After Accepting the Sales Job Will the Salesperson Back Out?

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan
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Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan

Did a sales candidate ever accept your job offer, only to backout prior to the agreed upon start date, because the individual decided to stay with the current employer?

This happened to a client and it had a tremendous ripple effect.

They had already let the former inside salesperson go. Now, instead of an ineffective salesperson, they have nobody in the role.
They must restart the sales recruiting process. Ideal candidates are more difficult to find compared with a year ago, so this could take another 60-90 days.
The president is the primary outside salesperson and now must cover the inside salesperson's role.
Covering the inside sales role and recruiting for a new inside salesperson will cause sales and management of the company to suffer.
Others in the company who need his attention will not get as much of it as they need.

There are two scenarios when this problem can occur.

Their prior company offers, and they accept, more money.
Their prior company apologizes and promises to pay more attention, give them a promotion, reward their loyalty, provide more recognition, etc.

If you don't mind getting into a bidding war, a larger offer takes care of the first scenario. But the second scenario is not money-driven. Is there anything you can do and is there a way to be prepared forthis happening to you? Yes!

Objective Management Group'sSales Candidate Assessment has two findingswhich can help you flag the potential for this frustrating scenario. The person in the second scenario is not money-motivated, also known as not extrinsically-motivated. Instead, this person is intrinsically-motivated. A person who will return to a company, wherethey were disgruntled,has Need for Approval. When the Need for Approval is strong enough, that individual is vulnerable to staying with the current employer if that employer performs the big apology and does the "I promise to treat you better" act. So, if the candidate to whom you make an offer has a high intrinsic score along with a high severity level for Approval, then you best be prepared for the scenario mentioned above.

So, what can you do about it? After making your offer, you can say something like, "When you give notice at your current company, what would you do if they apologize, promise to treat you better, recognize your contributions, provide better hours and qualify you for a promotion down the road?" The candidate doesn't even need to answer. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voice.

Then you can say, "For you to be looking for a new position, they must have failed to show you the love. Why would you go back when the track record says nothing will change?"

The key, as always, is to deal with the potential issue up-front, before it happens, when there is little pressure and less chance of resistance.

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Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan

About the Author: Dave Kurlan

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Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).
Click here to visit Dave's website.

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