SoloRiff

How to sell to Heads of Sales at Recruiting companies

Heads of Sales in recruiting are primarily measured on revenue growth and client satisfaction scores. They respond positively when they see a clear understanding of their specific challenges, such as high turnover rates in placements or delays in filling critical roles. Demonstrating a grasp of these issues can prompt them to engage with a stranger.

Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 562 recruiting company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.

What actually hurts

  • high turnover in placements
  • delays in filling roles
  • increased competition for talent
  • poor candidate experience

The playbook

  1. 01

    Identify companies with recent hiring surges

    Use LinkedIn or industry news to find firms that have recently announced expansions or new client contracts. These companies often need additional talent acquisition resources, making them more receptive to outreach.

  2. 02

    Target teams struggling with high placement turnover

    Filter your list for organizations reporting high turnover rates in job placements. This pain point is often a priority for Heads of Sales, as it directly impacts their revenue and client relationships.

  3. 03

    Highlight solutions for improving candidate retention

    In your outreach, directly address how your services can enhance candidate experience and retention. Use specific examples or case studies that showcase successful outcomes in similar recruiting environments.

  4. 04

    Reference recent industry challenges

    Mention current trends affecting the recruiting industry, such as talent shortages or remote work impacts. This shows you are informed and can provide relevant insights that resonate with their immediate concerns.

  5. 05

    Suggest a call to discuss tailored solutions

    Propose a brief call to explore how you can help them address their specific challenges. Be clear about the time commitment and the potential value of the conversation to increase the likelihood of a positive response.

Can recruiting companies even receive your mail?

We measured the DNS of 562 recruiting companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.

1–10 employees
20.2%
11–50
31%
51–200
39.5%
201–1,000
56.9%
1,000+
75%

Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.

The gap is the finding: 20.2% of 1–10-person companies against 75% of the largest — 55 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.

Where does your domain sit?

Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.

How this was measured

Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.

DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.

Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.

Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.

Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.

The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

Subject lines that fit

  • Improving your placement success
  • Addressing talent acquisition delays
  • Enhancing candidate retention strategies

Questions

Why do Heads of Sales in recruiting ignore cold emails?
They often receive numerous outreach attempts that fail to address their specific pain points. If the email doesn't directly relate to their immediate challenges, such as improving candidate retention or reducing turnover, it risks being overlooked.
What common challenges do Heads of Sales face in recruiting?
They frequently deal with high turnover rates, which can lead to lost revenue and dissatisfied clients. Additionally, they must navigate increasing competition for top talent, making it crucial to streamline their hiring processes.
How can I get a response from a Head of Sales in recruiting?
Personalization is key. Tailoring your message to their specific challenges, such as addressing delays in filling critical roles or improving candidate experience, can significantly increase the chances of a response.
What type of outreach works best for Heads of Sales in recruiting?
Outreach that highlights industry trends, provides insights into improving hiring efficiency, and addresses their unique pain points tends to be the most effective. They appreciate relevant information that can help them achieve their sales goals.

Or have it run itself

SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.

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