I’m an Expert: Here Are 5 Ways To Effectively Negotiate Your Salary

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If you want a better salary, you need more than your desire — you need a solid plan. Approaching it without being prepared won’t get you far, and making it personal can backfire. Even though you’re convinced you deserve a pay increase, you still have to successfully negotiate it with your employer.

Joseph Grenny, co-founder of Crucial Learning and four-time New York Times bestselling co-author of “Crucial Conversations,” said to remember that when negotiating your salary, power is important. 

“Your position is only as powerful as the alternative options you’re truly willing to consider. If you’re dissatisfied with your position or pay, at the end of the day it’s your job, not your organization’s to create a better situation,” Grenny said. “If you don’t get what you want, either revise your expectations or take responsibility to satisfy them elsewhere.”

Here’s expert advice on how to strategically approach a salary negotiation. 

Don’t Ambush

“People often complain of performance reviews being held in the hallway, or worse, leaving it on their desk or, in one case, the boss slipped the review into a bathroom stall, ” Grenny said. “Don’t be similarly thoughtless. Don’t corral your boss in the hallway — virtual or otherwise. Set up a time and place and let them know you’d like to discuss your career plans and your compensation potential.”

Don’t Make It Personal

Grenny suggested centering yourself emotionally in advance of negotiations to avoid making it personal. 

“Remind yourself you are talking about pay, not self-worth,” he said. “Whatever your company’s perspective is on your work and your pay, avoid the temptation to allow it to define you. If you allow your net pay to define your self-worth, you’ll introduce noise into the conversation that will undermine both your influence and your happiness.”

Do Your Homework

“If your company uses a particular pay database, investigate comparative ranges for people with your skills, experience, tenure, etcetera,” recommended Grenny. “Similarly, get any appropriate information you can from job postings and other sources about comparisons within your company. If you’ve been exploring other job options, bring valid pay information from those to the table as well. In addition, be prepared to present a fair view of the contribution you’ve made.”

Clarify Your Motives

Grenny explained that salary negotiation conversations go best if your goal is value-based not greed-based. 

“If your attitude is ‘more is better than less,’ then you immediately place yourself in an adversarial position with your company,” he said. “If your goal is ‘fair pay for great work,’ for example, you and your boss/HR may find common ground as you create a mutually agreeable definition of ‘fair’ and ‘great.'”

Make a Business Argument

Grenny pointed out that helping your company realize why paying you more is in its best interest is your strongest negotiating position. 

“Begin by trying to come to agreement on principles,” he suggested. “For example, ‘I don’t want a penny more than is fair. I’d like to ensure I have growth potential so long as I am making a bigger contribution. Can we agree that the goal is to create a pay plan that is internally fair (compared to those doing similar work here) and externally competitive (I don’t have to leave to make what the market says my skills are worth)?'” 

Grenny said that if you’re able to agree on principles, the next step is to discuss your role’s value as well as how your pay compares externally and internally. 

“Be sure as you look at comparisons that you fairly value total compensation packages,” he recommended. “It’s unfair and manipulative to compare element by element with another package, [for example], demanding your company match a competitor’s 401(k) plan when the truth is your overall package is far more generous.”

Additional Pay Negotiation Strategies

Grenny also offered these additional salary negotiation tips: 

• “Don’t confuse your contribution with your effort,” he said. “You’re not being paid for how hard you work. In most companies, people who work the hardest — the janitors, for example — get paid the least. 
• “Don’t confuse your contribution with what you do. There are lots of people who do a lot, but what they do adds little or no value to the company. 
• “Do explain your impact on key corporate results. Your contribution consists of the impact you have on the company’s value proposition.  It consists of the part you play in satisfying customers, producing product, reducing costs, bringing in income and so forth. 
• “Don’t leave out valued contributions that aren’t in your job title. After you’ve identified your primary contributions to the job and therefore to the company, point out other important skills you bring. Team skills: what you do to help unify the team. Administrative skills: talent in getting things done. 
• “Be open to other views. If your boss disagrees with your point of view, ask him or her to share that reasoning with you. Add more facts or clarify the questions so your boss can reconsider. But be willing to reconsider and gain a different perspective yourself as well.”

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