What would it take to buy you off?
 

So as some of you know, I started a new career.
Last night 17 of my 26 associates accepted and invitation to have a few beers and talk one on one about leaving and coming with me.

17 of 17 verbally committed to coming.
I increased each of them on average 20 salary and chances at great bonuses.

The owner of my previous company flies in last night and is throwning crazy money at these guys........

doubling salaries and giving "stay" bonuses for 25K for six months and another 25K for a year..........

I am happy for some of these guys as I am the one that gave most of them thier first job in this business.........

So what say you guys?
Loyalty to the guy that helped build year career of some cash in the short term?

We built thier business by the way from a net loser, to an almost 30 million dollar branch in 9 years.........they were doing a million a year before

Gotta love competition!

You hiring?!

Roughly double my salary and a 50k bonus at the end of the year, then is get with you in August 2014 to see what you were offering :work:

I guess it all depends on where each person's situation stands. I am a very loyal person and have turned down decent money, because I had a sence of loyalty to my employer and I was in a pretty good financial state. If it were to be offered GOOD money now.......... I'm out!

Good luck with your new business!

agree
 

what do you do?

LOL! Man, selling for someone else sounds way more appealing than this collision business sometimes!

SP, you know that likely 50% or better are going to take that "instant gratification" or, short money. I know you pretty well, I think and, would follow you through fire if I were in their shoes. I know several of your former workers and, I think that, if they are comfortable with their personal finances, they'll follow you immediately.

I'm sure that somewhere in your mind, you knew this scenario would play out just as it is right now.

Let me settle this week and I might be..........

All great points guys....Corey I have some key players that told him to go pound sand.

As for coming back around to me at the end of 2014............not saying it would be impossible. But Corey can attest to the fact that I do not let grass grow under my feet..........if all works well............by 2014 I will have the people I need helping them be successful.

If I'm doubling plus 50K, I'm staying. I'm having a good attorney look over the docs before signing up. But that's going with either one of you.

lol no kidding .. I don't even know what it is you do, but you sound like the kind of person I would love to work for

That he is. I've never encountered one false pretense with the man or, anyone in his family for that matter. WYSWYG kind of guy.

How did the ex boss find out about your meeting? Is there a rat in the wood pile?

There are many times in a mans life where crossroads exist. I am far enough in my life where i put my head on the pillow at night and know i did the right thing. Have i passed up the opportunity to make a bunch of money! YES! It also would have been at the expense of loosing a very dear friend. Well, he is a multi millionaire and i get to sleep at night! LOL

Money is cheap, friendship you can not put a price on! If anything, the workers are finally in the catbird seat for a change!

Good luck my friend and let me know if i can help.

Double plus 50 is unheard of, you'd have to have some serious potential fr growth for someone to turn that down, no matte how stand up of a guy you are. At the end of the day, doubling salary over night is a huge bump for the people you do it al for, an that's the wife and kids.

How long would it take to get to that amount of pay by jumping ship into a new venture? How would you look at your wife if the man you turned that good money down for died in a car crash while this new venture was an infant?

Chances of me going to you next year and getting scooped up are greater than me going back to the guy I left if everything fails. Then who's out? The family... Yea, you gotta take risks, but doubling up and having a lot of players off the ladder is an epic chess move!

I'm playing devil's advocate - the other side is "hey, you shoulda been paying me that - why am I all of a sudden worth double?". And gone

yea .. even though i would be happy to make double and the bonuses, there would be a part of me that would be insulted to know that he thought that highly of me all along and never reciprocated with pay until he had to

Another way to look at it is, if an established company will throw money like that because of a new competitor there has got to be a reason. I would be willing to bet he knows SP probably got all of those clients and they'll more than likely jump ship to his new business.

All interesting points and I appreciate them all.

The thing is, the last TWO companies that I left are for all intensive purposes, not players anymore........that's just the facts.........

So, what I see in the future is my old company dying on the vine one because they are paying too much for people and two, because we are IN SALES garanteed money to what should be comission driven people is a serious no no.

Even a first year business student knows this.

It is nice to see the owner take the place and it's people serious.
We have been a top performing branch for years now and in fact three of the top ten salespeople in the country work with me.......(I recruited two of them out of college)
both are people that Obama says don't pay their fair share............both are coming my way.

