1,000 signals. 56 commercial outcomes. The slowest weeks of the year.

The question

A national multi-sector recruitment agency wanted one question answered: what happens when you only call companies that are actively hiring, right now, instead of working from static company lists?

The goal was plain: meaningful commercial conversations with companies that have confirmed hiring intent.

The setup

• 1,000 verified hiring signals over 6 weeks
• Industry, Engineering, Logistics, Office & Support
• Every signal carried verified company data, a named decision maker and a direct contact
• Outreach handled by the agency’s own consultants
• Pure phone outreach. Zero email automation, zero marketing sequences.

The method

The agency called the signals directly. No extra marketing layers were applied, because the pilot had one job: validate signal quality and hiring intent accuracy.

That detail matters. The 5.6% came from phone calls alone: a recruiter with a phone and a verified contact at a company that posted a vacancy that week.

What the data confirms

When the timing is right and the contact can say yes, the conversation is different. Signal-based targeting removes the guesswork from prospecting.

It also held up under the worst possible conditions: the run went straight through December and early January, when cold outbound typically converts 1 to 2% even in peak months. This pilot ran in the trough and still landed 5.6%.

That is the difference between prospecting and guessing.