Spot the errors: On the way out of a team meeting, Jim catches up with his boss and taps her shoulder. “Now that the meeting is out of the way, Sally, I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of...I mean I’ve been with the firm 12 years now - I guess that’s five years even before you - and I know times are especially hard for the company now, but since it’s been 12 years, and I have served the company well. I’ve really worked hard, as everybody says, I think I deserve.....
If you didn’t count at least seven blunders in Jim’s approach, your own odds of making an effective raise request are very slim indeed. Eileen Sinett, Biz4NJ’s Communications Expert notes that while folks may laugh at the above stammering scenario, you’d be sadly surprised how much of it supervisors see played out before their own desks. Below, Sinett proffers a few coaching points for that all important sales pitch.
* The Mindset. First, remember that this is a sales pitch; and every sale is based on trust of the seller. “You are advocating for yourself,” says Sinett. “You must not only believe in the product (you), but demonstrate that belief with an air of integrity and authenticity. Bluster or hyperbole show only that you are covering up doubts, and any supervisor will sniff it out instantly. Instead, take stock of yourself and truly begin to appreciate your personal worth.
Recently, our economy has plunged into recession and most all businesses are struggling to survive. Doubtless some readers are reading this to find not how to request a raise but how to beg to keep their current position. So be it. The stock market, auto industry, even your own company’s fiscal plight is not the issue. Don’t even hint at their problems, or your own. You and your skills are offering a solution - an island of hope. Holding that thought, plan what you will say.
* The Words. Package it concisely. Lead your audience to that inevitable conclusion: you are an asset the company must strive to keep and encourage adequately, for its own good. Sinett shuns the concept of a preset persuasion formula, but she has developed a template which may be adapted for logically taking listeners in the right direction.
Begin with the broad ideas and work to the specific. Working from “Sally, one thing my teams have always had in common is that we have come in on time and saved the firm money.” You might work down to “On that Johnson deal alone, I was able to save the firm 2.3 million - 25 times my own cost to the company.” Three is a magic number for such enumerations. Don’t drag out the patter of your little feats.
Then follow up with a the conclusion that “given this, this, and that, I feel that increased remuneration would help me provide even greater benefits to the firm.” Then, as with all good speeches, go over it with your spouse, or some non-workplace confidant. Take their comments to heart and make necessary adjustments. “Once you’ve got the concept scripted, practice it, work on your delivery, but for heaven’s sake do not memorize it,” says Sinett. “Such a textbook recitation kills any hope of authenticity.” It is a sales pitch, yes. But the raise request must be a dialog. Pause, provide silences. Don’t feel you have to nervously fill gaps with empty words.
* The Presentation. You set the appointment, and be careful to select a non-frenetic, downtime during the week. If all shipments are loaded into the trucks and go out by Wednesday morning, ask your boss if he is free to chat Wednesday afternoon. (“Chat,” by the way, is a marvelously non-formidable word.) If he asks what you want to talk about, don’t mention anything about a raise or money. Rather say, “Just about my performance.” If you have just achieved some great project, strike while you are in the limelight. Definitely, do not wait until your periodic review to ask for a raise or promotion.
“Dress on your boss’ level,” suggests Sinett. “If you normally talk daily business problems with him in your shirtsleeves or sport coat, this time wear a suit.” The goal is present yourself to your supervisor as his equal.
Body language can also set this meeting apart. The two nevers are: never lean back in the chair and appear too relaxed; and conversely, never lunge your body forward aggressively. Convey with your posture that this meeting is important, so I sit alert, but I am a salesman with a good offer, not a threatening thug. “The best way is to align your posture with your listener,” says Sinett. “If your supervisor leans hard forward on the desk, you may want to also lean in a bit. Don’t copy, rather take signals from his mood.”
One final tip. Throughout the entire conversation, keep the emphasis on the company and its requirements. Forget your needs. Raises are seldom given out of pity because your triplets will all be attending Princeton next year. Forget threats of leaving, unless you already have another company bidding for your services with an offer in writing. Keep the focus ever on you as a company asset.
In the end, your boss may turn you down or table the matter for consideration. Instead of skulking off, use this opportunity to seek the supervisor’s opinion as to what it would take for you to land the requested raise, and try to set a date as to when you might again meet to consider if you have appropriately proved yourself. Then work like hell and remember the words of Walt Disney, “If you are the absolutely best (#$%!) out there, they have to give you what you want.” Biz4
Eileen Sinett has been coaching corporate leaders to speak long before the business community saw it as a necessity. The eldest of seven children, Sinett grew up the daughter of an ever-inventive and successful entrepreneur. “Trucks were always in the driveway from his trucking firm, or canteens and camping gear in the garage from his Army surplus business. My father always had some new business starting up,” Sinett recalls. Leaving this stimulating home environment, Sinett attended Emerson College, earning a Bachelor’s in speech pathology and audiology, followed by a Master’s in speech correction from Kean College. This clinical background led her to work first at Roosevelt hospital, then the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She soon became UMDNJ’s Director of Communication services, training a staff of pathology students. In 1979, Sinett left to found Comprehensive Communication Services. “Originally, my first clients were those with speech disabilities, and parochial school parents, interested in their children’s elocution. But somewhere in the early 1980’s, business people began coming in,” she says. At first they wanted to lose accents or just speak grammatically. Then it was as if the whole business world awoke to the advantage of effective communication. Today, Sinett mentors executives and teams from such clients as Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Company, Delsys Pharmaceuticals, Mathematica Policy Research, as well as several politicians and professionals.
