples, not client work.
Reputation and control
Your Name. Your Market. Your Reputation.
You’ve spent years building standing with CEOs, CFOs, Chairs and PE partners. The point of working this way is that nothing here puts that at risk.
What we always do
- Low-volume, deliberate campaignsA narrow market worked properly, not a big list worked badly.
- Source-backed research signalsEvery account links to the announcement, filing or article behind it.
- Respect your exclusionsClients, placed candidates and off-limits firms never get contacted.
- A person on every messageNothing goes out in your firm’s name without a person reading it first. Sign off as much or as little as you want.
What we never do
- Send in volumeIf it needs thousands of emails to work, it’s the wrong approach for search.
- Invent personalisationNo fake compliments or “noticed you’re hiring” filler.
- Promise meetings or mandatesWe don’t guarantee meetings or mandates. We make sure the research gets done, the outreach stays sharp, and BD keeps moving every week. The market decides the rest.
- Lock you inStart with one pilot campaign. Keep going only if it’s worth it.
Working together
How Working Together Works.
We work with a small number of firms at a time, so it starts with fit, not a contract.
Step 1
A conversation
30 minutes on your practice, your market and how BD runs today.
Step 2
A look at your market
We come back with the thesis we’d run and a handful of accounts we’d approach first.
Step 3
One focused pilot campaign
One market, a small number of well-researched prospects, and you see everything before it goes out.
Step 4
Keep it running
Weekly, refined as replies come in. Continue only if it’s earning its place.
Who you’ll work with
Aidan Rhodes
Founder, OneSecFlow
OneSecFlow was built around one problem we kept hearing from executive search founders: they know the relationships and markets they should be working, but delivery makes that hard to keep up. So we run that part for them.
Between Placements
Learning from the People Doing the Work.
Why hospitality keeps hiring badly, and what embedded recruitment fixes.
Generic AI outreach doesn’t work on the candidates everyone wants.
Conversations with founders across recruitment, not only executive search. Guests aren’t clients.
FAQ
Straight Answers.
Anything else, ask us on a call. If this isn’t right for your firm, we’ll say so.
Can you guarantee mandates or meetings?
No, and anyone who does is overselling. What we can promise is that the research is done properly, the outreach stays sharp, and it runs every week. Whether that turns into mandates depends on your market and your conversations.
Is this just lead generation?
No. Lead generation hands you a list and walks away. This is the whole BD layer: we define the market with you, research each account and the reason to approach it, write the outreach, run the follow-up and pass you the conversations. You own the relationships that come out of it.
How do you protect our reputation?
Low volume, senior targets and a source behind every account. A person reads every message before it sends, your exclusion list (clients, placed candidates, off-limits firms) is respected, and you can see exactly what is going out in your name at any point.
How much of my time does it take?
About thirty minutes at the start to agree the market, then roughly fifteen minutes a week if you want to look over what is going out. Once a campaign is running, the only thing that needs you is the conversations it produces.
A small number of firms at a time
Keep BD Moving.
Tell us the market you recruit in and we’ll come back with the thesis we’d run and the first accounts we’d approach.
30 minutes · no pitch deck · no commitment