I can’t keep making $40,000.

That’s what Larissa Gerlach told her manager in year one of recruitment.
She was making 200+ calls a week.

Hitting the activity metrics.
Doing everything she was told to do.

And still unsure whether she would make it.
Three years later, she was President’s Club.

Soon after, the CFO of a private equity-backed recruiting firm emailed her:
“What are you doing — and how do we replicate it across 25 offices?”
That question became a national recruiter training programme.
And it reveals a bigger truth:
Most recruitment agencies believe in training.
Very few build a system that consistently produces top billers.

This episode answers one critical question:
Why do most recruiter training programmes fail — even when activity is high?
In this conversation, Larissa breaks down:
• The 200-calls-per-week discipline that changed her trajectory
• Why knowledge doesn’t translate into live performance
• What a real training playbook looks like — from binder to LMS
• Why daily role plays accelerate billings
• The three reasons founders struggle to build structured training
• Why cohort-based learning outperforms one-to-one onboarding
• How to reduce ramp-up time and build $2M+ billers

If you’re building a recruitment agency and want consultants billing faster, progressing quicker, and performing consistently, this is a masterclass in building performance systems.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:56 From fashion sales to recruitment after the 2009 recession
00:08:37 The $40,000 first year and the meeting where she nearly quit
00:12:35 Why most recruiters struggle in year one — and what actually starts to click
00:22:15 The 200-calls-per-week discipline that separated her from everyone else
00:25:25 “You always heard Larissa’s voice” — building momentum through visible activity
00:26:07 The CFO email that led to building a national sales training programme
00:28:17 What the playbook actually looked like — from three-ring binder to full LMS
00:35:51 Why daily role plays create elite performers
00:41:38 Why role plays aren’t just for new starters — they should run your entire career
00:44:14 The deliberate moves she made before launching her own firm
00:47:41 Why Vibrant Talent works retained and RPO only from day one
01:05:49 The three reasons most founders struggle to train their teams
01:10:29 Why group cohorts outperform one-on-one onboarding

Resources & Tools Mentioned
Want a structured 18-week recruiter training system for your team?
👉 recruitmentcoach.com/training

Not sure what’s slowing your agency’s growth?
Take the free Seven Figure Freedom Scorecard:
👉 recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard

Recruiterflow – the AI-first operating system built for recruitment agencies:
👉 recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow

Trusted Voice Video – build authority through consistent short-form content:
👉 recruitmentcoach.com/video

Connect with LarissaLinkedIn:
https://linkedin.com/in/larissagerlach

Work With Mark Whitby
Book a free strategy session:
https://recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
LinkedIn:
https://linkedin.com/in/mwhitby

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