Three Ways to Get a Raise

Every year about this time I receive a lot of inquiries on how to get a raise.  And this year is no different.  Many are in the midst of their annual review. 

During the past 20 years of recruiting and coaching executives, here are three things you can do right now to get yourself that big raise: 

Know Your Market Value: Take the time to learn the average starting salaries for your position and similar roles.

For example, I publish and release a semi-annual salary report for the WDC/Mid-Atlantic insurance market that many of my candidates use as their bible when negotiating a salary increase OR when seeking a new job. The link is here: 2023 WDC Insurance Salary Report. 

Nationwide consultants publish annual salary reports in a variety of industries such as The Robert Half Salary Guides to determine the going rates for positions.  There is also Glass Door which sometimes will provide relevant compensation data. 

The point is to do your research and know what your market value is. 

Compensation also extends to non-cash benefits such as: additional PTO, flexible hours, remote work options, professional development, paying for professional certifications, a new title, or an equity stake in the company. 

Document your Accomplishments: Look back and document the bottom-line benefits you’ve brought to the company over the past year.  I coach executives to keep a dedicated notebook handy in their desk drawer.  Whenever they go beyond the call of duty, they document, log, and date what they did in the notebook. It’s amazing what some people come up!

This can include closing an extraordinarily complex sales deal, coming up with an innovative idea that translated to sales or increased operational efficiency.  It could be as simple as retaining a key client that was about to be lost.  Try to quantify these accomplishments in savings in time or money.

Also remember to ask your supervisor for metrics and benchmarks to meet or exceed for the upcoming year. Stay ahead of the curve. Document at least once per week.

Prepare for a discussion: Now that you know your market value AND you have documented all your successes throughout the year, you are almost ready to ask for your raise.

The last step is to prepare.  Chance favors the Prepared Mind.

You want to go through the exercise of putting together an actual presentation outlining (using the above information) what you want in terms of a financial raise and maybe some of the non-cash items mentioned above. 

Be willing to negotiate.  And rehearse.  Grab a colleague or family friend and sit down and pitch your presentation.  Revise it. Polish it. The objective is to become fluent in the presentation.

Enter this meeting supremely confident and ready to talk specifics.  Chances are your supervisor will be rushing in from a previous meeting and unprepared to have a substantive discussion – so you take charge.

If your boss doesn’t have the authority to grant you a raise and has to get approval from someone higher up, you can help by writing a joint letter or email asking for a raise including the key points of your discussion.

If your boss flat out refuses to give you the raise you are asking for, then insist that he/she explain to you exactly what is required to get the raise.  What are the expectations?  What are the specific benchmarks you need to meet or exceed to get this raise? Do you need more certifications?  Work in a different department?  Take on more responsibility? 

The most important thing is to take the initiative.  Be proactive. Organizations value that. 

If you do this in a professional way, you will at least get some careful consideration.  Good things will happen.