He has only been here three time counting today over nine years............busy in Italy and stuff, buying planes, stuff like that.......no time for us.

But is scheduled freed up now!! LOL
FWIW...........not bragging.............but I feel a little humbled that "the Man" is this frightened.

And I am happy the guys will get a big hit......just disappointed that with all the success they see before them they take the cash, when in all likelyhood, they will have to pay the band at the end of the dance

Winner winner chicken dinner

Another valid point!

Stay with company and know I have a secure job and let them double my salary and give me 50k extra


This is how you get raises , been with my company going on 14 years and had lots of offers but my company has always came through....Loyalty

Im good

SP

You need a Safety Director??? LOL

No man, we are just a reseller......

"W" you raise a valid point, but with these salaries and bonuses the location will be bleeding like a stuck pig at a Boucherie........so how long you think the little spoiled rich CEO will stand for that?

Our business is a 2% return on sales business on a national average..........our location was double that a 4%.......when you increase salaries by 50% when salaries are 52% of gross profit already......you get a net net of LOSS......

In that case you might have some hands in a year lol


I know this white boy will not take a pay cut so one they give it.....its for life or im gone

my thoughts exactly...unless he has the cash to pump into it, its gonna look like cat poo on paper...they will have to cut the hog in azz somehow and that may spell trouble down the road. Hell let'm do it, its gonna help you in the long run lol

In the past year I have been offered 3 different positions and the best would have paid 35% more and an extra 2 weeks of vacation. The money being throw around right now is crazy. I talked to our division manager about the company that offered 35% more and he told me they could not match that. The CEO of the company did offer more money. I have been with this company for 8 years now and am very comfortable. I take off if I need to and really don't have to answer to many people. I'm in the process of growing my own Rental business and i can take Care of that durring my fulltime job. I'm only gone about 5 nights out of the month. The new company would have doubled the people working for me and I would have been gone about 10 nights a month. I would also have to be in the office every day I chose to stay where I'm at. Some times the money being offered and the insecurity in the future is not worth what could be.

What field r we talking about? I would like a little more info before I make a reasonable response!!

Wholesale distribution .....Electrical supplies

SP,
Don't think I've ever met you. BUT i do know what line of work you are in and it's Cut throat to the Bone! You offered the guys a good deal and the other guy came back w/ a full blown panic offer that he will not be able to maintain w/o going into the big red. Stick w/ the guys that choose to come w/ you in this endeavor. reward them when you can and let the chips fall where they may.
If there are any that you really want that are thinking of taking his offer . Lay it out for them and tell them that your offer is a one time deal. If they choose to take the big money offer Good luck.

Thanks Eman, we met at the past time get together a few years ago.......

I'll post up tomorrow with the results of the day

LOL, at my age, 2 years is like ten. Give em hell

Hey you should open up an oil and gas measurement company, I been trying to get a big bonus

Free market system at its best!

Money is only money, If the employee's who choose to take Big Pockets cash now stick with him... They are not really the guys you need to join your venture anyway.

You started out this process by offering them a fairer wage, You have established yourself as the person who was willing to help them grow their business, That and your past conduct with these employee's set's in stone the definition of what sort of "Character" you have.

Those with a strong sense of self preservation will always want to play on the winning team. Not just the team that happens to be paying a bit more right now.

The reality is some will take your offer, and some will take his unsustainable offer. You will back-fill and train additional employee's to take the place of those that did not come over. He will not be able to sustain what he offered and will either close doors or buy enough time to get a new sales force in.

And yeah.. to offer guaranteed salaries with guaranteed bonuses in a commission environment... That's not gonna end well. I suggest those who accept his offer get it in writing.

Ace, you are spot on! I've been trying to put what you typed in to words all night long. I never could get it to sound right. Thank you!

SP, what Ace says is the absolute truth!

Never look back!

