Episode 32
Deal-Wrecking Psychology
So, you've got this deal all tied up, right? WRONG. Or at least it's wrong if you do one of the following...
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the talent trade.
Speaker:I am Stephanie Maas, partner with Thinking Ahead, executive Search.
Speaker:And today I wanna talk about some interesting psychology that often happens
Speaker:after a candidate and a client have met for a final interview that if not
Speaker:navigated carefully, can kill a deal.
Speaker:It kills the deal because the recruiter, quite frankly, doesn't have the patience
Speaker:and isn't willing to put their ego and their needs to the side for the
Speaker:greater good and the greater good is that of the deal coming together, which
Speaker:should always first and foremost, serve our clients, serve our candidates.
Speaker:Once they're served, we get served.
Speaker:So here's the interesting psychology, and this happened recently to a colleague of
Speaker:mine and I really wanna shout out kudos to him for being willing to say, Hey,
Speaker:am I thinking about this the right way?
Speaker:Is my approach the right approach on this?
Speaker:So let me set the stage.
Speaker:So we had a client.
Speaker:That we have been trying to fill some talent needs with, put a handful of
Speaker:candidates in their process and they decided on the one person that they
Speaker:wanted to bring to a final interview.
Speaker:So we did all the work you do to prep for a final interview with the client.
Speaker:We did all the work that we do to prep the candidate for his final interview,
Speaker:and we let them go when we meet.
Speaker:Here's where things got interesting on the backside of that final interview.
Speaker:Now again, we know with final interviews, typically it's not where decisions are
Speaker:made, it's where decisions are finalized.
Speaker:So typically in an interview process, as someone is moving through the process.
Speaker:By the time they get to a final interview, the candidate has probably
Speaker:already decided that if the economics make sense, this is gonna be what
Speaker:they do and they're gonna make a move.
Speaker:Same with the client.
Speaker:If they're bringing 'em into that final interview, they're probably
Speaker:decided that, hey, if all goes well, we're gonna make an offer, or we feel
Speaker:like the decision is, this would be a good person to have on the team.
Speaker:So, knowing that the final interview.
Speaker:There's usually just a reinforcement that, hey, we all think this is a match.
Speaker:Go through some details and button some things up, et cetera.
Speaker:When, however, sometimes a final interview happens, the client can often go in
Speaker:and have a really good, strong meeting.
Speaker:They get affirmed that this is the right person.
Speaker:They wanna bring 'em on board.
Speaker:The decision, again, evidence to support the decision, which
Speaker:they probably already made.
Speaker:And same with the candidate.
Speaker:They go in, they have a good meeting, they were probably gonna take the job anyway.
Speaker:They get affirmed.
Speaker:Here's what can happen sometimes.
Speaker:Now, I will be honest, this doesn't happen that often, but it
Speaker:happens enough to talk about it.
Speaker:There can be a weird psychology that happens after this final interview.
Speaker:If the final interview goes super well.
Speaker:Here's what the psychology is.
Speaker:The client can sometimes walk away going, wow, that guy is ours.
Speaker:He showed up.
Speaker:He showed, well, basically said he wanted a job and he sold.
Speaker:Then what the client has to do next is make an offer.
Speaker:So we all know when you feel like you got something.
Speaker:Sometimes it happens where we wanna see, okay, we know
Speaker:they're sold on the opportunity.
Speaker:We think they're gonna say yes, let's flow ball 'em.
Speaker:Our hiring compensation range was one 40 to one 60.
Speaker:I know the recruiter said they wanted 1 58, but eh, let's offer from one 40.
Speaker:We think we got him.
Speaker:He's ours.
Speaker:I bet we can get him in a deal 'cause he's so sold on us.
Speaker:Y at the same time, this can happen to candidates.
Speaker:They can go in and the client.
Speaker:Has their selling, she's on and does such a great job of selling them and convincing
Speaker:them that they're sold on the candidate.
Speaker:That the candidate who previously was willing to take an offer in
Speaker:the one 40 to one 50 range suddenly says, yeah, I'm gonna need one 60.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:Again, where we have to do our homework is making sure that
Speaker:there wasn't any information.
Speaker:Or new circumstances to change the interest of the candidate
Speaker:or the client because sometimes.
Speaker:Clients will low ball because they heard or saw something that now
Speaker:deters them from the candidate.
Speaker:And they'll often use a low ball offer as a polite way of saying, no thanks.
Speaker:Same thing with candidates.
Speaker:Hey, I'm gonna ask for the sun, moon, and the stars and compensation.
Speaker:They're gonna say no, and that's gonna get me out of the deal
Speaker:because something's changed.
Speaker:I don't want it anymore.
Speaker:This only applies when you've done a good job debriefing with a client,
Speaker:debriefing with a candidate, and can confirm to the best of your ability
Speaker:that this is truly, they absolutely want the talent and they're just
Speaker:trying to see if they can get a deal.
Speaker:Now, are most clients gonna jump out there and tell you, Hey, I just want a deal?
Speaker:No, but they're gonna say things that, again, if you're a good enough
Speaker:recruiter, you're gonna pick up.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I know we said originally we could go to one 60.
Speaker:I've told you from the beginning the candidate wanted 1 58.
Speaker:Help me understand what has changed that now we're thinking of offering
Speaker:one 40 and when you really.
