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SALARY NEGOTIATION EXPERTISE

Posted by Cliff Locks On June 13, 2018 at 10:04 am

SALARY NEGOTIATION EXPERTISE

In our country today, any discussion about money is a forbidden topic, it generally seems that we are more willing to discuss about our personal lives much more than our finances, but then, if we don’t find it at ease to discussing financial matters, we will never receive the kind of salary that we merit.

I’ll share some secrets of salary negotiation and at the end of this blog post give you a powerful tool as my a personal gift to you.

Why do we find it so difficult to have any meaningful discussion about our salaries and have the confidence to negotiate our remuneration?

I believe that the major thing that is required of people is to have the mindset for negotiating salary. For whatever reason, most people don’t know that when they are searching for jobs that they are free to reject the offer proposed by their employers and make a counteroffer or maybe they lack the boldness to do such, but several organizations usually anticipate that a counteroffer will be made.  Let’s apply this to another area of our lives, you can’t enter a car dealership and requested for the price of a new vehicle, and they told you it is going to cost you $55,000; actually, you won’t say “that sounds fantastic.” No, because they anticipate a counter offer from you. Therefore you have to bring in your knowledge and negotiate till you arrive at a sensible figure. The same thing is applicable while job hunting, but here people tend to forget their negotiation skills… a research conducted on LinkedIn reveals that 39% individuals were very nervous about negotiating their salary.

Are there any moments we should refrain from negotiating salary?

Definitely yes, if you are undergoing a lateral move, or you are enrolling for an executive training program with a pre-stated salary which absolutely nothing can change, however, it has little to do with bad timing; it’s more about people carrying out their negotiation with the wrong approach

Are you maybe asking what are we not getting right while negotiating our salaries?

Here are some mistakes that people make. To start with, most people don’t carry out an adequate background research, since you are quite aware that you will have to negotiate your salary, you need to get adequate information, it is your best ally, the more information you can get about the market value of your skills, the better you will be able to negotiate

Furthermore, many people tend to be extremely emotional while negotiating, the fact is you are not pleading to geta salary increase, you are not requesting for pay raise, and you are not stamping your feet and giving deadlines; it is purely a business judgment supported by research. But many individuals tend to turn it extremely personal. Pay attention, if you happen to be a middle manager trying to land your first C-level employment. Well that you still have a mortgage, saving for your kid’s college and a car payment, and your financially tight this is not a reason to request for extra pay. And if you happen to be older and are preparing for buying a summer home you’ve probably got your original mortgage obligation or whatever doesn’t compel your company to pay you more. They will only pay you according to the value you provide them.

Here are my suggestions and strategies so you can get our deserved remunerations.

People need to get back to do their research work; the more time you have to do this, the better. Let me give you a quick instance, I was having a discussion with this lawyer who happens to be a public defender but moved to a private firm and was given a pay increase of $20,000, well that’s fantastic I said, it’s a good offer. Will you put in a counteroffer? But then she took a good look at me and was like; it seems you didn’t hear what I said; I’m getting extra $20,000! And that is not dependent on the present salary; I became very curious made some findings, I discovered that the take-home pay of an average public defender is $50,000; also, the salary paid by an average private firm is $80,000. Therefore, while she might have gotten a pay increase of $20,000, but she was still poorly paid, and the sad part is that some bigger firms and firms in big cities might pay as much as $160,000 which means people are missing out on thousands of dollars.

One more strategy I’ll like to recommend is that when you are not given any specific figure, its better you allow them to quote a figure first. Therefore, if they request you to state your requirements, you may put it back to them by asking them the kind of budget they have in mind.

And to my last final advice, when you are seeking a pay raise, I want to emphasize again that you need to be well-equipped with information, and you should take note of that, make a record of all your achievements. That doesn’t require you to subject your resumes to weekly updates but take special note of those occasions when you receive a commendation from your boss, take special note of when you successfully negotiated a massive deal, note when you agreed to new contract, take special note of when you were very popular, ensure you accurately outlined the figures and what new skills you can bring to the table when making request for that pay raise, and don’t just end it there, use PowerPoint and Excel to state your case, build a convincing and accurate portfolio of your work and display it on your tablet or laptop to allow you to easily access, pass an information across and make a lasting impression.

The Basic Principles of Effective Salary Negotiations

Three presuppositions of this principle are:

  • Labor is an intangible
  • Salary relates to the level of responsibility
  • Employees must make more money for the company than they cost.

How much am I worth? Is only what’s fair and competitive for the quantity and quality of work you contribute. And since your contributions can be greater or less than another person’s in that same job, what’s fair and competitive is not a fixed price, but a range. You should aim for the top of that range.

When you examine your present compensation or look at a new salary, consider holding this attitude: When I’m paid the very best my skills can get in this company in this market, I’m fairly compensated. That’s the basic principle of effective salary negotiations. It helps ensure that both sides will be happy. Good negotiations, after all, are always win-win negotiations.

You don’t have to sweat it out; you can use my great resource ‘Negotiating your Salary, How to Make $1,000 @ Minute.’ (PDF) Visit

Please keep me in mind for full-time and consultative senior executive engagements and board openings. If you hear of anything within your network that you think might be a positive fit, I’d so appreciate if you could send a heads up my way. [email protected]

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