Your clients, your history, your desk.
Ernest reads your CRM, so every suggestion starts with what your agency already knows.
Meridian is a past client. We placed 2 engineers in 2024, and Tom last spoke to Daniel in October.
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The AI sales executive for recruitment agencies
Every consultant gets a sales executive.
I'm Ernest. I join your team in Teams or Slack, find your reasons to call, line up the right people to ring and do the BD legwork. You make the calls.
Beta opens in December
Nothing goes out without your yes
Ask Ernest
Click a question to see what he does
Ernest Your sales executive
Ernest does the BD you can't get to.
Works where your team already works
TMicrosoft Teams
SSlack
OOutlook
BBullhorn CRM
VVincere CRM
JJobAdder CRM
SSpott CRM
CSVSpreadsheet upload
Sound familiar?
BD is the first thing to go when desks get busy.
Ask any agency owner where business development goes in a busy month. These are the gaps Ernest is built to fill.
No time for BD
360s are buried in delivery, so BD is the first thing to slip.
Market intel arrives late
Funding and new leaders are spotted after the role hits the job boards.
Hours lost to research
CRM, LinkedIn, job boards and news, every single morning.
Nobody knows what works
No one can say which activity won the last five clients.
Context stuck in heads
Who spoke to whom sits in other people's inboxes.
Feast or famine
BD stops when desks are busy. The pipeline dries up 90 days later.
Leaking revenue
Leads from calls and meetings never get followed up.
Top-biller dependency
Success sits with one or two people, with no playbook for the rest.
Same morning, different result
Ernest does the legwork. You make the calls.
Without Ernest
Monday, 08:00- Open the CRM to work out who's due a call
- Scroll LinkedIn for job changes
- Check job boards and rival agency adverts
- Hunt for a mobile number
- First BD call of the day
With Ernest
Monday, 08:00- Your list arrives in Teams: 7 reasons to call, with numbers
- Call Daniel at Meridian about the £40m raise
- Ernest drafts the follow-up while you dial again
- Clare at Quill picks up: meeting booked
- Sixth call of the morning
Illustrative morning. Companies and people are fictional.
A day with Ernest
On your desk from 8:00. Never misses a follow-up.
One teammate across the whole BD day: before the call, after the meeting and at the end of the day.
Morning Sophie. I found 7 reasons to call for you today: 2 from your clients, 2 from companies you watch and 3 from new companies that fit your desk.
1
Meridian Technologies Growth signal
Raised £40m, 5 engineering roles. You know the CTO.
Call Daniel
2
Tallyroll Hiring spike
3 Go roles open 40+ days, no agency yet.
Find mobile
3
Quill Payments Hiring without you
Your client posted a Head of Data role directly.
See play
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You meet Daniel Cooper, CTO at Meridian, at 10:30. Here's what's changed since you last spoke on 14 October:
In the room
Daniel Cooper (CTO) and Rachel Moss (Head of Talent, joined in September)
Daniel Cooper (CTO) and Rachel Moss (Head of Talent, joined in September)
What's new
£40m Series B on Thursday. 5 engineering roles live, 2 at senior level.
£40m Series B on Thursday. 5 engineering roles live, 2 at senior level.
What you promised
A market map for backend salaries. Not sent yet.
A market map for backend salaries. Not sent yet.
Worth asking
Who owns hiring for the new payments team, and are they using agencies?
Who owns hiring for the new payments team, and are they using agencies?
Your Meridian meeting notes are in. A likely 3-role opportunity (est. £54,000), one objection on fees and 4 follow-ups.
1. Follow-up email to DanielReady
Thanks for the time, the 3 backend roles, the market map by Friday.
Approve and sendEditDon't send
2. CRM notes5 updates
New opportunity, meeting note, the fee objection, Rachel as a new contact and a task for Friday.
Approve all 5Review one by one
Your call with Liam Foster (Senior Data Engineer, 45 minutes) is done. He gave you 4 leads. 3 are on your list already. One is for another desk:
Pennant Bank: Financial ControllerTom Reid's desk
Liam says finance hiring goes through Andrew Price, the CFO. This one is on Tom's desk (Finance).
