To Counter Offer or Not to Counter Offer? (Requires 30 seconds to read)

It has happened to all of us. One of your top sales reps enters your office to speak and closes the door behind them. You can tell by the look on their face that bad news is coming and they inform you that they have taken a position with another firm and submit their resignation.

Your initial reaction is to think about the sales they carry, the customers they service, and how you are already too busy to have to think about replacing them, so you ask if there is any way to make them stay. You are probably tempted to ask what they will be making in the new position and make a counter offer. The you wonder is this the right thing to do.

According to The National Business Employment Weekly, four out of five people who accept counter-offers are gone within the year. This means that virtually eight times out of ten when an employee expresses an interest in leaving your team, he or she will not be with you before the year is out. So does it make any sense to counter someone knowing that they are likely going to leave shortly after?

Perhaps there is some relief in knowing that you will have the person for a few months while you find a replacement, but my own experience in owning several businesses has taught me that there is no replacement for fully engaged employees. Successful businesses invest in good people and find ways to keep them. Turnover is expensive, so in my businesses I do whatever I can to avoid turnover, but employees are not like life partners. Sometimes, the fit isn’t there and no amount of money is going to change that, so no matter how much we depend on any employee, if they aren’t enthusiastic about helping our customers succeed, and want to go elsewhere, we wish them luck and replace them immediately with someone who is excited about our business.

To your success!

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