Dealing with a Lowball Offer – Don’t get mad – Get the Job!

 Good day to you all!  Summer continues to move along nicely here in the Thompson household.  Kai is getting bigger.  Spot is getting bigger. And Ava and Mia keep making me sad by acting like big kids.  It’s also a special day for me – seven years ago today I married my wonderful, terrific, stupendous, bestest wife ever, Megan.  I am truly blessed! (I hope she is reading today…)

Now, on to my thoughts for today.  I recently was talking to a candidate of mine that was sharing a story about his last job.  This individual is very successful, qualified and has terrific experience.  He imparted to me that he recently received an offer from a company that was really low – his response was to laugh, act insulted and tell them that they would have to come up with something better than that to get him – after all he was unique and highly skilled.

Believe it or not – this happens more often than you think and to be honest it is a trap that many candidates fall into.  Before we talk about what to do, it is important to understand why offers come in low.  Below is a quick list of potential reasons:

1. Your salary needs haven’t been adequately communicated
2. Company is limited by budget
3. When a range is given the candidate always assumes the high and the company assumes the low
4. Candidates have unrealistic expectations
5. The salary matches the position and not the candidate
6. The company wants to leave room to reward you for good service
7. The company wants to keep your salary in line with others in the organization (it is never anyone’s business what you make but somehow things like this seem to always get out – especially when there are inequities)

You’ll notice that I didn’t put in:

8. Because they really don’t want to hire you and want to make you mad

You see – when a company makes an offer it is because they like you, want you to be a part of their organization and value you.  Sometimes they get the offer wrong or are unable to get it right.  So… if you like the company and they like you – why do people choose to respond like a wounded puppy?  It’s because we tie our ego to our salary – in our culture our salary is an estimation of our value.  If it were just another factor then people’s initial reaction would be to figure out how to work something out instead of getting mad.

Below are  five ways to deal with the low offer and get the job!

1.  Take a deep breath!

The first step is to take a deep breath and remember that the company isn’t trying to disrespect you.  In fact – you should be preparing yourself for the worst case scenario beforehand so that you are surprised if it is good.  Not mad if is bad. 

2. Set Expectations Beforehand

I’ve harped on this over and over and will never stop.  Talk about your salary needs.  For some reason people are really afraid to discuss their salary needs.  Usually this stems from some bad advice saying that talking money is in poor form or a fear that bringing it up will knock you out because they are out of your range.  When you do this you need to be armed with more than “I want $X.”  You need to justify why you want something.  You should share your recent salary history, factors why you deserve more and a specific range that you are comfortable with.  Remember, if you suggest you want $50K - $55K – you lose the right to be angry when they offer $50K.  Be honest – tell them that you want $55K - $60K then. 

3.  Be prepared to Negotiate

The first thing I tell anyone about negotiation is that you need to be prepared that the company can pull the offer and that you need to weigh this before you counter.  However, if you can’t accept the position it the current package then what do you have to lose?  I’ve encountered many people that have turned down an offer without asking only to find out after the fact that company would have made concessions to get them in.  When considering this don’t be afraid to negotiation on other items besides salary.  Vacation and benefits are free game.

4.  Thank them for the offer and ask for time to think about it

Even if you know that the offer won’t work for you – Thank them for it.  It’s good manners!  Thank them for the offer and ask if you can think about it for a day or two.  Give them a specific timeframe like – can I get back to you by Tuesday?  Remember that time kills all deals and that you shouldn’t try to push it farther than 24 – 72 hours.    When you get back to them start out by thanking them again.  From there tell them that you are really excited about the position but can’t make it work at this level.  Tell them that you would be happy to accept if they can get as close as possible to $X.

5.  Don’t deal in absolutes

When I was in school one of my teaches always told me that when taking a multiple choice test you should always avoid answers that have absolutes including always, never, every none.  The same can be applied to negotiations.  Essentially you can’t give ultimatums.  People don’t respond well to them.  Soften your approach by using words like close, near and about.  Finally, give them options.  Things like – I’d really like a higher salary but I could also look at a higher bonus potential.  However, only give these options if you are comfortable with all outcomes.  It’s kind of like the salary range.  You can’t give an option to soften things and then be mad because they chose the option you didn’t want.

