Another CareerJournal article – When It Comes to Job Offers,It Pays to Ask for More Money – that discusses strategies for negotiating pay in the interview process. The short article has good suggestions for candidates but I want to take a myopic view of the article for sales candidates.
First, from the article (my emphasis):
CareerBuilder.com’s survey of 875 hiring managers revealed that about 60% leave room in the first offer for salary negotiations, 30% say their first offer is final, and 10% say it depends on the candidate.
Meanwhile, four out of five corporate recruiters said they are willing to negotiate compensation, according to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management.
Yet few job-seekers actually ask for more, says Randall Hansen, a career advice writer for Quintessential Careers.
There is a subtle yet permeating weakness in many salespeople that is somewhat difficult to root out in the interview process. The weakness involves a salesperson’s ability to discuss money with a prospect. Many salespeople simply crater when it comes to defending their price while a prospect attempts to gain discounts.
Closing a deal is the ultimate reward for any salesperson, but especially for those who prospect to find their own leads, qualify them through a long sales cycle and receive a handsome commission for their efforts. Prospects know that dangling the chance that they may go elsewhere for a better price starts many salespeople down the discount path.
This discount behavior needs to be discovered in the interview process. We constantly delve into sales candidate’s selling systems to determine how they utilize their company’s value proposition and how they maintain their margins. This information is further measured by our assessments.
One last opportunity to measure their money strength is to observe them in the final interview and offer stage. The difference between a skilled, strong money-qualifying salesperson and the opposite is never more observable than at that moment.
Avoid the salespeople who stumble over money discussions.