Negotiation: How to Prepare to Ask for a Raise.

When was the last time that you negotiated a raise or promotion?  Do you get a little weak in the knees at the thought of asking your boss for a raise?

Recently a friend of mine was lamenting to me that she needed to get a part-time job to supplement her income because she had not received a raise in over 3 years.  She explained that she had been instrumental in getting a raise for 15 of her employees but not one for herself.

I said, “Well, we need to change that.”

As we worked together over several weeks, we came up with a firm plan for her to get in front of her boss and boldly ask for that long overdue raise.

Here are a few negotiating pointers that you can use to ask for your next raise:

• Research the salary range of your current position in the area of which you live.  Go to: www.salary.com for reliable information.
  • Decide exactly what dollar figure raise that you expect to receive.
  • If your company traditionally only grants a percentage cost-of-living raise, you must decide if this is reasonable based upon your research.

• Update your resume and LinkedIn profile to include:
  • Continuing education classes – those for credit or industry/expertise education.
    • Include any certifications that you hold.
  • If you are working on a degree or certification, list that with the expected completion date.
  • Projects of which you have been involved.
  • Committees that you have participated.
  • Include all of your external business accomplishments – civic, networking, education, etc.
  • Have you been awarded industry honors?  Include those.
  • What new skills have you learned or attained since your last evaluation?
  • Include any publications, including White Papers you have produced, even if you are the co-author.
  • Are you a volunteer with any community or civic organizations. Include these under Community Service, especially if you hold or have held a position as the leadership team.

• Make a list of all of your accomplishments since the last time you received a raise or had your an annual evaluation.
  • Don’t forget to include industry and community accolades of which you have been honored.
  • How many people do you supervise?
  • Have you been instrumental in creating work improvements objectives for your department and/or for the entire company?
• Make a list of proposed updates, changes or work initiatives that you have determined you can generate.
  • For every recommendation, write a justification to match.
  • If you have a coach or close friend, use them as a sounding board to role-play with them to work through all of your proposals.
  • If you have worked for your boss for over a year, you should be accustomed to what his/her response will be.
  • Think through the possible responses that you will get based upon his/her reactions and be prepared to defend your points.

• List key skill-sets that you have expertise including:
  • team leadership.
  • upper management skills.
  • computer expertise – list programs that you are particularly adept.

• Above all, never go into an annual review without being armed with your written list of what you have accomplished and how you plan to be instrumental in growing the organization in the coming year.

After coaching my friend though these tips, she not only received a raise but also was promoted to Vice President of the company!

You too can be successful in negotiating a raise and/or promotion.  Just remember, everything is negotiable.  Be bold and be prepared to receive a “Yes” answer!

Peggy P. Edge (c) 2017

Peggy is a Certified Professional Coach who works with individuals to set career goals and objectives.  Her focus is to guide her clients to a win-win.

Networking – How to Create an Effective 30-Second Commercial

How many times have you attended a networking function only to find that everyone there gives virtually the same 30-Second Commercial?  It goes something like this…

“Hi, my name is Lucy Jane Jones and I am an Account Representative for Jones Sales Associates.”  Uh, I sell Wonderful Widgets.  If you have a need of a Wonderful Widget, we give $10.00 discount if you mention my name at checkout.  Hmmm, our office is just down the street on the next corner in the bright shiny high-rise on the left.  Omm, you can call me anytime and I’ll be glad to demonstrate our Widget to you or your office manager.  Lucy Jones with Jones Sales Associates, home of the Wonderful Widget.”

Please, just shoot me!

An effective 30-second commercial absolutely must be:

• Engaging
• Creative
• Educational
• Memorable
• Paint a verbal picture for the audience

Nothing is engaging, creative, educational, and memorable or paints a verbal picture about the script above.

To engage your audience, most of us are like 5-year old children.  If you are talking to them, the easiest way to connect with them is to:

• Ask a question
  • Lucy could have started her commercial with:
    • Let’s see a show of hands. How many of you have seen the Wonder Widget that just hit the market about a month ago?
  • Now in a room of 25-30 people, you would think that 1-2% of the attendees have seen an advertisement run on local television for this new product.

To be creative, Lucy could include a statement that includes the corporate tagline for this new product on the market as her opening statement.

To be educational, Ms. Jones could declare 1-2 key pointers of what the Wonderful Widget will do for you.

To be memorable, bring a sample of the Wonderful Widget for a show-n-tell to her audience.

Finally, to paint a verbal picture, Lucy could enhance her commercial by describing in brief, concise terms, what are the various features of her product.

Now to pull all of these elements together, Ms. Jones will also need to include three elements so that her audience can determine how they can be of assistance to her in the marketplace.

These three elements include:

• The WHO
• The WHAT
• The WHY

WHO – Who are your prospective clients?

• Who are your prospective clients?
• What level of management are they?
• What industries are you looking to penetrate?

WHAT – What product and/or service do you offer?

• Concentrate on talking about only one product or service at a time.
• If you have more than one product/service, create different commercials for each.

WHY – Why do people need this product/service?

• You are describing your Value Proposition to the prospective client.
• What problem or pain-point does your product address or solve?

You might use the following form to help you craft an effective commercial:

I work with (who)______________________________________________

I provide (what)_______________________________________________

So that or because (Value Proposition)_____________________________

Your Name and Company_______________________________________

You might ask, why do I say my name and company last?  Shouldn’t I say those things first?

No, because your name or company does not engage the audience.  Remember you have to grab their attention with the first few things that you say.

Other things you can do to improve your 30-Second Commercial is to:

• Start your commercial with a question that helps them to think.
• Make a statement about something that pertains to your industry or product offerings.
• Tell a very brief story about how you have helped a client solve a problem. This is particularly effective if you are in a service industry rather than marketing a product.

If you will combine all of the points on crafting your 30-Second Commercial, your audience will be more apt to help you with referrals.

Finally, after you have tweaked your new commercial, try it out on a colleague.  When you are confident that you have whittled it down as lean as you can get, use a timer and practice-practice-practice.

Peggy P. Edge (c) 2016