The Best way to Negotiate Your Salary
Remember, a successful salary negotiation is not about pleading or begging; it's about presenting yourself as a valuable asset to the company. With the right approach and preparation, you can confidently advocate for the compensation you deserve.
Negotiating your salary when you don’t feel like you have much to negotiate with can be a tough spot. But it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re in the majority who look at their lifestyle expenses to justify what their salary offer should be… you need to hear this.
Your boss doesn’t care what your apartment costs. They care about what you’re bringing to the table. An investment in a new employee is not easily dismissed. Especially if you are the perfect combination of bold and respectful.
How to start a salary negotiation
One of the most valuable pieces of career advice we’ve ever heard was that your primary job is to make your boss’ boss happy. If you make your boss look good to their boss, you’re valuable.
Speaking of value.
You are bringing a unique combination of skills to the table. Even if this is an entry-level position and all you have to show for yourself is a sorority tee shirt chair position. Regardless of the years under your belt during the negotiation phase, there are a few tried and true best practices to stick with.
Like any other potentially uncomfortable conversation, the best place to start is complimentary. Speak to what you’ve learned so far, who you’ve learned from, what this company brings to the table for you and how grateful you are to be there.
Find the good.
And now you’ve set an appropriate table for an earned ask.
What not to say during a job negotiation
This conversation is not about what you’re looking for out of life. It’s not about what you want to buy with additional money, where you’d be able to travel with a bigger bonus, what your cost of living looks like, or how badly you want to throw your credit card down and buy the bar a round of drinks but you’re too responsible (read: poor) to do that at this moment.
The salary negotiation is entirely about what you’re bringing to the business, your coworkers, and - ultimately - the bottomline. So keep your personal preferences and goals to yourself. They're a great motivation for you to have the conversation, but they do not belong in the conversation itself.
How to speak to your value in a salary negotiation
We’re not talking about the things your mom told you you were the best at. We’re talking about the value you bring to the bottomline of the company and how you make your boss's job immensely easier.
How to negotiate a salary offer
Always prepare for negotiation with facts. Keep feelings out of this. What is the job that you’re being asked to do? What are the reasonable expected salary ranges for similar positions in your area? What about your background gives you a unique edge in taking this position? Get your references in line. Prep them beforehand and select people on your reference list who can speak to your character.
Managers want to hire people they can count on. People who will work to get the job done. Find ways before the original offer (ideally in the interview process) to show up in these ways before your negotiation. That way you can speak to them after your actions have already backed them up.
If you don’t know how to run Excel as well as you may have hyped yourself up during the interview, take an online course to get certified (Google has plenty) and let your future employer know you passed a class on Excel over the weekend to ensure you’d be best equipped to handle this job.
Go read a book the manager speaks highly of and send them your thoughts in between interview rounds.
Remember little details in early rounds and bring them back up in the later rounds.
Show your future employer as much about your character as possible. It’s much easier to place a bet on someone they’ve witnessed themselves instead of a brand new candidate.
If you’re negotiating a raise
What was the job description of the position you applied for? Write down how you’ve hit every one of those requirements and preferences. Then, go through your calendar or your old to-do lists, or your project management software if you’re Type-A, and write down any and all additional work you’ve completed for the company. Then, go check out the closest salaries to similar job descriptions in your area and present a more appropriate salary based on the job you are doing.
An email template for your salary negotiation
The primary reason a salary negotiation is successful is because the information offered is logical and requires no emotional pleading.
Let your work speak for itself.
Best case scenario you have this conversation face to face with your employer. Sometimes it’s just as hard to say no to someone’s face as it is to ask for a raise directly to their face. But in certain cases where you’d like to lay out your argument via email, try out this flow:
Traditional greeting
Something kind and calm
Personality connection point
Compliment
Transition intro to ask
The ask
The why
Schedule a follow-up
Salutation
Here’s an exact template and example for you to follow:
<Traditional greeting>
Hi <Employer’s Name> -
<Something calm and kind>
Hope you have a great weekend planned.
<Personality connection point>
Please tell your son Happy Birthday from me. There’s nothing like blue frosting and a bounce house to cap off a work week.
<Connect the intro to the ask>
Over the last few weeks, I’ve taken some time to revisit the work I am doing at (your company here).
<Be complimentary>
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and your team, the culture here is incredible, and I’m proud to say I work at (your company here). It’s an opportunity not many people get and I recognize that even more now than I did the day I started.
<The ask>
That being said, I’d like to have a conversation with you around my current compensation structure.
<Layout specific reasons why>
While I am a team player and am happy to help those around me, the original job description stated the following as requirements:
Providing financial planning, insurance, and investment services
Ensuring client records are maintained and kept current
Cultivating and maintaining ongoing relationships
Acting as a liaison between the client and other financial professionals
Guiding clients through personal financial analysis, including goal setting
Assisting clients with estate management, tax returns, budgets, or other financial tasks
According to feedback from you and my peers, I am doing each one of these tasks notably well. On top of expectations of the role from the original hire date, I’ve also helped the team grow from $20MM to $32MM in AUM, I’ve built out an entire training program for new hires, and we saw a significant increase in site traffic after strategy sessions with the Marketing department.
Because of my contributions to the team, the company has seen an increase in revenue, a seamless integration for new hires coming on board, and increased collaboration cross-functionally.
The average market rate for the workload I am now carrying in the DC area is $115K.
For those reasons, I am asking you to consider increasing my salary from $100K to $115K.
<Schedule follow-up>
I’d appreciate the opportunity to discuss this further in person. Please let me know when works best for you.
Regards,
<Your Name>
That’s it. You’re in there.
Look at you adulting hard. Well played. We’re not here to stop your momentum so if you crush the negotiation, get the raise and want to make sure you have more to show for it than before, schedule a call today with a member of our team to see if you qualify for the Stash Plan.
Stash Wealth provides financial plans designed to assist high earning young professionals build and manage their wealth.
Stash Wealth offers a pragmatic approach to financial planning and wealth management. Whether saving up for Tahiti or a Tesla, we help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals.
Written by Stash Wealth Staff Writer
Stash Wealth Staff Writers are knowledgeable about personal finance topics. Their objective is to unravel the complexities of finance trade jargon, products, and services in order to equip HENRYs with a sound understanding of financial matters.
