4 steps to a successful salary negotiation 

⏱approx 4 Min

In the last article I talked about the salary negotiation in a job interview. Today we want to focus on a salary negotiation when you are already in employment.

A lot of employees fear this conversation, because they don’t want to cause any discrepancies in the relationship with their boss. However, it is important for you and also your motivation to ask for an increase if the value you provide for the company has increased, e.g. because you took on an important project, achieved certain goals, managed to recruit a new client etc.

Negotiations are part of every work relationship and if you are clever and prepare yourself in advcance you have already reached 80% of making the negotiation successful for you.

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#3 Always aim for love 

First You will need three goals. I call them min, good and love. So, for a salary negotiation you will need three different amounts.

1. Min: This is your minimum amount. It could mean an increase of 3 %.
2. Good: This is the amount you are actually aiming for. If you achieve this number, you will be happy and proud of yourself because you got what you wanted. A good increase could be something around 5 - 7 %.
3. Love: This amount is the figure you will tell your negotiating partner. It is high enough so there is enough room for negotiation. In this case something around 10 – 15 % or even more.

In a nutshell you could say, in every negotiation it is critical to aim for love. So, start the negotiation with an increase of 10-15 %.

#4 the negotiation

Before the conversation

Okay now let's get into the game and start commuicating to your boss that would like to have meeting. Studies show that most employees are successful if they take the initiative – so my advice: Schedule a meeting with your boss and express your desire to discuss your development. However, if the next performance review is already scheduled you do not need to schedule an extra appointment.

⚠️Word of Advice: Never agree to have this discussion on the spot; you can only lose. 
You can expect your boss to have had way more salary negotiations than you ever had and also good leadership personnel training to deal with these situations.

During the conversation

Get straight to the point:

• Explain that you'd like to discuss your performance over the past period. Present your achievements.
• Now, state specifically how much you want to earn - it's important that you make the initial offer.
• Then remain silent and wait for the boss's response.
• The psychological effect here is the so called anchoring effect. To assess the value of something, our brain searches for reference values. If they can't find any, an arbitrary number serves as a reference point. Or, in this case, the initial offer. This is why you have to name the desired amount first because it is very much likely that you will negotiate around this amount or percentage.

This is something you could say after you have spoken about your achievement: "...for these reasons, I'm requesting a salary adjustment, and I believe that 15 % is more than fair."

Then, say nothing more and wait.

⚠️Word of Advice: Never use the term "salary increase" during the meeting. Use the term "salary adjustment" instead. The reason is that "salary increase" sounds like "paying more" - like an increase without a reason. With "salary adjustment," it implies that something was previously incorrect and needs correction, so there's a reason for it.

Now it is your boss’s turn to respond. There are two types of typical responses:

1. Rhetorical maneuvers, and the salary request is dismissed with something like "Of course I would give you an increase however - I am unsatisfied with your past performance."
2. The supervisor mentions the limited budget.

Whatever happens - stay calm, it's part of the game. Either ask: "Which specific performance did not meet your expectations?" or in case of the limited budget after all, you're looking to change this: you're helping to increase revenue, offering added value, more ideas. So by giving you more money, his budget should also increase.

With this tactic of "probing and turning," you can successfully negotiate a salary increase. Of course this is no guarantee because sometimes there is really no chance for example because the company is facing a tough time at the moment and any investments are freezed. However most of the cases there are chances that you will be successfull. Stay composed, breathe, and ideally, smile.

You can do this!

By the way: Another excellent question is: What do you need to support my salary request?

Remember, it's always important to understand what your counterpart gains from the conversation.

Negotiations are part of every relationship - even children negotiate

Think about it - when was your last moment where you had to convince someone else about a project. Or if you are a parent how often does it happen that your kids want something and they either get what they want or not. Theses moments are also negotiations because it's about convincing someone.

Most people fear the negotiation part when they are meeting with their supervisor. I hope I was able to take away some of the fear.