Negotiations are always welcome; I hate, however, to negotiate for salary.
There is a saying, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” and there is a significant truth behind it.
Don’t negotiate for salary, instead, my advice is. Do your homework prior to the interview.
Let me explain.
Read carefully the cv you receive from a candidate. Read not only what is written on the CV but also read behind the lines and try to understand the character and the value of the person you are going to interview.
Be aware of the following points:
Conflicting roles.
An obvious conflicting role and an easy way to detect the really good salesperson from not the good one is customer support and sales. If a salesperson claims the past projects, had been a mixture of customer support and sales, he is not a salesperson. Sales and customer support contradict each other, opposing forces that do not mix and do not work together. A salesperson is a result-oriented individual, concentrated on his goal. A salesperson is not a polite, friendly guy, instead, he is consistently professional, aiming at achieving his goals. On the other hand, a customer support agent enjoys the conversation with his clients based on being friendly and polite and creating a non-conflicting situation. For a salesperson, a conflict is sooner or later going to arise as the customers’ expectations and the seller’s best possible outcome are opposing interests.
Negotiate for salary and language:
You can understand a lot when you have an interview with a professional. Us mainly hiring salespeople, the other person’s language, radiance, and charisma play a considerable role. People using generic phrases such as “you know”,are not good salespeople. Salespeople use exact and specific language. Also, people with difficulties on how to use the language properly are a no-go. Often, many salespeople use the pronoun Mr. or Mrs. in combination with the first name of the prospect. Either you call me Alex, or you call me Mr. Valassidis, you never call me Mr. Alex. That shows a very low-class background, and it might work when the sales audience is also low class; it certainly does not work on a B2B, C-level executive sales.
Who controls the conversation?
It is of crucial significance. A good salesperson listens more than he talks. He listens more, and he listens precisely. A salesperson knows when to pause and does not fall into the trap of “being guided” on a conversation.
Punctuality.
This point is often disregarded. For me, it plays a major role. Someone late for an interview is not interested in that interview. If someone is not on time, that is a huge, and I really mean a HUGE blocker for me. Regardless of how good you will be in all the rest of the qualities, punctuality is of super importance.
Open camera.
He/she who does not open the camera for me is a big NO-GO. Not opening the camera, besides the fact that is very disrespectful, since I always open the camera, it shows many things what regards the character of a person. You don’t stand on what you are saying? Are you hiding something? How can I trust you if I don’t see you? The same applies to the automated backgrounds that became very popular in the last few years. A simple white wall works; an artificial background makes me suspicious.
Dress code.
It also plays a massive role for me. I respect all people’s choices; however, I see professionalism and simplicity a sincerity behind them. Exaggerations are never a good sign, and that goes both ways. You do not need to wear a tie and a suit on an online interview; I want to hire people that get the job done and not people who look good. On the other hand, to fancy and fashion-oriented individuals, too many tattoos or religious clothing do not fit my perception of professionalism and have a negative impression on me.
When you negotiate for salary, you agree on a lower performance, since the candidate to offer his 100% asks for the amount desired.
There is no room for negotiation. You hire someone in your business for the value that they offer to you. (This is also a big point to be analyzed on a feature article). Unfortunately, thousands of people do not realize that. Instead, they start pointing at the degrees they have, languages they speak and do not answer the most important question: This is the value I will bring to you.
An added value goes with a price, and a good salesperson will not be cheap; neither is he going to negotiate for salary because he knows his value. The contrary is the fact. Therefore, negotiating his prices lowers his value.
The salary paid is a direct reflection of the value that you add. Therefore, if you can bring big added value, you can ask for any payment or salary.
Of course, a counteroffer can be proposed if the terms and conditions of the initial offer differ, and an agreement on that is desirable but not under the same criteria.
