How To Get A Raise At Work - Getting The Salary You Deserve

How do you get a raise? How do you earn and command the salary that you deserve? You know, just like everything else in your career and business, it all comes down to confidence, to your ability to assert what you are worth and make others see that about yourself and what you bring to a company, to an organization, to your own business and the fees that you command. And I want to share in this short video steps that you can take to gain the confidence that you need to get the raise and get the salary that you deserve. So the first thing you have to realize is that getting a higher salary, negotiating, whether it's your entry salary into a company, when you're first getting the job or you've been there for a while and you want to ask for a raise, get more money for the work that you're doing, that is a negotiation process. That's a negotiation process. And it's something that we often forget. You know, so often we're timid or we're nervous or we're so thankful that they graced us with the job that we say yes to whatever they want to give us. Okay, sure. Yeah, no problem. That's fine. That'll work for me. Or we are going to go talk to our boss to try to get a raise. And we're anxious about asking. We're anxious about having the conversation because we don't want to negotiate. We don't want to seem like we're demanding too much, but that's something that you have to break free of if you want to have the confidence to do this and you really want to get more money and get that raise. You have to be willing to be clear that you're there to negotiate. You know, I remember my dad. I'll never forget this. When I was a little kid, we were in India then. My dad was born in Pakistan. And in India and Pakistan, negotiation is the norm. It's not like, you know, in America, it's kind of like offensive, right? If you went to a store and they're like, how much is this? And they said, oh, that's $100. And you said, 100. I'll give you 80. They'd say, get out of here. What are you talking about? That's the price. That's what it is. It's written on the item. But in India or Pakistan, that's all up for negotiation. And my dad is a master at negotiation. And I remember when I was about 10 years old, we were in India, and he wanted to buy a really nice silk rug. They make some of the Finest silk rugs in the world in India. And so we're in this little hole in the wall shop where they literally make the rugs in the back. A whole f family is making these beautiful rugs. I mean, intricate patterns, soft silk, bright colors. And so. And they're expensive. They're thousands of dollars. And so my dad is negotiating with this guy, and I was amazed at just how upfront the negotiation process is. It's like, they both sit down, and it's like, I know you want this, and I know you want to sell this to me. Let's make a deal. And they're back and forth. You know, he's quoting high numbers, My dad is quoting low numbers, and they're. They're explaining why. And I remember at one point, it got to the point where my dad's like, that's it. This is not gonna happen. We're leaving. And so we grab the kids. You know, me and my brother and his wife, my mom. It's like, okay, we're leaving. And we all start walking out of the building, up the stairs, and the guy, like, runs after him like, no, no, come back. I'll give you a deal. And it's just this willingness to barter and to negotiate that you have to bring when you're interacting with your boss, with your supervisor, with a potential employer. It's like, yes, that's what we do. That's part of the process, and there's no shame in it. So what you have to realize is you are negotiating. That means you have to be able to sell yourself. Now, I know you don't want to have to do that. You have a job. You have a salary. Why should I have to sell myself? But the truth is that people reward what they perceive as valuable. And so you have to establish that you are of value. And the most effective way to influence it, to negotiate, is face to face. So if you're trying to do this over email or leaving notes or letters, I mean, this doesn't work. How do you influence someone other than face to face? So I know it's uncomfortable. I know it takes more courage, but you have to be willing to have the conversation with your boss face to face. Don't just send him an email and say, I want more money. Knock on his door and say, I'd like to have a conversation with you. Is now a good time? No. Okay, I'll come back later. When is a good time for you and making that happen, going face to face, and then realize that you're going to have to sell yourself. You know, it's not like you're going to come in there and they're going to say. Or that they're going to come to you, knock on your door, hey, Z. Yes, I see you're doing a great job there. You know what? Here's a bunch more money for that. I mean, that's what we want. That's what we feel entitled to have. It's like someone should just notice what I'm doing and give me more money. But it doesn't work that way. They're just happy as, you know, happy campers. If you're doing a great job and you're not taking that much money from the company, that's great, Right? That's what they're going to want to keep. That's the way power hierarchy works. So you have to break through that. You have to see through that and say, in order to get what I want, I have to get clear on what I want. So the first thing you have to do is get clear on what you want. What kind of raise do you want? So often I hear guys come in, they go to their boss, and they sit down and talk with them and they say, I want more