It’s annual review season for many business professionals. If your annual review is coming up and you’d like to negotiate a higher salary, you’re in luck. Here are some tips for effective salary negotiation that you can use during your next review or conversation with your supervisor.
1. Know what you want ahead of time.
Do your research and decide before your review meeting how much you want the increase to be. If you don’t know what you want, you don’t have much chance of getting it.
2. Ask for more than the minimum you want to accept.
Asking for the high end of the range for your position will give you some wiggle room when your supervisor tries to negotiate downward (which will likely happen). Also, it is better to ask for a specific number rather than a round number or a range ($64,500 rather than $65,000).
3. Know your worth.
Being able to talk about the value you bring to the job, ways you have saved the company money and/or time, and ways your skills have advanced can show in definitive terms why you deserve a raise. What you don’t want to do is compare your salary to the salaries of your colleagues.
4. Put it in writing.
Making a written “brag sheet” of your accomplishments since your last increase will give you something to leave with administrators as they consider your request. Be sure not to stretch the truth or try to look even better than you are because it may negatively impact your credibility and hurt your chances of a positive response.
5. Practice ahead of time.
It’s a good idea to role-play and practice making your case before you have an actual meeting with your supervisor because you will be more comfortable when you have practiced what you want to say ahead of time.
6. Wait until later in the week.
A study in Psychology Today says that Thursday is the best day to ask for a raise, because at that point supervisors have become more flexible and open to compromise.
7. Keep it positive.
Complaining about your job duties or current salary is not an effective way to get an increase, but is more likely to turn off your supervisor. Focusing on what you bring to the table and what the company will gain by giving you a raise is a far better plan for success.
8. Use the pause.
When you do get an offer, career coach Jack Chapman says the best response is to pause and say nothing for as long as you can. This long pause may be interpreted as you being dissatisfied with the offer (whether or not that is true), and often the supervisor will increase the offer right away.
9. Sweeten the pot.
Whether or not you get the salary increase you asked for, that shouldn’t be the end of the negotiation. You can also ask for increases in benefits like better health insurance, more time off, or a more flexible schedule.
10. Keep trying.
If the answer to your request is a firm no, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. There will be another annual review next year, so spend time this year adding value to your work performance by completing projects and taking continuing education courses so that your brag sheet will be even more impressive.
CCSU offers many professional development courses as continuing education to help build your skills and resume. Join our mailing list to see what we offer.