Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (5 page)

Do
not
let your boss wriggle out of a commitment without you receiving some kind of concession in return. Otherwise your boss will always find a way to get out of any commitments that he or she makes.

At the end of the performance review, repeat the same conversation that you had in Step 1. Document the results of that conversation.

In the previous secret, I explained how to use your performance review to extract concessions from your boss. This secret works during your performance review but can also get you a raise even when it’s not your review time. Here’s how.

Companies view your salary as an expense, so asking for a raise is asking your boss to spend more of the company’s profit, cash reserves, or borrowed money on you, rather than on other priorities.

From the management perspective, your salary (and raise) has nothing whatsoever to do with what you need to stay alive or what you deserve to be paid. Both salaries and raises are based entirely on the cost of replacing you.

If the cost of replacing you is greater than what they’re spending on your salary, you can ask for a raise and reasonably expect to get one. If not, you won’t get the raise. It’s really that simple.

When you ask for a raise, you’re asking your boss to compare the cost of giving you a raise with the cost of replacing you. It is therefore in your interest to increase your boss’s awareness of that cost of replacement. Five costs come into play:

Please note that none of these costs have any meaning whatsoever unless you are actually prepared to leave your job. That’s why you must always have other opportunities in the hopper. (See “Secret 22. How to Achieve Career Security.”)

Now that you know your leverage points, you can lay the groundwork for a productive discussion of your salary and why your company should be paying you more.

We’ll start with the easiest element: salary ranges. Many websites contain salary ranges for job categories sorted for experience and geography.

If your job fits neatly into one of those categories and you’re being paid less than the average salary and you’re doing at least an average job, you obviously have a case for getting a raise. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple.

If you’re an above-average worker, it becomes a judgment call (on the part of your boss) as to how much better you’re doing compared to that average. So you’ll need to show that you’re exceptional (more on this later).

Similarly, if you’ve created your own unique job position (see “Secret 24. How to Find Your Dream Job”) or have ended up doing more than one type of job (like both selling and providing technical support), the categories in the published salary ranges may not apply.

For example, at one point very early in my career I was responsible not only for writing computer operating manuals but also for designing the system we were using to create them. In this case the average salary for a technical writer wasn’t a meaningful metric, because what I was doing was unique. (As it happens, I asked for and received double-digit annual salary increases for several years.)

However, if the categories
are
relevant, and it’s clear you’re being underpaid, e-mail your boss an FYI link to the sites. Rest assured, your boss will get the point.

Beyond that, many bosses aren’t fully aware that it’s probably going to be an expensive hassle to replace you, so you need to gather information that makes these costs more obvious.

Casually mention (long before you ask for the raise) that “HR professionals estimate it costs between two to three times an employee’s annual salary to replace that employee.” That your boss now knows this fact and knows
you
know, you have additional leverage.

Now make a list of all the training you’ve received, either through courses or on the job, since you were hired. Compose an e-mail like this to your boss:

This e-mail is appropriate (you
are
grateful, right?) while also subtly surfacing how much it would cost to train somebody else.

Finally, solicit e-mails of praise from customers and coworkers when they feel you’ve done a good job. For example, suppose you get a thank-you phone call from a coworker in another department. Send the coworker the following response:

Ideally, you want your boss to be getting an audit trail of kudos that not only document what a great job you’re doing but subtly imply that customers and coworkers might be unhappy if you left to work elsewhere.

Set up a meeting with your boss to “discuss your future.” Before the meeting, create a list of the contributions you’ve made to the financial success of the company. The list should be the
results
of your activities, rather than a list of activities themselves.

Worked with Acme proposal team.

Handled customer information requests.

Contributed specifications to the Acme proposal that led to a $1 million sale.

Improved our overall customer satisfaction figures by 25 percent.

Ideally you’ll have kudo e-mails that support the list. For example, for the first item above, you might want an e-mail from the head of the proposal team praising your contribution and stating that it was crucial to getting the customer to buy.

Print two hard copies of the above. If the salary range information you’ve gathered on the Web is relevant, print two copies of that too. Highlight the relevant columns or rows. You are now ready to ask for your raise.

When your meeting begins, take the lead and set the tone by opening with: “I want to discuss what I see as a discrepancy between my value to the company and how I’m being compensated.”

Your boss will not be overjoyed that you’re bringing this subject up. However, if you’ve laid the groundwork (Step 3), he or she will certainly not be surprised. Your boss may try to cut off the conversation with something like: