How Should I Ask For An Overdue Raise?

You can’t just walk into a review meeting, show some salary surveys, and expect your board to cough up more money “because that’s what other CMOs are being paid.”

Question: Next month I’ll have my three-year performance evaluation, and I feel that I am worth more than my current salary. How do I convey the message that my job is worth more and ask for more money?

As my company’s marketing sophistication has increased, so have my responsibilities. I’ve really stepped up to the plate. I’ve earned recognition, but it’s not reflected in my pay. Through discussion with peers in the industry, I have learned that the average salary is much higher. Could you please advise me how to approach my CEO during the evaluation so I can convince him my request is justified? I will also have to present to the board. What should I say and not say? Thank you kindly in advance.

Nick Corcodilos: Entire books have been written about this topic, and compensation experts will offer negotiating strategies galore. But I’m going to refrain from a long lecture because I think you can figure this out yourself if you keep some basic ideas in mind.

You can’t just walk into a review meeting, show some salary surveys, and expect your board to cough up more money “because that’s what other CMOs are being paid.” You must justify what you’re asking for.

A salary renegotiation is pretty simple conceptually: It’s best done with a business plan. In other words, do an analysis of your role as though your job constitutes an independent business. Don’t talk about your qualities or about what others are being paid. Talk about your company’s business and what you add to the bottom line—and what you will add in the future.

• How do you contribute to revenue?
• What does it cost to have you do what you do? (This includes not only your compensation and benefits, but the cost of your tools, the cost of your team and support personnel who help you, and so on.)
• What’s your history in terms of the profitability you bring to the company? (That’s right: Your contribution to revenue matters, but how you impact profits matters more. Even if you can’t calculate a specific number, you need to outline a defensible case that goes into the profit factors you influence.)
• What are your profit projections for the next two to three years? That is, projections of how you will contribute to profit. You’ll need solid evidence to back these estimates up.

A job is a business, especially in the C-suite. That’s the key to thinking about this in terms your management (and board) will understand and respect. As in any business plan, your goal is to demonstrate how an added investment will pay off. You must show a rising return on the company’s investment in you.

The longer you’re working for the company, the more profit you should yield. A lot of this is number crunching, of course, and there’s seat-of-the-pants estimating involved. It will help enormously for you to interview people in the company who factor into this plan. In the process, you not only build your case; you influence (and remind) other key players about your worth.

Check out this article for a caution: “Salary Negotiations: Know When To Stop.”