money. Well, how much more money? Why? I mean, because if you don't, if you're not clear on what you want, then here's what happens. They say, sure, we'll get back to you. And they come back and they're like, we've really thought about it. We're going to be really generous. We're going to give you a 2% raise. And then it's awkward because then you're like, no, wait, I want more. I should have said that in the beginning. It's like you kind of. And then you're just thankful to take what you can get. So, no, you have to get clear. What exactly do I want? Sit down. How much more do I want to earn? A month or a week? Okay. What percentage of increase is that on my base salary? And say, okay. Okay. Really? I looked the numbers here. It would be a 12% raise. Maybe overshoot it a little bit, because in the negotiation process, they might talk you down. So let's say you come up with the number. 15%. I want a 15% raise. Now, how do you make that happen? Well, first you got clarity on the number. Secondly, you're doing it face to face and you're willing to negotiate. Thirdly, you got to know your value because you got to be able to sell them on why it's a worthwhile Investment to give you 12, 15% more a month for your base salary. And if you just come in there and be like, well, I want more money, what's the first thing they're going to say? Why? Why should we give you more money? And you got to have damn good answers to that. So you want to sit down and brainstorm before you ever going to have an interaction with your boss and say, what am I worth? What do I do here? And just catalog, write everything down. Free Write journal for 10 minutes and just write everything you do from the clear, obvious stuff like, hey, I made that project happen, or I took a leadership role here, or we completed X by this time to the softer stuff, the less tangible stuff like, hey, everyone here likes me, or I treat people really well, or people come to me with questions and I sit down and I spend time with them. And it builds the culture of this company and rewards everyone. So you want to get clear on everything that you bring to the table. And if you want to go one step further, put numbers on it. Because again, this is a sales process that you're going into with your boss here. So what speaks more highly to a boss than numbers? Right? So if you pushed a project through, it was going to be delayed, right? And you pushed it through. And because of the work that you provided, it got done on time. What is the value of that to the company? You know, how much money did that get the company? Or conversely, if you hadn't done that, how much would it have cost the company if they'd lost that client, if they'd lost that project, if there was extra fees and delays or anything else that comes along with it? So if you can say, because of the work I did, I saved our company $75,000 in the last month. That's compelling. And you can even invite the boss to say, last week I did X, Y and Z. Do you know how much it would have cost us if I hadn't done that? And he might say, he might have an answer and then he said it, or he might say, I don't know. Well, you know, I've been crunching the numbers on this. I looked at it. It's actually $75,000. That's what I bring to this company. So you have to be clear not only what your value is and putting numbers to it, but being willing to say that kind of stuff. And that's where the confidence stuff comes in, right? It's because so much of the time we're selling ourselves short, we're talking ourselves down we don't want to seem like we're bragging. And what we end up doing is really devaluing ourselves. And then, so when it comes to it, you're in that meeting one on one with the boss. You can't just speak to your strengths, what you bring. So you really have to start breaking that pattern, identifying those things and get comfortable talking about it and highlighting what you're doing. And if you really want to make this happen, there's something else that you got to do. And this is the uncomfortable part. Now, I know you might think that we've already gone over the uncomfortable part, but we haven't. The uncomfortable part is you have to really know the reality of what's out there. So let's say you're making 80,000 a year right now, and you want to get a raise to make it 96 a year or $100,000 a year, whatever that is, some percentage raise. And what you need to do is you need to go out into the world and see what other jobs are available to you to see if that's even. Would someone pay you 100,000 for the work that you're doing? So that means you have to dust off a resume. You have to go out there and see what is out there. You have to maybe even go to some interviews, really put yourself out in the world and get as research what's really out there for me, what do I really know? Because then if you sit down with your boss and you can say, you know what? Going rate for the work that I'm doing is actually $100,000, and that's what I believe I deserve here. And you're saying that not just from what you think is true, but from fact, you actually research that. Or if you go out there and you see that, geez, everyone's paying 10% less than these people are, you might change your tune. You might not throw out the everywhere else card. You might say, here's how do we make this more valuable for our company here? And really focus on that relationship and how they can see you as more valuable in the company and want to give you more money, whatever it is, if you see what's out there, and even better if you find out that you have opportunities in other places, you're so much more empowered. Because