Automation Use Cases: Business Development

By automating key parts of your business development process, you can reduce manual work, improve responsiveness, and ensure that every opportunity gets the attention it deserves.

Here are some practical automation use cases to help you streamline your business development efforts and grow your client base more efficiently.

Need help getting started? Check out our guide to Building a Business Development Automation.

Client Engagement and Retention

Use Case: Touch Base with Active Clients

Set up an automation to periodically email clients who have active jobs in your system to maintain regular contact and reinforce your partnership.

Blueprint A prebuilt template in Bullhorn Automation for commonly used automations.: Connect with Engaged Sales Contacts

Use Case: Website Visitor Alerts

When an existing client in your system visits your website, trigger a notification to their assigned sales rep. This creates a perfect opportunity for timely, relevant outreach.

Use Case: Gather Interview Feedback

Send automated follow-ups to both the client and the candidate after an interview. Gather feedback, keep the process moving, and if the candidate isn’t hired, automatically prompt the recruiter to explore other opportunities with them.

Use Case: Contractor Redeployment Reminders

Send a series of reminders six, four, and two weeks before a contract ends, prompting consultants to reach out to both the contractor and client about extensions or redeployment options.

Use Case: Quarterly Account Touchpoints

Create recurring tasks for account managers to check in with clients every quarter. Regular, proactive outreach helps strengthen relationships and surface new opportunities.

Use Case: Performance Review After Placement

After a temp placement ends, trigger a short survey to the sales contact asking for feedback on the candidate’s performance. Include the key question “Would you re-engage this candidate?” to help inform future sales strategy.

Cross-Selling and Upselling

Use Case: Cross-Sell to Existing Clients

Use an automation to identify clients who have worked with you in one department but not others. Trigger an email or task to introduce your services across divisions and expand the relationship.

Use Case: No Jobs in a Month Alert

Automatically notify consultants and their managers when a key client hasn’t registered a job in four weeks. Include a prompt to follow up and check in.

Use Case: Past Contractor Re-engagement

Send a message to contractors who haven’t worked with your agency in the past year to check in and re-establish the relationship.

At-Risk Client and Activity Monitoring

Use Case: Identify Clients at Risk

If a client hasn’t had a note added to their record in three months but did have a placement within the last year, send a reminder to the consultant to reconnect and prevent potential churn.

Use Case: Back Door Hire Checks

Build a list of candidates who interviewed (but were not placed) three to six months ago. Use this list to check for potential back door hires and flag for leadership review.

Contract and Workflow Management

Use Case: Contract End Check-Ins

Eight weeks before a contract ends, send a survey to the candidate to ask if they’re seeking new opportunities. Based on their response:

• Update their status

• Notify their consultant

• If no response, trigger a follow-up round of emails

At the same time, send an email to the client to ask whether they’d like to extend the contract or hire someone new.

Blueprint: Redeployment Notifications

Use Case: Field Trigger for Invoicing

When a consultant selects “Yes” in a specific custom field on a job record, automatically send an email to the client requesting invoice details in order to speed up the billing process.

Prospect and Lead Follow-Up

Use Case: Prospect Outreach Campaigns

Set up a chain of intro emails to prospective clients in your database. If there’s no response, trigger a follow-up email, and eventually create a task for the consultant to reach out directly.

Blueprint: Client Marketing

Use Case: Lead Notification for New Marketing Leads

When a marketing lead is added to Bullhorn, send a notification to the assigned consultant with a prompt to reach out and find out if the contact is hiring, job seeking, or simply interested in content.