#707: The Key To Your Career Is...POSITIONING

How come I never seem to get a pay rise when everyone else seems to? Said Jared. My name is David Holman. Welcome to the Self Belief Chief podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already, to catch up with the latest episodes. We're always releasing episodes, so make sure that you're subscribing if you haven't done so already. And let's begin. So Jared came to me and he wanted to earn more money in his job, like a lot of people do. They want to get paid their true worth. They want to get paid for the value they provide. And Jared's saying, look, I've had a few meetings about asking for a payment, and I just don't get it. I don't ever receive that extra money, but other people I work with do. He says, I work really hard and I deserve to be paid more money. And, you know, I stay long hours and I really put in the time and I connect with people and I run projects. Why can't I get a pay rise? So I asked Jared, tell me what you said, what you said to your manager or the department when you asked for your last pay rise. He goes, okay, I will. He said, well, I told them that, you know, I am always the first one in and the last one to leave. I told them I'd successfully run these three projects this year. And I, you know, on top of that, seem to be well liked in the department. And I get on with people and, you know, for the work that I've been doing, I, you know, would like an extra 5,000. I said, okay, so here's the problem. What they've heard is you say, I put in hours, I work hard, I've run some projects, I want £5,000 extra. So in their head, they're trying to do a math calculation, and they're going, does all that really equate to 5,000 pounds extra? You know, maybe someone else could come in and easily be the first one in and the last one to leave and run those three projects and get on with people, lots of people that can do that. So is that really worth an extra £5,000? No, I don't think it is, necessarily. At least it'll put a doubt in their mind whether it really is. So I said to Jared, so here's what we need to do. You mentioned those three projects. Tell me about those three projects. He said, okay, well, one of these projects helped to bring in five new clients, and that's helped generate an extra 40,000 for the year for the company. I said, hang on, you ran a project that brought in new connections, valuable connections, that brought in an extra 40,000 for the year? He said, yes. And he said, and will that be year? I said, will that be year on year? He said, in all likelihood, yeah, we'll maintain those relationships. I said, so that, that is where we can look at the pay rise. We haven't even gotten to talk about the other two projects or all the other work that he does yet. But let's just take that one bit as an example. If he goes into his meeting asking for a pay rise, but what he does is he says, look, this year I created a project, I ran this project. We brought in five new clients, five new relationships that are going to generate £40,000 year on year, and I would like an extra £5,000. They then do the math going, okay, so for that extra 5,000, we bring in 40,000 extra year on year. So they're making a profit based on paying you more, paying you more money, so that maths makes sense to them. We don't want to lose this person. We could lose out on 40,000 a year. Because maybe this person, maybe Jared, leaves and he takes those relationships with him and they go, you know, maybe they like Jared and they want to work with him and they take that 40,000, go somewhere else, let alone Jarrod, you know, the other projects that make money or maybe have created relationships or whatever it might be. If you're thinking about it in terms of yourself, you need to work out what is the actual value that you're providing for the work you do. Now, it's obviously very helpful if you can talk about it in financial value. Right? In terms of money that's going to be brought in, that's the sort of the easiest way to talk about it. But if it's not, you know, sometimes you can't work it out in terms of a financial thing. So maybe you can work it out in terms of, you know, recruitment and who you've managed to bring in and the value of those relationships and the different ways that they're valuable and the work that that's been able to sort of, maybe it's helped elevate brand awareness for the business and you've got, you know, statistics around that. Okay, maybe you can collate lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of feedback that has very specific feedback about the role that you play and find the value in there that other people can't provide. Not just, we like this person and they're nice people, might be continuously Giving you feedback that is something unique to you. And they go, we can't lose that because we can't lose this person that puts, you know, puts a really good impression in other people's minds of this company that are an. A perfect ambassador and representative in a way that other people couldn't do. Not just saying, we're happy and we're smiley. People in their heads will think, lots of people can surely do that. Even if that's not true, they'll think, maybe other people could. So you want to do it as a sort of a sum, which is, if I want 5,000, I need to be displaying that in some way, shape or form. I'm providing five, six, seven times more value for that extra 5,000. Because if you can't demonstrate that and you're just asking for 5,000, they're going book 5,000 for what? Even if they don't say that, that's what they'll be thinking. But if you can demonstrate that for that 5,000, you're actually providing five, six, seven times more value already, then they'll go, oh, okay. Actually, yeah, we don't want to risk losing this person because it's of value to the company. So you need to think of it in terms of a net value. What is the cost of them losing you? Right. What is the cost of them losing you? And is it worth them paying you an extra 5,000, whatever the number is for you? Right. In terms of what you want to pay? Right. Maybe it's £500, or maybe it's £1,000, maybe it's 10,000, 20,000. Whatever it might be is then doing that bit of sum in terms of. Actually, it makes sense for them to pay me the money because they'll make this in return or they. They'll have this in return that's significantly more valuable. Not that you think it's more valuable, that the business would find it more valuable. You're not writing down what you think is valuable, you're writing down what they think is valuable. And that's the key. The mistake Jared was making, as I explained to him, is you're talking about it in terms of what you value. Right? Find out what the business values on top of money, obviously, and equate it to that £5,000 gets the business what they value most. And then you'll be in the right ballpark to have that conversation. And even if you can't work that out, get a commitment from them saying, what would. What would allow me to have that pay rise? Find that out get that bit of information and then get a commitment. If I do X, is there a commitment that I'll be paid? Why get that commitment? Because even if they can't pay you that moment, they might be able to give you that key of going, you just need to do this. And you might go, oh, yeah, I can do that. Okay, great. And say if, if I can do that, will that, you know, move my salary to this point? Is there a commitment for that? And then get that commitment, go ahead. And then you can work towards that pay rise. And that's what we did with Jared. And guess what? He got his pay rise. My name is David Holtman. If you change day, today will change your life. So enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy the rest of your life. Feel free to visit the Self Belief Chief website to find out more about today's episode. Or we'll put a link in the description if you want to schedule some time with me for free to discuss us working together. Otherwise I'll speak to you very, very soon. Just one more thing before you go. So I hope you're enjoying the daily episodes. We put in a lot of work to keep providing content because to create permanent change needs consistency. To get that consistency, we want to make sure we keep providing you value on a daily basis. But to keep up with that pace, could we ask for one very small favor? If you could take the time to leave a five star rating either on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, we'll put a link in the description for you to be able to do so. 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