How to Ask for a Raise

You worked hard. You want a raise, you need a raise. You deserve a raise. Well as a CEO, I'm going to show you step-by-step what you need to do to get that raise. But I'll tell you something you must overcome is this fear of asking for a raise.

Now, nobody likes talking about money. Nobody likes asking for a raise because there's a chance of rejection. Nobody likes to be rejected. So I under understand that completely. But I want to walk you through all the steps you need so that you know that you've prepared and gone about this logically, rationally, and in a way that will increase your odds of getting that raise.

But I do want you to step back for a minute and think, if you were your boss, why would you give you raise? What have you done that's warranted that? What specific are you doing that is better than what you were doing when you were paid at another rate? And I'm assuming you want a raise more than just the cost of living increase. So that's your first homework assignment.

If you are your boss, why would you give you a raise?

When you ask for a raise, you can't do it in a vacuum. You have to look at other factors. Your timing is critical. If your company is undergoing radical downsizing and other people are losing their jobs, now is not the time to ask for a raise. If you work for a government agency and the legislature or Congress has just cut your organization's budget by 10%, now is not the time to ask for a raise.

If you've just gone through a performance evaluation and they were less than stellar in their appraisal for you, now is not the time to ask for a raise. If your stock price has gone down, and you can see senior managers are a little bit antsy, revenues are down, or your organization has lost its number one client, these are all good reasons not to ask for a raise. However, if profits are up if your company is hiring people, those are good reasons why the timing might be right. To ask for a raise doesn't mean you'll get it. But the purse strings are likely not to be quite as tight.

Is there other good news around? Has a significant new client been hired? Is there a chance there'll be more responsibilities if you're in the nonprofit or government sector? Has some new additional problem in society resulted in political leaders putting more responsibility and more revenues in the direction of your agency? All of these are factors.

No one gets huge salary increases in a vacuum. You have to look at all the other issues surrounding it, and you've got to look at your timing. You can ask for a 20% raise in one quarter, and it is laughed out of the room. You can be asked for a 30% raise in another quarter, and your bosses might say yes. So before you go in for that meeting and ask for the raise, ask yourself, is this a good time?

Have I done something that warrants attention, and people realize it's adding value? Is my stock high in the company right now? If it's a public company, is the stock literally high? Are revenues up or profits up? You want to look for these things when asking for a raise.

Okay. You picked good timing for this request. You've scheduled an appointment. Now you're face to face with your boss. What do you do? I believe you start positively. Tell your boss I like working here. I like the people. I like what we're doing.

I feel a sense of mission. Everyone wants happy employees. No one wants to hear that you're unhappy, things are awful, or you are treating me horribly. No one wants to listen to that, sorry to tell you. So start positive.

Stress the positive. Talk about any accomplishments you've had since you've been there so far that you're particularly proud of. Talk about organizational successes. Talk about any positive feedback you've gotten from friends, family members, colleagues, or other people in the industry. Talk about something positive.

The next thing I want you to do is talk about your future. Stress that you would like to be here, that you do, see a future for yourself. Now, I'm not asking you to lie. And if this is an job and you don't see yourself more than two years in this position, don't lie and say, "I'm going to be here for the rest of my life," but talk about the near future, the next two years. Talk about what you want to do, and here's the key. Talk about how you want to do more.

Talk about how you want more responsibility and how you want to add value to this organization. Now, if it's a small organization, you may be able to track the actual revenue you bring anytime you can track revenue you're responsible for that the organization wouldn't have without you. You really increase your odds of getting that raise. Now, if you work for a huge 100,000-employee conglomerate or for a large government organization, you can't say I'm responsible for $200,000 in revenue. But do talk about anything, any metric you can find that shows productivity up, outputs up, things that people measure are up, and how you want to do more of that, that's absolutely critical. You've got to establish a positive context.

Here's what you've done that you like. Here's what you like about the organization. Here's what you want to do in the future. Do that, and your boss is listening. You're not giving your boss an excuse to dismiss or to say, "Oh, this is just a disgruntled employee."

It will stand out. It will get their attention. So focus on what your strengths are, the organization's strengths, what you like about your job, and why you would continue to like to work here. That's your assignment right now.

Building on the positives we just discussed. I want you to now pivot in the conversation to the future. I just want you to talk about the future. I want you to show your boss that you're not like many other employees, and that you have more initiative and drive. I want you to come up with a very specific plan of how you can be even more productive and do your job better.

I don't want to get you into trouble and make the boss feel like you're trying to take over their job. But if you have other ideas on how people in your position can be more effective, increase more, and help the bottom line, I don't know any boss who doesn't like to hear that from employees, even if they don't follow up on your recommendations. So you need to give your boss a very specific plan of how you are trying to get better. And it may be by telling your boss, "Hey, I'm going to all these online courses to boost my skills so I know more about programming or I know more about how to close the sale." Let your boss know that you are learning even when you're not on the clock. You're getting more immersed in your industry. You're following what all of your competitors are doing because many of your colleagues at the office aren't doing that. Or you could be at a construction site as a bricklayer. These lessons apply no matter what. Show more initiative.

That's what bosses want to hear. Come up with some specific concrete agenda items. And finally, here's the kicker, you won't hear this recommendation from others. I suggest you have a one-page memo that you hand your boss saying, here are at least ten ideas I have on how to be more productive, how the organization can be more effective, and things I want to do differently. Now, you're not just going off and doing them.

