It costs on average US$ 4,588 to hire a new employee, as much as US$ 12,032 for Exempt employees, that's according to Workforce Management magazine.[1] Executives know it costs more to replace someone than to keep productive employees. That's why it's a strong motivating factor when you can demonstrate how your solution helps them keep employees or reduce the costs of replacing them.
Is what you offer a hiring tool, employee productivity management, or solution for improving employee satisfaction? Your solution may improve the work environment or employee satisfaction. How does your solution relate to the employee retention process?
Keeping employees motivates executives because replacement costs compound when you include training on company practices, integrating them into a work environment, and expenses in the human resources process. Demonstrate a firm connection between acquiring your solution and the results it creates in employee retention. It is often necessary to go through key executives before human resources gets to use your product.
Decreasing employee turn over motivates executives because:
Satisfied employees are more productive. Does your solution increase employee satisfaction or improve their work experience? It does no good to have a building full of employees if no body is getting anything done. Help executives see how your value directly connects with employee satisfaction.
Keeping existing employees reduces hiring expense. When does your solution contribute to employee retention? It costs too much to hire new employees when an executive can keep the ones they have.
Weeding out unproductive employees improves effectiveness. Where can your solution help keep the most profitable employees or identify those who don't fit in the organization? Some employees are worth using and it increases productivity to remove them. Often unproductive employees cause great employees to leave.
Problems with employees reduce billable hours. How can you increase billable hours or reduce wasted time? This is the connection between employees to revenue generation; help executives get more time that is billable from the employees they already have.
Unhappy employees lead to poor customer satisfaction. Where does your solution contribute to monitoring this relationship? This creates a snowball effect where employee satisfaction destroys customer satisfaction. Your solution must stop this problem early.
Firing employees opens an organization to liability. Can your solution make managers more aware of employment policy? If done incorrectly removing unproductive employees can lead to legal liability, so often executives will not remove employees who need to go. If your solution can help, be sure to mention this connection.
Great employees attract great applications. How does your solution highlight successes of existing employees in a way to that improves the quality of new applicants? Demonstrate how your solution puts out the right message that makes the company a more desirable place to work.
Each employee already knows company practice. Where does your solution improve consistency in corporate practice when new hires? It's difficult to participate in a corporate culture, and even harder to retain a productive one if new members who don't share the same values constantly change it.
Investments in training are lost when an employee leaves. How can your solution reduce training costs or help retain expertise? Tie reductions in training expenses to how the executive will be able to retain the value of that type of investment.
Former employees could share trade secrets with competitors. Does your solution protect intellectual property from theft or loss? No compete agreements don't always stand up in court, and even if it has to go that far, it costs the executive both time and money to address the situation.
Executives want good employee relationships. Does what you offer improve the relationship between executives and employees? You may help executives better connect, motivate, or inspire employees to action. Executives want to feel connected with their staff in a way that motivates them to fulfill corporate objectives.
When one employee leaves, others follow. Can your solution isolate issues pertaining to a clean separation? Executives take employee relationships seriously and an exodus of team members is the last thing they want.
This motivating factor has two elements, your solutions ability to keep great employees, and to reduce liability in turn over. For best results, show how your solution directly connected with an executive's ability to keep and attract useful employees within their organization. To demonstrate this, you'll need both logical and emotional reasons you can present in your presentation and marketing materials.
Be constantly aware of new ideas that highlight the connection between what you offer and the feelings executives have when they experience very low employee turn over. There is a sense of accomplishment for every executive who has a positive, productive, and profitable work environment. Often these ideas come from how other products that directly influence employee turnover present themselves.
Your success with this motivator will be dependent on your ability to connect with complementary solutions that make clear your place in employee retention. Not every product can make this connection, but once you do, you'll find executives highly motivated to buy from you.
Justin Hitt, a copywriter and executive relations advisor for Hitt Publishing Direct. To contact him, or learn more strategies for selling and marketing to executives, visit http://hittpublishingdirect.com/
