CageBreak

One of the members of CageBreak asked the other day: will I spoil my reputation if I negotiate for salary?

He’s many years younger to me and has under 5 years of work experience, so I could understand his apprension. But I have I have seen this question many times from people in senior roles with 20+ years of work experience.

So I guess it’s worth sharing what I have seen as successful Salary Negotiation Tips or Salary Negotiation Techniques.

TIP -1: Decide you BATNA

Let me first share an example from my business deals with you: when we are going in for a negotiation, we always have to prepare a lot beforehand on a variety of ‘what-ifs’. And we have to also decide on something called BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement). We won’t take anything less than the BATNA - it’s pre-programmed before we even enter the discussion with others.

So, if someone makes a salary offer to you, it is always better to say you will think about it and get back later in the day or tomorrow. It helps to get yourself some time. But there are situations where you may not have that luxury, and in such cases, you must go in with a clear salary number below which you will not take that job, irrespective of what perks you get — ie. you must have your BATNA ready before you go for the meeting/discussion.

TIP -2: Justify your value with Examples

If you are like most people, you don’t feel good about Salary Negotiation — you would prefer to present your achievements to the current managers or the new company — and naturally expect them to make a fair judgment.

But it doesn’t happen that way! You should negotiate everytime you think the salary is less than what you are contributing. Don’t leave it on the other party to make a right judgement, because it will most probably not be satisfactory to you, and the other party will continue to think they are offering you something great, while you think the reverse.

So the next time you think the potential/current employer is under valuing you, please object to it in a simple but clear way, and give at least one or two examples of why you think so. An objection backed with real examples is a powerful combination, and it will make the other party rethink their offer to you.