You're not asking necessarily for a promotion, but you're building the case for why you deserve a raise. So that's your homework right now. And this may be hard. It may take time, but take the time because the difference in your career, long term, of getting a ten or 15 or 20% raise in a year and getting future raises based on that versus just another 2% raise or no raise, is going to be quite significant during the long haul of your career. So it's better to plan to go in with a specific game plan.

So that's your homework right now. I want you to come up with a one-page memo. I'm not suggesting you write a 30-page memo and spend six months on this. A one-page memo that gives your boss specific things you plan on doing to boost your productivity to help the organization.

Okay, you've done your assessment of the timing. You've asked for the appointment. You've laid out all the positives of what's great about this company, this organization, why you like working there, and why you want to continue working there. You've given your boss a one-page memo showing that you really have given thought to this and that you respect their time, that you've thought about how to make the organization more successful, profitable, and fulfilling its mission. Now's the time when you have to ask for more money. And I understand it doesn't feel comfortable. There's the chance of rejection. But you're not going to get the raise otherwise. So you're going to have to ask for the money. Now, you need to do a little more due diligence.

You need to find out what others are making in your industry and within your company. And you must be careful if you ask too many people in your company about what they make. But you must know that your request aligns with industry expectations and norms. I wouldn't necessarily make that your lead argument, but you need a sense of what's fair and what seems consistent with others because no one's paid in a complete vacuum. So you've got to have a sense for that. And then you need to ask for a raise. And there's some disagreement on this. I believe that you should just tell the person what you want. If you're asking for a 20 or 30% raise, that's a lot. But if you've made a clear-cut case on how you're adding value and bringing in more money to the organization or helping it with its mission, your boss can always say, well, that's ridiculous.

I'm only going to give you a 10% raise. The problem with just saying, I need a raise, your boss could say, you know what? You're right. I'm giving you a raise. Shake hands, you walk out the door, and a month later, you look at your paycheck, and it's a 1% raise. And factoring in inflation, sometimes your purchasing power could go down. That's no raise. So I'm a big believer that you should ask for a specific number. When you ask, it can't be, "Um, I'd like a 20% raise." You can't act like you're doubting that you deserve the raise.

You have to look your boss right in the eye after you've stated all the positives, state what you're doing, and say, and that's why I believe I deserve a 20% raise, effective the new year or next month, then stop. If your boss is silent, don't fill up the space with, "Of course, if that's too much, I'll take a lot less." Just stop. Smile, and look relaxed. Now, you might be inside feeling nervous and in turmoil. I understand that.

But you need to express this without a shred of doubt in your face. Your body language must say this as a matter of fact. You go to a car dealership to buy Mercedes, the car dealer says, "It's $79,000." He doesn't say, "It's $79,000, but if you want to pay $69,000, we'll take it." That's not how it works. They state the price with authority. So there's nothing arrogant, there's nothing angry. Your tone of voice can't be, you better give me 20% increase or I'm walking right now unless you really mean it. Don't threaten, don't act impatient, don't act nervous, don't act uncomfortable. Just lay out the case. You know what you want. You know what you need. You know what other people in your organization are getting paid, at least some of them. And you know what other people in your industry are getting paid. So make the case and make it confidently. But you've got to ask, and I believe you should be as specific as possible. Write down now the percentage or the amount of money each month or each year that you want as an increase.

Okay, now it's time to put all these tips together and to really get ready for that meeting, that appointment with your boss to ask for a raise. Now, I'm going to tell you right up front you're not going to like this homework assignment. You're not going to like this suggestion. And it's actually the most important suggestion of anything discussed in this course.

And it could make the difference between walking into that meeting with the confidence you need to get that raise versus coming across as nervous, uncomfortable, unsure of yourself, and your boss dismissing you. And here's the tip. I want you to practice your meeting in advance on video. Hold your cell phone up, and interview yourself. Better yet, have a friend, colleague, or even a family member do a practice interview with you, asking that person for a raise.

You pretend that person is your boss and you go through everything you would want to say in this meeting. Now, here's the thing. You need to video-record it. Ideally, you have a friend, family member who's asking you the questions and they're hitting record. And the questions are pretty obvious.

So what do you want to talk about? Why do you deserve a raise? The basic questions you've got answers you have prepared. But if you seem nervous, uncomfortable, or speaking too quickly or too softly, your boss isn't going to take you seriously. So how do you know how you're coming across, especially if you're nervous?

You need to practice in advance on video. So here's the thing. You've got to record yourself and you've got to watch it. I know, I know you're thinking, I don't want to watch myself. I don't like my voice.

I don't like my wrinkles, my hair. Your boss has to look at that. So you might as well know how you're coming across. People don't like doing this. But I'm telling you, it's the single biggest way to get over nervousness when asking for a raise.

But here's the trick. You can't just do it once and say, well, I've done it on video. That's it. And you can't just do it and watch it. You have to watch the video of yourself and then make careful notes.

What did you like? What did you not like? Where were you persuasive? And where did you seem a little uncertain? Where did your voice fade? What did your expression look like? And then here's the thing. You've got to do it again. You need to practice your interview again, and you've got to record it.

And I think you can see where I'm going with this. Yeah, you've got to watch the video again and take notes on what you like and don't like. Ideally, the list of don't likes has gone down the second time, and the list of what you do like has gone up. Do it again and again and again.

Thanks for reading this entire article. I want to really wish you good luck in getting that raise. You deserve it.