HOW TO NEGOTIATE YOUR SALARY (part 2)

DOES YOUR PAYCHECK STILL MAKE SENSE? (part 2)

Last week we discussed two things you can do to prepare for salary negotiation - being a giver and solving your own problems.

If your paycheck still makes cents and you’d like it to make you dollars - maybe even thousands more dollars - keep reading for the next two steps!

3. SOLVE YOUR BOSS’ PROBLEMS

Solving your boss’ problems is like shifting into the fast lane for more mulah.

Think about it. Who has the power to give you a raise? Likely, it’s your boss. There are probably other stakeholders in this decision too, but your boss is an important one to persuade.

Without him or her you’re stuck in the mud.

What’s the most persuasive way to convince her of this?  Solve her problems. Wait, what? Hang in there. I know this may be a bit counterintuitive, but nothing convinces the boss more fully of your value than by helping her out. Do this enough and she’ll want to keep you around and engaged.

Think of your boss as your most important client at the consulting firm of YOU.

4. KNOW YOUR BOTTOM-LINE VALUE

Okay. You’re working on giving, you’re solving your own problems, and you’re solving most of your boss’ problems - especially the ones that you are uniquely qualified to solve, what’s next?

The next step is to know your bottom-line value.

In other words, how does the work that you do benefit the company's bottom-line? Specifically, what dollars and cents get created because of your grunt work? The more measurable your value, the better.

For salespeople its revenue.

For operations people it might be ways that you’ve helped cut costs or up-sold clients.

The marketing team might point to how many leads they’ve brought in a certain amount of time or how many of those leads ultimately led to sales.

Every position has some type of bottom-line value company, so figure out yours.

One side-note - if you or your coworkers are questioning your position’s value, you might want to look for another job. Your position may be on the short-list to be cut!

The bottom-line here is to figure out the dollars and cents of your contribution. This will be key to next week's post on “How To Negotiate Your Salary.”