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You resigned. You were given a counter offer. Now what?Breaking up is hard to do. To gear up for the fateful day, the "dumper" usually plays the scenario over and over in his or her mind until the perfect break up line is found; a line that has the right balance of honesty and diplomacy. The dumper's vision usually ends smoothly, without complications, and a firm "we'll part as friends" handshake. Unfortunately, breakups are rarely a mutual decision. The "dumpee" almost always throws a curve ball in the dumper's perfect plan, he or she asks -- sometimes begs -- for a second chance. Uncomfortable breakups are not restricted to one's personal life; they can also creep into one's professional life when an employer's response to a resignation is a counter offer. In a moment of weakness, the employee may feel extreme pressure to cave in. Should he or she stay in the current job that has become stale or does he or she move on to take advantage of a more exciting opportunity? Though the decision whether to stay or go is a personal one, there are common pitfalls that you must be aware of before accepting an employer's counter offer. There are many factors to consider. The moment you resign, your loyalty to the company is immediately questioned. Although your manager may say "We'll give you anything you want" in an effort to persuade you to stay, be aware that this plea may be a diversion until the company finds a replacement. Your manager will do what he or she can to protect the interest of the company. Even if you are not replaced, you may be passed up for a promotion or not assigned juicy projects because you have gained the reputation of a disloyal employee, a non-team player. However, let's give your manager the benefit of the doubt. After all, he or she may be sincere in their quest to make things right but they may not have the authority to follow through. Therefore, don't take promises at face value; get your counter offer in writing. How management perceives you should not be your only concern. Your colleagues may become resentful that you were given a raise or company perks because, as they see it, you blackmailed the company into making a counter offer. As far as your colleagues are concerned, they put in as much time and effort as you to promote the growth of the company, and they will resent not being recognized for their contribution the way you have been. Resentment can develop into a feeling of professional distrust and the dynamics of your relationships with colleagues may begin to shift. For the most part, the makeup of your day is defined by your connections with co-workers. When stresses begin to mount at work, it can trickle into other areas of your life. It is important that you consider your colleague's reaction when making the final decision as to whether you should stay or go. Resist the temptation to be roped in by and glamour of the benefits you may be presented. Take into account the core reasons why you decided to begin searching for another position. Was it because you wanted a prime parking spot? Or was it because your efforts weren't valued? Was it because you wanted extended lunches? Or was it because you want to get home at a reasonable hour? When all is said and done, are the perks that you are being offered sufficient to overcome your initial objections that motivated your search for another job to begin with? Statistics show that employees who decide to accept a counter offer end up getting fired or quit within the year. Does that mean you shouldn't accept a counter offer? Not necessarily. What it does mean is that you should prepare for all the possible scenarios that may arise. Whether you decide to stay or make a clean break is up to you. Just be sure that your decision is an educated one. Other articles by this author »
About Linda Matias
Career Coach Inc. is run by Linda Matias and Bryan Cadicamo. Career Coach Inc.'s objective is quite simple: to coach professionals who are in a career transition and are looking to reawaken or discover their life's passion. To learn more visit www.careercoachinc.com or send an email to coach@careercoachinc.com. Related
And here is another random article you might be interested in... How To Triple Your Sales & Profits With A Powerful Follow-Up System...No matter what you sell... products, services, or causes... one of the key ingredients to your success will be the attention you give your sales lead follow-up system. Notice that I used the word 'system' to describe your follow-up program. It's an important conceptual word. If you do not have a well planned, step-by-step system for lead follow-up you are leaving a lot of profits sitting on the table. It is widely accepted that it takes a minimum of five attempts to close a sale (any sale) before the customer has enough information and confidence to buy from you. My own experience, based on years of in-the-trenches experience suggests that the minimum number of timed follow-ups is anywhere from nine to thirty... depending the complexity and/or cost of your products or services. If your idea of follow-up is to bounce one autoresponder message back to your on-line inquiry and expect the cash register to ring, you are in for a shocking surprise. You have heard often, and will continue to hear, that internet marketing is based on the building of relationships with your potential customers. It's true! Indeed, this is one of the true Power Principles of internet marketing. One of the great benefits of the internet is the ease and cost-effectiveness of relationship building. We must understand that our potential customer is inundated with competing advertising messages from various media--television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, point- of-purchase, direct mail--and now the internet. All of these marketing methods attempt to build a relationship with its audience in order to make the advertising message credible and believable. Credibility and believability lead naturally to sales. The one media that stands head and shoulders above the competition is the internet. No other vehicle provides the opportunity to connect with your audience in such a timely and intimate way. Using the combination of web sites and email you have the graphical power of television and the intimate targeting of direct mail--without the associated high costs. It's a powerful combination. Add-in a timely telephone call or two... and you are on your way to increased sales. If you really want to 'Reach Out And Touch Someone', the way to do it is with the real Killer Application of the internet e-mail. The two most powerful e-mail tools for effective client follow-up are:
Let's look at each one briefly: YOUR OWN E-MAIL NEWSLETTER, EZINE. I can't say enough about what a regular newsletter or ezine will do for your bottom line. By communicating useful information to your clients and prospects on a regular basis you are building a strong bonding relationship with them. Over time, they will begin to see you as a partner in their success. The trust and friendship you have built through your newsletter will translate to added business and increased profits for you. Managing a newsletter or ezine does not have to be expensive or very time consuming. There are several free services that will host your publication and provide an automated subscription process. I just switched one newsletter over to the YahooGroups system for new subscriptions and it seems to work fine. It has eliminated all the hand subscription process and automated it for me, all at no cost. If you are a network marketer, you simply must communicate regularly with your downlines... and your product customers. In addition to the tools available through your company provided websites, you should give serious consideration to producing your own periodic e-mail newsletter. In doing so, you will be building relationships which will fatten your profits quickly. AUTOMATED E-MAIL FOLLOW-UP: The use of autoresponders to supply immediate and comprehensive information to your prospects is a very powerful use of e-mail technology and, I believe, a good one. But, what do you do after the initial lead response? How do you continue to follow-up at regular intervals? If you deal with very few leads of high quality, it's not a problem to follow-up with custom one-on-one messages and it is imperative that you do so if you expect to convert these leads to sales. If your lead flow runs to big numbers, however, you have a problem. You simply must automate the follow-up process to insure that every prospect inquiry gets properly timed, on-going, information and reasons to buy--a 'minimum' of 5 times. To do less is to waste your lead generation investment... more is better. You must maximize this return-on-investment if you are to succeed and the only practical way to do this is with automation. A number of e-mail services provide an autoresponder system that will send a series of pre-written, timed, follow-up messages to your leads. This is a powerful use of technology. The real power comes, however, when the messages you send are professionally crafted works of benefit laden sales copy. These timed responses can be profit-enhancing selling tools... or downright intrusions. The difference will be the skill with which you use the tool. Fortunately for you, you have available numerous high-tech tools. In order to maximize your income you will want to take aggressive advantage of all lead generation tools and systems available online. The reward for building an automated follow-up system is always worth the effort. The time you spend nurturing your follow-up program will result in:
Remember... the profits are in the FOLLOW-UP! Other articles by this author »
About Thom Reece
(C) Copyright 2005... Thom Reece is the CEO of On-Line Marketing Group, a direct response marketing agency with headquarters in Hawaii. His firm builds custom lead generation & follow-up systems for organizations & individuals. He is the creator of the Online Marketing Resource Center [ http://www.e-comprofits.com ] . Thom can be reached by email at: thomATe-comprofits.com Related
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