Speaker:Listen, you can hear what they say or don't say, and if they really want the
Speaker:candidate, but they're trying to get a deal, you'll be able to decipher that.
Speaker:It often sounds something like, oh, no, no, no.
Speaker:We, we definitely want John, we, we think he'd be a great fit here.
Speaker:Just after our conversation, you know, we think, you know, at one
Speaker:40 he'll be happy to come on board.
Speaker:We think we can get him language like that.
Speaker:Hesitation, like that.
Speaker:Those are our ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
Speaker:Yes, John is very excited about the opportunity and I think he
Speaker:could really see himself being here with this organization.
Speaker:However, I need to caution you, client, that part of John's excitement
Speaker:came from the idea that we had already discussed compensation
Speaker:being closer to the 1 58 number.
Speaker:If we're gonna deviate away from that without a compelling reason, that could.
Speaker:Impact his interest.
Speaker:Simple as that.
Speaker:Same thing on the candidate side.
Speaker:If the candidate comes back and says, you know, Hey, I know I said
Speaker:I'd take 1 58, but I, the magic number now is 1 65, or, yeah, I'm
Speaker:not sure this is gonna work for me.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Help me understand.
Speaker:What did you learn in that final interview?
Speaker:What in your circumstances has changed?
Speaker:You just gotta dig in and really listen to the why and, and they can say all
Speaker:kinds of things, but you gotta really hear, I mean, look, I know I'm your guy.
Speaker:I know they want me.
Speaker:I know I could add a lot of value.
Speaker:It's best to negotiate on the front end.
Speaker:Listen, listen, listen, hear, hear, hear, and then come back to and say, Hmm, John,
Speaker:I appreciate where you're coming from.
Speaker:Let me ask your help.
Speaker:This is where we're gonna be.
Speaker:A little challenged.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I spoke to the client, they are very high on you.
Speaker:In fact, they think you would be a tremendous fit for the organization, part
Speaker:of your candidacy and their interest.
Speaker:Is you being closer to the 1 58 in compensation range?
Speaker:If we go in and deviate too far away from that, they are gonna think either
Speaker:you're not interested and you have to be bought, or you are no longer interested
Speaker:in trying to price yourself out.
Speaker:Help me with that.
Speaker:And then listen.
Speaker:And if they go, oh yeah, well I have decided it's one 70 or nothing.
Speaker:And that's just the way it is.
Speaker:Okay, well I, again, I'm your advocate.
Speaker:I will represent you accordingly.
Speaker:I just wanna be very transparent.
Speaker:If they can't get to the one 70, I have your permission
Speaker:to say we are not interested.
Speaker:Again, none of this is manipulation.
Speaker:None of it is even negotiating.
Speaker:What it is doing it is helping us bring our clients and our candidates back to
Speaker:a little bit of reality, and this is where the art of what we do comes in.
Speaker:It's helping us put pride and ego and highly emotional topics like
Speaker:compensation back to logic and reason.
Speaker:Again, it just reminds everybody in a very kind way that, hey, you are
Speaker:represented at a certain price tag.
Speaker:That is part of what makes you attractive.
Speaker:You represented this opportunity at a certain price tag, and that's part of
Speaker:what makes this person super interested.
Speaker:And if there's something that's changed, we need to delve into that.
Speaker:But if it's suddenly you just think you can get them cheaper and that's
Speaker:bad language, but you think you can get 'em for a deal or a steal.
Speaker:That will impact their interest because their interest included this compensation.
Speaker:It can be tricky.
Speaker:These are very big, real grownup conversations to have with folks.
Speaker:Again, typically it's in the midst of something that's highly
Speaker:emotional, and where we can be really strong and add tremendous value is
Speaker:deescalating the emotion, really helping our clients and our candidates.
Speaker:Remember.
Speaker:Promises that were made, representations that were made and that, hey, if you
Speaker:really wanna do right by this person, we gotta do the right thing and changing
Speaker:what we said we could do for no other reason than we think we can get a deal.
Speaker:It's not good business.
Speaker:It doesn't end up feeling good, and most of the time the candidate is
Speaker:gonna say no and they're gonna walk away with a bad taste in their mouth.
Speaker:Same thing on the candidate side.
Speaker:Hey candidate, if you want me going in and asking for money, that's way
Speaker:outside of what we talked about.
Speaker:I'm happy to do it.
Speaker:I appreciate the spirit of negotiation, however.
Speaker:If they can't do it and we walk away, that's gonna leave the client with a
Speaker:pretty bad taste in their mouth, knowing that you came to the final interview
Speaker:under certain compensation understandings, and now we changed at the altar.
Speaker:The other thing too is from the recruiter, we have to put our pride and ego to the
Speaker:side because sometimes we wanna bow up both at the client and at the candidate.
Speaker:At the candidate going, Hey man, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker:I told you from the beginning this was the comp.
Speaker:Why are you changing your mind?
Speaker:Nope.
Speaker:We don't have to, we, we, we don't need to be that way.
Speaker:Same thing with our clients.
Speaker:I mean, I can be completely honest when I get a low ball offer from a client
Speaker:and my clients know I adore them, I adore my candidates, but when they do
Speaker:silly things like that, it is super hard for me not to lose patience.
Speaker:But then that's making it about me.
Speaker:And a good recruiter never makes it about me.
Speaker:You take care of your clients, you take care of your candidates,
Speaker:you'll always get taken care of.