nothing is more disempowering than the idea of, I need this job, and if I lost this job, I would never get another one. And I'm just so lucky to have this job because it's. I'm not good enough for any job. If you have that mentality, then good luck getting a raise. I mean, they're going to see right through you. You're going to see the desperation. It's like if you want to date a woman and you haven't talked to or been near a woman in three months, it's hard not to come off as a little desperate. But if you've been talking to women left and right and gone on a few dates, then you're a lot more casual and confident in yourself. And it's the same thing when it comes to asking for a raise. So get out there and see what is really out there. What am I really? What is the market that I. The value that I can command in the marketplace. And that's going to give you a lot more certainty and confidence in yourself. The next thing that you have to be able to do is handle objections. So even if you do all your homework and prepare yourself and get ready and do the research of what's out there, if you go talk to your boss, there's probably something that he or she can say that just kind of throws you off. It just disorients you, and you just don't know what to say in response. And so you have to be able to think of what are the major objections that they're going to give me. There's no money in it. We don't have the money for that right now. No one else makes as much as you do. This is the going rate, maybe in three months or whatever the top ones are in your field that you've gotten before, you'd imagine you'd get, write those down and come up with responses. How would you respond? How would you handle each of those objections? So that way, when it occurs to, you have a clear response and you're not waylaid, and the key thing here is that you're pushing towards let's make a decision, let's make it now. So anything that kicks it down the road or makes it vague really keeps saying, okay, so you want to talk to so and so first, but when do you think you might talk to them? And when could our next meeting meet to discuss this so you don't let it just get blown out into the perpetual future of maybe someday. You really try to hammer them into what? When can we make this happen? So there's one thing that really stops you from doing this process, and it's best exemplified in a story I heard from Les Brown, which I love, and it's this guy's walking down the street, and he hears this o sound. What is that? And as he gets closer, he sees this house on his left. And on the stoop there's an elderly African American couple. And they're in rocking chairs, gray hair, woman's knitting. The guy's sitting there reading the paper, and in between them is this bloodhound dog. And it's just lying on the stoop on the porch there and making this, oh, moaning sound. And the guy stops and he says, excuse me, your dog's making some noise there. And the old guy says, yeah, he does that. The person says, well, why? What's wrong with him? Oh, he's laying on a nail. And the guy watching says, well, why doesn't he get up then? And the old guy says, well, it doesn't hurt that bad. And that's how it is when it comes to your salary and your job is if you're complaining about it and you're telling everyone it's not fair and you're frustrated at the end of the day, that's the nail, right? That not quite enough salary is the nail that's digging into your stomach. The question is, what about getting up? What would that look like? That means writing the resume, finding out what's out there, going to interview at other places, doing some real searching of what the value is. And doing that is like getting up. But it doesn't hurt that bad. Maybe I don't want to do that. Maybe that's scary, you know, putting my resume together. I haven't done that in 10 years. What if no one out there would hire me? What if people laughed me out of the room? What if I put myself out there and I find that I'm worth half of what I think I am. All those fears are so uncomfortable that it's better just to lay on the nail and complain, isn't it? It's like I'll just complain and instead of actually taking a step up. But it's just temporary because if you get up, it's just an illusion. All those fears are an illusion. And if you really put yourself out there and have something to offer, you will find what's out there. And you're going to have to create that by taking. Taking those steps. So if there's anything you take away from this video is you got to take action. So many ways to take action. One is enlist a friend, describe to them situation and have them play your boss and be as intimidating as possible, give you as many objections as possible, and practice again and again how you might deal with that and get comfortable in that role. Because if you can't be comfortable with a friend doing it, you're not going to be comfortable enough to do it with your boss. Secondly, take those steps. Write that resume. Create, you know, go out there and research what's out there. Do some headhunting interviews. Just see what your other options are. And even if you never take those options, it profoundly helps you in your sense of empowerment and confidence in the company that you're in right now. So go ahead and take those action steps and do the steps you need to ask for and command the salary that you deserve. And if you want to go way deeper in this and really unlock that confidence, and then contact me for confidence coaching. And this is just one of the many things that we can work on together. So thanks for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.