Counter-offers soaring throughout the channel

Rise in counter offers for want-away sales staff is being driven by skills shortage, says Robertson Sumner's Marc Sumner

Are you currently looking to retain a successful sales force, but finding that the best candidates are constantly getting a counter offer?

We have found in the first half of 2015 that the percentage of candidates that get counter offers has doubled from the last couple of years. Historically, over the last fifteen years, instances of counter-offers made to candidates whom Robertson Sumner have placed was anywhere between five per cent and eight per cent. Less than six months into this year we have found that out of 121 placements, 29 per cent of candidates have had counter-offers from their previous employers.

The drastic rise in these statistics is completely driven by a huge shortage of candidates on the open market. Companies are now realising very quickly that, if their key staff leave, it is incredibly difficult to replace them. Because of this, they are making counter-offers to everyone who leaves. A client of ours last month gave one of our candidates a 50 per cent basic salary increase - just to retain them.

When it comes to measures that clients could take in order to retain their staff, it is about creating workforce engagement. Companies are starting to invest a huge amount in getting an engaged workforce and making their culture a difficult one to leave. Yes, money is important for sales staff, but if you can solve the underlying issue at the source, hopefully your key staff will not get tempted to even start looking. Engagement surveys, internal net promoter scores or simply communicating with your staff about how the business can improve are all simple ways to find out really what is really going on inside your company.

Successful IT sales and marketing staff know full well they are in demand, so attempting to create a culture and team that is fully engaged is the key to reducing attrition rates.

Hiring managers now have to wake up to the fact that the candidates they want are not on the open market. Just offering a job to someone isn't going to seduce them to leave. But for some reason hiring managers seem inept at putting themselves in the prospective candidate's shoes.

When challenged by recruiters as to why someone would quit a role in a similar company for slightly more money, they cannot come up with a compelling story to attract them. When you have 10 companies chasing one suitable candidate, it is just not good enough any more to simply say we have a great environment and uncapped commission - everyone is saying that.

Marc Sumner is managing director of IT sales and marketing recruitment specialists Robertson Sumner