Get the Salary Increase You Deserve

Written By Brian Tracy | Business Success, Financial Success | January 26th, 2012 | 20 Comments »

The fact is that all of life is a contest of some kind. You are in competition with everyone else who wants a salary increase and promotion, whether you like it or not. A race is on and you are in it. Your job is to move yourself into the lead and then figure out how to move ahead faster than the other people around you.

Fortunately, there are proven and tested ways to get ahead and stay ahead. One of the most important of these strategies is for you to continually ask for more responsibility. Volunteer for every assignment.

Go to your boss at least once every week and ask him or her if there is something more that you can do.

Get Paid More and Promoted Faster

At staff meetings, people are always making suggestions about things that should or could be done to solve problems or achieve company goals faster. Whenever you see your boss buying in to one of these ideas, you should volunteer for the additional task.

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Raise your hand. Grab the new job as a football player would grab a fumble and run for yardage. Then, do the job quickly.

Most people in the world of work have never thought of this simple strategy. They do only what is asked of them, when it is asked of them. They even think it is clever to get by doing the very least possible. But you do the opposite. You keep asking for more tasks and responsibilities. You then move to complete these tasks quickly and dependably.

Don’t worry about being taken advantage of. By asking for more and more responsibility, you are actually taking advantage of your company and your boss. You are expanding and increasing your knowledge and skill, your ability to get results. You are building a better and better reputation for contributing value to your organization. This will always benefit you, both in the short term and throughout your career.

Few strategies are better for helping you to get paid more and promoted faster than for you to develop a reputation for offering to do more than anyone else. Whatever extra effort or sacrifice you have to make, treat every assignment that you receive as if it were a test upon which your future career depended, and then go to work to complete it quickly and well.

Ask for What You Want

Asking for what you want is one of the success principles. It is one of the most important actions you can take to get paid more than you are getting today. The future belongs to the askers. The future does not belong to those people who sit back, wishing and hoping that things will improve. The future belongs to those people who step up and ask for what they want. And if they don’t get it right away, they ask, again and again, until they do get it.

Ask your boss what you have to do to qualify for an increase in pay. There is no point in your working very hard if you do not know exactly what you have to do to get ahead. Clarity is essential. Go to your boss and ask, and ask again if you are still not clear.

If you want more money, you must ask for it. It is not going to fall on you out of the sky. The best way to ask is by building a case, as a lawyer would build a case, for the amount that you want to receive. Put your case in writing, like a business proposal. Instead of saying that you need more money, as most people do, your strategy should be different. You should put together a list of the jobs that you are doing and the additional experience and skills you have developed since your last increase. You should explain the financial impact of your work on the overall operations of the company and the contribution that you are making as a top employee.

You should then present all this information exactly as if you were making a sales presentation to your boss and tell him or her that based on your proof of performance, you would like an increase of a specific amount of money per month or per year. In many cases, you will get the increase simply by asking for it in an intelligent way. In some cases, you will get less than you requested. If this happens, ask what you will have to do in the future to get the rest of the increase that you have asked for. How can you make yourself more valuable?

Treat your request for an increase as if it were an important negotiation, with long-term consequences, because it is. Arrange a meeting with your boss in advance. Be sure the timing is convenient and that you aren’t rushed. Sometimes such a meeting is best scheduled at the end of the day, when everything has settled down and there are no interruptions. Be relaxed, calm, and positive. Then ask for what you want with confidence, courage, and an attitude of positive expectancy.

If your request for an increase is turned down completely, remain calm and positive. Ask exactly what you will have to do in the future to get the increase you requested, and exactly when that increase will be payable. Be specific. Be clear. And don’t be afraid to ask.

Of course, you should ask politely. Ask courteously. Ask in a warm and friendly way. Ask cheerfully. Ask expectantly. Ask confidently. And ask persistently, if necessary. But be sure to ask. The future belongs to the people who continually ask for what they want, in every area of life. The more you ask for the things you want, the more likely you are to get them. Try this asking strategy at every opportunity and you will be amazed at the good things that happen to you.

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Tags: ask for what you want, get paid more, how to be determined, how to earn more, how to get a promotion, how to get a raise, how to get what you want, salary increase

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Business Success, Financial Success.