Ditto. In a previous life I worked as an executive recruiter (head hunter). Almost every time someone leaves a counter is made. It's a double whammy. The employer now knows that the employee has a wondering eye and the employee wonders why he wasn't compensated this way before. Usually when an employee excepts a counter offer, the relationship doesn't last much longer. They are throwing some strong figures at these people, but the trust is already broken. My opinion, it's up to them to make the decision. I would focus more on my opportunity coming up with my new company instead of the downfalls of the old company (integrity) with them. Get however many you can out of the 17 and hire the rest elsewhere. Sounds like you have a good opportunity coming up and should be able to find quality people. Good luck!

Loyalty would be taking care of you the way should be taken care of all along. Not just paying attention to your date after a pretty girl walks into the room. Try that and let me know how it works.

You guys have made some great points..........

As of today, my former employer no longer has a staff on inside salespeople.

Six sales people, four warehouse people, all turned the money down.

This has been a humbling experience for me and I continue to be amazed at the blessings the Big Man gives me.............

It has gotten personal this morning with the CEO calling customers claiming "Piracy" of predatory practices.

He had eight days to make offers before I did. He offered people huge money to stay and it backfired.

People cannot and will not be bought like a monkey in a pet shop window.

This restores my faith.
There will be more coming...........

That's good SP.

Seems like things are going your way.

He had eight days to make offers before I did.

What exactly does this mean?

It's hard to make a judgement on what I would do given that I know next to nothing about the work, the work environment, you, your former employer or just about anything else. But it's good to see that it's working out for you. (BTW, I do not at all expect any more background. That would only lead to more questions.)

Just a guess - it may have already been let known, I can't recall - the CEO is a second generation owner? Sooooo many SGOs fail because they didn't have to work to build the company and don't have a clue how to maintain a company.

SP, I am assuming you've never signed a non-compete

La. R.S. 23:921

Non-competes are generally non-enforceable in Louisiana.

A little off topic but I'm glad you brought this up Matt. I heard that they are not enforceable in LA because the law states that you cannot take away a person's ability to make a living - meaning that you can state that the company you are starting performs the only act or skill set that you know how to do. Is this correct? Hopefully someone smarter than me could shed some light or find an actual law/guideline that states this.

well thats good lol...i just signed one...

I'm not an attorney so please don't walk into court saying Matt on saltycajun said so! Lol. I had this discussion in a BLAW course with my professor and this is what I got out of it. I'm sure there's an attorney on here that can shed some light on it.

One thing you might mention to these guys is if the boss could afford to pay this before why didn't he. Did they suddenly become worth more or is he scared. How is he going to come up with this cash ? Probably by replacing them with cheaper units once the scare is over, if you ask me.

One thing for you to consider is if money is the only motivator, then you are probably better off with fresh blood than with prositutes.

Knowledge is one thing, but sales takes a certain personality and a belief in ones product and company culture.

I hope you are still hiring in 5 years when I retire out of here and move there.

What I mean by the 8 days to make offers:

In our industry (sales in general) it is common for "teams" of people to leave a company.
We pair our outside/inside guys with customers and it does leave the company vunerable.

Knowing that many companies make offers to people to get them to stay prior to them even mentioning leaving.....

I had dinner the VP of Operations two days after I left. He is a dear friend and has known for several years now that if the right opportunity presented itself I would leave.
He was totally aware of my intentions and at dinner that night, when he asked how many people are you taking.......I responded.....as many the fill out an application to come.....

I posted the jobs.......and all but two employees filled out an application.


So they had time to shore up the team before I made any offer.

As for as non-competes.......they have wanted me to sign one for years now. Offering me some pretty good coin in a one time hit to sign one......I have always politely declined.

Non-competes are non enforceable.......BUT.....companies can tie you up in court and drain your pocket book by getting the case in front of a judge......

My CEO has done that to folks......



SOOOOO.......

Yesterday on his departing from the place he informed the remaining employess that I was a "cult" leader.......just like David Coresh (sp) of the Branch Dividean (sp) in Waco.
That he had exstensively read up and studied cults and that they where witnessing it first hand.......Oh my goodness the man is a quack

Looks like SLANDER case to me ? You could now tie him up in court and drain his finances ????

eman........likely is.......but he has MILLIONS of his daddy's money to play with

Why would SP tie up HIS finances going to court over such a thing. Attorneys and suits cost money.

I love it when people who have never dealt with any kind substantive legal procedure say "You should just sue" like it's no big deal. Time, money, energy.