By Troy Harrison – Sales Navigator
I had an epiphany yesterday. I was doing a program for a Vistage group in Omaha, Nebraska (one of my favorite places to visit). We were discussing sales compensation in the hiring process, and one of the group members recounted a recent story about a sales hiring attempt. He had interviewed a young woman who was a blue-chip candidate, precisely the type of person we need to bring into the profession to reverse the demographic issue facing our profession.
He had gotten to the moment where he made the offer, and he did the strategy where he offers lower than he plans to pay, thinking she will counteroffer, and they’d meet in the middle, which is where he wanted to be. She thanked him, said she’d consider it, and then called later and said that she was going to pass. He was mystified, and then he recounted the story later to someone else, and they said, “Young people don’t know how to negotiate, and when you expected her to do so, she just took your offer at face value and rejected it.” WOW. The comment that “young people don’t know how to negotiate” is a true statement – but it has a much greater meaning beyond the hiring process, and THAT was my epiphany.
First, we walked through the scenario with him, and we recognized that the best strategy for recruiting is just to decide what you’re going to pay, and offer that amount. In fact, I advocate putting the numbers in your job ad, making sure that the person has seen them and is fine with the numbers (this should be an early first interview question), and then the conversation itself is moot.