That’s that.  I’m interested to hear about what you guys think on this subject.  Am I right?  Am I way off base?  Have a great week and as always feel free to leave comments or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com!

Check out all of our postings here:

www.csgrecruiting.com/ins_opportunities.htm

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The Four Worst Interview Tips I’ve Ever Heard

First of all – I hope all of you on the east coast have survived your week of earthquakes and hurricanes.  For awhile I was beginning to worry that there was some criminal evil genius like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers that had some kind of weather machine…

Working in employment as I do I’ve heard a ton of great interview tips.  I’ve also heard some really, really bad ones.  The fact is that there are a ton of people that think they know how to ace an interview and are really excited to share their unique (stupid) ideas that they claim will most certainly land you the job.  Below is a list of the worst ones I’ve ever heard.

1.  Be Creative

I once read an article that suggested you should use unique and creative ways to stand out so that the company specifically remembers your interview.  The article described several creative things applicants had done over the years including hiring a band to follow them or brought in homemade cookies.  One candidate even went as  far as to schedule a second interview by mailing a coffee mug and a Starbucks gift certificate to the hiring manager suggesting that they meet for coffee on a specific date.  Unless you are looking to be in a PR job where these skills are needed these antics will most likely have one consequence – you will seem weird!  The simple fact is that you should be memorable because your skills and experience stood out.  If a company remembers you for anything else – it’s not a good thing. 

2.  Don’t Discuss Salary or Inflate Your Number So that When they Shoot Low You Get What You Want

The salary issue might be where the worst advice ever comes.  It is so bad that I devoted a whole article to it a couple of weeks ago.  You can read it here:

Answering the Salary Question

The two worst pieces of advice in this area I hear are that you should never discuss salary or that you should inflate your number when asked operating under the assumption that a company will always low ball you.  The problem with the first piece of advice is that people suggest that this is an absolute.  I agree that it isn’t wise to put all of your cards on the table when asked about salary and tell them the bottom dollar you would accept.  However, many people take this advice to mean that you shouldn’t discuss it all.  The truth here is that you need to follow the natural course of the interview. If a company asks what you need this is a good sign and you should give them an honest range of where you would like to be. 

As far as the second part goes.  This one is just dumb.  If you want X – tell the company you want something in a range that includes X.  Don’t tell them that you want $20K more than that.  The odds are that you probably don’t deserve that much and that you will look foolish.  This is not the final impression you want to leave in an interview.

3.  Act Overly Confident

Someone I know very well was once advised to be assumptive at the end of an interview that you nailed it and have gotten the job.  They were instructed that companies are looking for aggressive people that that they want to hear statements like “When do I start” or “Based on this interview I feel that I’m a perfect fit, don’t you agree?”  The end result of questions like this are that you look really arrogant or you make the interviewer uncomfortable. 

Folks, interviewing is like dating.  Do you usually have much success asking to go home with your date after the first date? (Remember this is a rhetorical question…)  If you treat an interview like a date and try to make a good first impression you will be in a better position for success.

4.  Persistence Makes You Look Like You Want the Job

This is another piece of advice that gets totally misconstrued.  You should follow up after an interview.  This is very true.  It is acceptable to send a thank you email and then after a little bit of time follow up with a phone call to check in.  However, anything more than this starts to move into the stalking arena.  This kind of moves into the dating metaphor again but if you start calling daily for updates after an interview you will appear desperate and unattractive. 

If someone doesn’t respond to your phone calls or emails it means one of three things:

·        They aren’t interested

·        They are very busy and haven’t had time to call you back yet

·        They haven’t made a decision or have no new information

It doesn’t matter which scenario is the case.  Continuing to reach out will not change it and will result in a negative impression.  Believe me when I tell you that not knowing can kill you but you have to just let things play out on their own timetable. 

