Negotiation expert Victoria Pynchon shares how you can get what you want at work with the members of Connect: Professional Women's Network. To continue the conversation or join the LinkedIn group for free, visit www.linkedin.com/womenconnect.
1. BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Victoria Pynchon of SheNegotiates.com shares her top tips
for getting what you want at work.
Master the Art of Negotiating
2. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Meet Victoria Pynchon!
Victoria recently answered questions from the members
of Connect: Professional Women’s Network. Here is
some of her most popular advice!
Victoria is an author, attorney, mediator,
arbitrator and negotiation trainer and
consultant, as well as the co-founder of
She Negotiates Consulting and Training,
with business partner Lisa Gates.
Although her focus is now on closing the
wage, income and leadership gaps for
women, she’s been training lawyers and
business people of both genders in mutual
benefit negotiation strategies since 2005.
3. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Determine your worth. When negotiating a salary or a raise, it’s best
to land ONE high number, not a range. That number is based on your
research, your accomplishments and your future potential. Go to the Free
Resources section of SheNegotiates.com to download ―How to Source and
Research What You’re Really Worth.‖
4. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Aim high with your starting salary. By the time you’re eligible
for a raise, the only salient factors will be your on-the-job performance and
your existing salary. Your existing salary is an extremely strong anchor that
will influence your perceived market value throughout your employment.
ALWAYS seek the highest entry salary, even if small raises are given after.
5. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Go beyond the salary. Benefits should be part of the first conversation
about salary. The more working parts to any deal, the easier it is to trade across
issues, i.e. trade something of high value to you and low cost to your employer.
6. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Push for a performance review when you start a job.
Start with three questions: 1. How are performance reviews handled and how
often? 2. What are the metrics used for performance reviews? 3. What are the
specific expectations that will lead to advancement?
7. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
When you don’t get a raise. If they’re not ready to
increase your pay now, ask to revisit the issue in three months—
and then ROCK IT for those three months!
8. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Evaluate your workload. Take a look at your original job description,
rewrite it to reflect the new duties you’ve taken on, re-title yourself and then
benchmark what should be your new position at payscale.com or glassdoor.com.
Check out free materials on researching your true market value here.
9. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Discuss a raise when offered a promotion. Explain that you’ve
researched the market value for positions similar to the one you now have and
that the average pay is $X. Stress your loyalty to the firm, and remind your
employer of everything you accomplished that resulted in the promotion. If they’re
not ready to increase your pay now, ask to revisit the issue in three months.
10. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Suggest a more appropriate workflow. Sit down with your
employer to talk about work assignments. Outline your highest-value tasks to
the company, then mid-value and then low-value. Be a problem solver. Be
prepared to suggest that the low-value tasks be assigned to a lower-paid
person so that you can continue to give 100 percent of your full value.
11. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Negotiate a telecommuting agreement. Don’t fall into the trap of
taking a pay cut because you’re working fewer hours. You can and should
negotiate to maintain your current salary. The trick is to shift your employer’s
thinking from hours spent to results produced. Emphasize your track record for
efficiency and quality, not to mention the benefits of working without interruption.
12. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Evaluate pay when transitioning from employee to
consultant. Move from focusing hours to value pricing. If you are working
project by project, you can make separate proposals for each one. For example,
―Based on the parameters of this project, I can do it for $X amount.‖ For your
own benefit, I would track the time you spend to give you the data you need to
adjust your per-project fees.
13. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Negotiate hourly to project-based pay. If you work project by
project, you might say something like, ―I’d be willing to work the first project
for $X/hour, but I will be moving from hourly to a project basis in my
consulting practice. Let’s use this project as a pilot so that we can make
adjustments for the benefit of both of us.‖
14. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Negotiate a salary when making a lateral move or changing
careers. A new position with a learning curve does not mean you’re starting
from scratch. You have the entirety of your career, education, experience, skills,
strengths and future potential. Focus on the strategies, projects or process
improvements you envision bringing to this new position.
15. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
Remember the cardinal rule
of negotiating. Never negotiate
against yourself by saying, ―I’m
asking for a $6K raise, but I’ll
negotiate.‖ It signals that you’ll
accept less, and probably way less.
If you want to signal your flexibility,
demonstrate it by putting other
compensation elements on the
table, like travel, continuing
education and vacation.
16. CONNECT: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK
• Always negotiate your salary—when you start a job,
when you take on several new duties and when you get
a promotion.
• Discuss your pay any time you make a lateral move,
change careers or transition from employee to
consultant.
• Never sabotage your negotiation by indicating that you’ll
take less than what you’re asking for.
NEGOTIATING 101: