Why do some recruiters spend years cold calling people who don’t want to talk to them while others build client demand engines that bring business to their door? My guest, Tom Froggatt, made that shift the hard way after three brutal days that forced him to rethink everything.
Tom is the founder of Singular, a biotech search firm that has become one of Europe’s leading specialists since 2017. Before launching the business, he spent a decade at S3, became a top biller, and opened their New York office at just 25 years old.
But six months into running his firm, Tom found himself alone in a windowless office making 200 calls a day and getting nothing back. That breaking point revealed a simple truth that changed his entire trajectory:
“I didn’t have a BD problem. I had a systems problem.”
Today, Tom runs campaigns where £4,000 in ad spend reliably generates £55,000 clients. He has built a client demand engine that works every week whether he is selling or not. That system even freed up enough space for him to spin out Versapia, an AI-driven culture platform.
In this episode, you will learn how Tom built a client demand engine that replaced cold outreach, why thinking like a tech founder beats thinking like a traditional recruiter, how he packages free value that converts strangers into six-figure clients, and why the volume required to make modern marketing work is ten times higher than most recruiters realise.
Episode Outline and Highlights
[6:44] Starting Singular in a windowless office and the six-month reality check
[19:16] Three days, 600 calls, zero results. The moment everything changed
[21:22] Launching “Careers in Discovery” and building relationships with senior biotech leaders
[22:05] The podcast guest who walked Tom straight to HR and introduced him on the spot
[36:44] The mindset shift from “winning clients” to building revenue-generating systems
[42:16] Why each client is worth £55,000 in 12 months and what that means for ad spend
[49:30] The exact funnel. Free insight reports that convert strangers into six-figure partnerships
[54:14] Why Tom gives away £2,500 worth of market data for free and why it works
[58:47] How to identify real client pain points without guessing
[1:03:09] Why reverse engineering problems to fit your service always fails
[1:10:27] The volume truth. Why 200 outreach attempts is not nearly enough
When Three Days of Rejection Changed Everything
Tom’s first six months looked like most recruiters starting out. Cold calls. Spec CVs. Traditional business development.
Then came three days that nearly broke him.
“I made 200 calls a day for three days. Nobody was picking up. And the people who did pick up did not want to talk.”
Sitting in a windowless office, Tom realised something most recruiters overlook.
He had bought CRM, insurance, hosting, and software for his own business without receiving a single cold call.
He still bought.
His suppliers still sold.
Therefore, a different approach was needed to win clients.
Instead of doubling down on the same tactics, Tom asked a better question:
What if I built systems that bring clients to me instead?
That question changed everything.
He calculated lifetime client value.
He built content engines.
He ran paid campaigns with ROI targets.
He created offers that demonstrated expertise upfront.
And he never returned to making 200 calls a day hoping someone picked up.
Today, Tom knows exactly what it costs to acquire a client and exactly what that client is worth. He has built a client demand engine that generates business whether he is working or not.
Building a Client Demand Engine That Runs Without You
While building Versapia, Tom discovered something powerful.
Tech companies grow differently from recruiters.
Recruiters talk about winning business.
Tech founders talk about building systems.
“That is the mentality we brought into Singular.”
Tom built around one principle: attract, do not chase.
The Podcast That Opened Doors
One early move was launching Careers in Discovery, interviewing biotech CEOs and CSOs about their careers.
At one point, a third of Singular’s clients started as podcast guests.
One guest, a former professional footballer turned biotech CEO, listened to what Tom did and said:
“Have you spoken to our HR team? We are recruiting quite a lot.”
After the interview, he walked Tom down the corridor.
They became a client immediately.
The Content Engine Behind the System
Podcasting was not the system.
It was one touchpoint in a much larger demand engine:
- niche ebooks
- webinars
- market scorecards
- insight reports
- paid campaigns
- persona-specific messaging
The centrepiece is The Hiring Edge.
Prospects tell Tom what they are hiring for.
His team creates a bespoke insight report with:
- talent maps
- salary benchmarks
- competitor activity
He values it at £2,500. He gives it away free.
The conversion rate is very high.
Recently, this system landed a 19,000-person company after the CEO read one of Tom’s ebooks.
No negotiation.
Fully retained.
Tom knows his numbers cold:
- Client value (12 months): £55,000
- Cost to acquire: £4,000
- Return: 7.5x
Most recruiters think winning clients is free because they equate time with zero cost.
Tech founders know better.
Why Most People Quit Right Before the Breakthrough
Here is the truth about systems.
The volume required is far higher than you think.
Tom sees it constantly. Someone spends £2,000 on ads, gets no results, and decides it does not work. But when he worked through the numbers, he needed to spend £5,000 to £6,000 before seeing results.
The same lesson applies to outreach.
“Until you have contacted a thousand people, you do not know if it works.”
Tom learned this through retainers as well.
Most recruiters pitched retainers twice and gave up.
Tom kept count.
“I did not win a retainer until the forty-seventh time I pitched it.”
Today, Singular is one hundred percent retained.
This pattern shows up in:
- podcasting
- content
- email sequences
- paid campaigns
- outbound
- webinars
Recruiters quit after ten attempts.
Systems work after one hundred or one thousand.
Tom’s breakthrough was not a tactic.
It was realising the tactic did not matter.
The system did.
Once he built it, everything changed