That’s all I’ve got for today.  If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.

Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:

The Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers

How Insurance Producers Can Use Social Networking to Increase Sales

Texas A&M Leaving the Big 12 and What Lessons You Can Learn From it for Your Career

Four Skills that Every Account Manager Needs to Succeed 

Answering the Salary Question

   

There was an interesting article on Yahoo today by Jane Porter titled:

Getting Paid What you Want

The article brings up some really good points.  For instance it suggests the following:

• Don’t sell yourself short and make sure that you take your benefits into mind when thinking about your salary needs
• Have a range instead of a single figure

Both of these are excellent suggestions.  That said I really disagree with some of the other suggestions made in the article.  Here’s why:

Avoid Talking Numbers Early On

I personally believe that companies are sick and tired of the gamesmanship that goes along with this situation. 

Interviewer:  What are your salary expectations?

Interviewee:  I’d like to think that salary is one of many things that motivates me.  Can we talk about something else?

Nothing pisses someone off more than answering a question with a non-answer.  Why are we so afraid to discuss salary in this world?  If you salary needs are way out of line with what the company wants to pay one of three things will happen.  They will not hire you because they can’t afford you.  They will be so impressed with you that they will try to get more money in the budget.  They will be so impressed with you that they will try to talk you into taking less money.  I have never once heard an employer say that they hired someone because they were successfully evasive about the salary question.

In my estimation you should be honest and give a fair range with a justification for your needs.  Use statements like:

• In my most recent position I was making X, I realize that it is competitive out there and because of this I have some flexibility?
• I’m currently making X, I’d really like to be in this range as incentive to make a move.

I truly believe that people never make moves because of compensation but most definitely don’t make moves because of it.  If you are honest about what you want and need at the beginning you have a higher likelihood of getting what you want and need.

Remember Where you are Coming From

In all this one isn’t so bad except for one statement.  You most definitely should be realistic about your situation.  If you are unemployed and have been for awhile you should be prepared for a cut in this economy.  This is not a hard and fast rule and depends on your skill set. 

However, the article quotes Don Huerzler, someone who must be very well respected, as saying that if you are employed you should accept no less than a 20% increase in salary to make a move.  Let this sink in for a second…

20%

This kind of thinking is asinine and the kind of advice that stops people from furthering their career.  If the only reason you are making a move is for the money then you have your priorities wrong.  You should be making a move because it puts you in a positive financial situation and a better situation overall.  That said – most of the companies I talk to are usually comfortable with increases in the 10% range.

Handling the Low Ball Offer

This is an antiquated notion.  Most companies I work with really try to put their best foot forward.  I’m sure that there are some organizations that make offers expecting someone to negotiation back and forth but the reality is that people want to get this done so that they can start doing business.  So if you are not happy with an offered salary – you can definitely go back and negotiate.  However, you need to have reasons to do so.  Back up your argument with statements like:

• When I take this job X will change about my life and I will need X to make it work out financially
• I haven’t had a raise in x years and feel that my salary needs to be at X to be more in line with the market

Also remember that only in vacuum is an offer solely representative of the companies estimation of your worth.  There are other factors that include budget, salary equity and other things.  It is really dangerous to approach an offer thinking that the company expects you to counter.  I have worked with several places that will just pull the offer rather then negotiate.

Taking Time to Decide

I don’t really take exception here.  I just have my own thoughts to add.  You most definitely should take your time with making a decision.  That said I believe that companies typically expect to hear from you within 24 – 48 hours.  However, the timing isn’t as important as definition is.  When you get an offer you should set expectations about when they can hear from you – if it is longer than a couple of days you should give a reason why.  Taking too long to make a decision gives the impression that you are waiting on something else and noone likes to feel like they are the second choice for prom.

Well – there’s my rant for this week.  As always if you have any comments or suggestions you can leave them below or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com

Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:

The Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers

How Insurance Producers Can Use Social Networking to Increase Sales

Texas A&M Leaving the Big 12 and What Lessons You Can Learn From it for Your Career