Send to TomKeep it with me
Good day, Sophie. 9 calls, 2 meetings booked, and the Meridian follow-up has been opened twice.
You promised
Market map to Daniel by Friday. I've drafted it from this week's salary data.
ReviewMarket map to Daniel by Friday. I've drafted it from this week's salary data.
Still open
Tallyroll: no mobile for Priya Shah yet. I'll try again overnight.
Tallyroll: no mobile for Priya Shah yet. I'll try again overnight.
Tomorrow's first call
Clare Morgan, new CTO at Quill Payments. Started Monday.
Clare Morgan, new CTO at Quill Payments. Started Monday.
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Illustrative. Companies and people are fictional.
Not a tool. A hire.
Most tools wait to be opened. Ernest gets on with it.
He works alongside every consultant all day, in the chat they already use, and he gets better the longer he's on your team.
Research done before your coffee.
The checking, finding, drafting and note-taking that eats your morning, done and waiting for your yes.
- Checked 31 adverts at 19 companies
- Found 6 hiring managers, 3 in your CRM
- Drafted 3 spec-ins for Martha
Learns what wins business for you.
Every call, reply and placement teaches Ernest which reasons to call turn into fees on each desk.
How it works
On your team in a day.
01
Add Ernest to Teams or Slack.
He shows up like any new starter. Every consultant gets their own Ernest.
ErnestSales executive · Teams and Slack
Add02
Connect your CRM.
Read-only, so he knows your clients and history. Or upload a CSV and connect later.
BBullhornConnected · read-only
03
Tell him your desk.
Roles, sectors and patch. Your first reasons to call arrive the next morning at 8:00.
Backend engineersDataFintechLondonPerm+ Add
You stay in control
He proposes. You decide.
- Nothing goes out without your yes.Every email and CRM update waits for your approval.
- He shows his working.Every suggestion says where it came from: the advert, the note, the call.
- He respects your desks.Client ownership and other consultants' relationships come first.
- Your data stays yours.Each agency is kept completely separate, and your CRM is read-only.
Send the Tallyroll intro to all 12 contacts we found.
I'd hold 3 of them. Rachel Moss is Tom's client contact, and 2 others are already in a conversation with Priya on the Finance desk.
Send to the other 9?
Send to 9Ask Tom firstShow me the 3
Good catch. Send to 9 and ask Tom about Rachel.
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Built by recruiters
Made by people who've run desks.
Ernest is built by recruitment leaders who've run desks, divisions and countries, working with product people who build AI. Every feature is signed off by someone who's billed.
The best consultants don't need more software. They need someone doing the legwork so they can stay on the phone.
The Ernest founding team
Questions
The short answers.
What is Ernest, exactly?
Ernest is an AI sales executive for recruitment consultants. He lives in Microsoft Teams or Slack, gives each consultant reasons to call every morning, finds the right people to ring, answers questions about your clients from your CRM, and does BD legwork like research, follow-ups and notes. He proposes; you decide.
Who is it for?
Owner-led recruitment agencies, typically 10 to 50 consultants, who want their team doing more BD without hiring a BD team. We're starting in the UK. US agencies are welcome to register.
Will Ernest send emails on his own?
No. Ernest drafts, and nothing goes out without the consultant's yes.
Which CRMs does he work with?
We're starting with Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder and Spott, read-only. If your CRM isn't listed, tell us when you register. You can also start with a CSV export and connect later.
What happens to our data?
Each agency's data is kept separate and is never shared with other agencies. Ernest reads your CRM; he doesn't change it without your approval. Chat history is deleted after 90 days.
How much will it cost?
Simple pricing per consultant. We'll share it with beta agencies before launch.
When can we start?
The beta opens in December. We're bringing on a small number of agencies at a time and setting each one up with the founders, so register now to hold a place.
Join the beta
Give every consultant their own Ernest.
We're opening the beta to a small group of agencies in December. Register your interest and we'll be in touch.
- Set up with the founders, on a call
- Your say in what Ernest learns next
- No commitment to register
You're on the list.
We'll be in touch before the beta opens in December.