Business Event on the Horizon? How to Plan, Prepare and Execute

Welcome to Season Two of the Recruitment Leadership podcast!   In this season, we're talking all things finance for recruitment, with Nick Russell of Sonovate.   As the Commercial Sales Manager of one of the UK's fastest growing FinTech companies, Nick provides a wealth of knowledge on the often tricky topic of finance and investment.   A three-part how-to series, there's something for every recruitment in this series.   This episode is geared at more substantial recruitment businesses who may be a little bit further along their development curve - typically more than 50 heads. If you're a director or owner who may have a business event in their sights such as an exit, an MBO or trade sale, for example, this episode will be essential listening for you.   01:54 - A lot of large recruitment businesses are wildly non-compliant and don't realise. A lot of the problems stem from the contractor workforce or temporary workforce - but not exclusively. It can be a big issue once you get involved in due diligence but also has an impact on financing. What problems have you (Nick) come across with larger businesses when you get involved in the financing discussion? 04:53 - One company I worked with last year assumed there were no problems with their compliance, as their household-name client has not raised any questions. I identified there was an issue with their terms that may have prevented them from getting paid if there was a dispute. Although embarrassing, they admitted their mistake to the client and put things right. A less scrupulous client could have been willing to take advantage of that situation - have you (Nick) had anything like that happen? 09:22 - From a finance perspective, what do it do you think, Nick, that different types of buyers look for when they acquire a recruitment business? 10:55 - What number is good for payment terms? 11:43 - What classes as a lot of credit notes, in percentage terms? 14:00 - To what extent do funding organisations like Sonovate actually make the assessment of how a management team perform and how financially astute they are? 17:45 - Taking the perm invoicing and finance scenario, you (Nick) said people will do anything between 60 and 90% - what are the factors that influence that? 22:28 - What's your advice to recruitment business owners about protecting themselves from fraud? 29:44 - As the possibility of a sale or investment becomes more real, business owners want to look at swapping their financing arrangements. What are the signs that they should do that do you think? 31:33 - You mentioned there about if the service is poor. There are some issues that are driven by the recruitment business which means that the financier can't give them a good service. What are they? 33:13 - How hard is it to swap financier?      If you have any questions from the podcast or have any topics you would like to be covered, please email - [email protected] You can also contact Nick Russell from Sonovate at - [email protected]    Please like, share and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode.   Thanks for listening, we hope you join us again next time!