How to Ask for a Pay Raise – And Get Approved

There are those that work their butts off day and night, yet when pay day comes, the amount they receive is barely enough to put food on their tables. That’s tough, isn’t it? And you are not able to ask for a pay raise? I mean, if you’ve been working all day long yet all you’ll get is money that’s barely enough to pay for your bills, then you’d never enjoy your life. You’d just end up becoming drained from all the work, all while ONLY managing to keep yourself afloat.

Don’t let this happen to you, OK?

Life is certainly more than just working to get your bills paid. You need to stare it in the eye, enjoy it, control it, and have a blast while you are still in this world. If you are in a situation where you actually have a work (and are overflowing with it), yet you still aren’t earning enough, then a viable solution you could look into is asking for a pay raise.

Allow me to share with you 5 tips that you can use to drastically increase the chances of your client (or boss) giving you that coveted “Yes” answer when you ask for a pay raise.

Table of content

1.Timing can be everything.

2.Do not give your boss an ultimatum.

3.Don’t play the pity party. Focus on the benefits that you bring to the company.

4.Talk about the other offers that you’ve been getting.

5.Ask about the criteria for getting a pay raise.

What’s next?

1. Timing can be everything.

I cannot stress to you how important this tip is while you ask for a pay raise.

Can you imagine asking your boss for an increase when you have TONS of past due work, and your boss’ clients are hounding him/her relentlessly day and night because of how you weren’t able to complete the work that you should have produced?

Asking for a raise at this point is pretty much a business or a career suicide.

However, if you’ve just made your boss’s life easier, or you helped him/her rack up some recognition points from his/her clients, or even his/her direct boss’, then you’ll be in a perfect place to ask for an increase. You can help your boss acquire client referrals and ask for a pay raise.

This strategy has a good chance of working because of the principle of reciprocity. This is a principle described by Robert Cialdini in his six key principles of influence.

2. Do not give your boss an ultimatum if you want to ask for a pay raise.

I get how your landlord might be banging your door every-single-day asking you for your rent.  It’s frustrating, scary, and sometimes… life threatening – especially if your landlord is on drugs.

However, if you want to increase the chances of getting your pay raise request approved, you’d be better off if you don’t give your boss an ultimatum.

The thing with ultimatums is that it pressures people and it can put others (your boss) on the defensive. And we all know how everyone would submit to your requests if you pressure them, right?

WRONG!

You need to give them a leeway to set things in order on their end. You need to give them a chance to work everything out on their side of the court. The fact is, depending on how a business is structured, granting a pay increase on one of the employees can prove to be quite a pain.

That being said, if you feel like there’s no way around your situation but to ask for a pay increase, be sure to ask for it as soon as you can while considering point number 1. Or at least, during times when you still have enough wiggling room for you to work on your finances.

3. Don’t play the pity party. Focus on the benefits that you bring to the company.

Playing the pity party is an underhanded tactic that others frown upon.  Sure. It may have paid off for others. But know that you put yourself at a huge risk if you choose to go this route.

Instead of doing that, however, why not use the route most professionals use by talking about the benefits that you bring to the company (or your client’s business).

If you’ve been doing business with them for quite awhile now, then there’s a good chance that they’ll remember how reliable, trustworthy, and how valuable your services are. And that you are definitely deserving of the increase that you are asking for.

The important point is that you focus on value. That you talk about how much your client/boss has benefitted from doing business with you.

4. Talk about the other offers that you’ve been getting.

Be very careful when using this tip.

Make sure that you do not assume a threatening tone. Instead, just try to be as sincere and as truthful as you can be about the better offers that you’ve been receiving.

Explain how the offers that other companies are giving you can really help improve your life – and your family’s. Mention how despite all the better offers, you would rather stay with the same company, or do business with the same client. But with how your finances are turning out for the worse every single day, you just might not be left with much choice except to leave.

Remember, the game plan is you want to come across as someone who doesn’t want to leave despite all the offers that you’ve been getting.

5. Ask about the criteria for getting a pay raise.

You’ll be amazed at how your boss might react when you’ll ask about the criteria for getting a raise. Because the truth is, in most cases, there aren’t any. It usually just comes with the job title (or your position in the company).

However, if you’ll bother to ask your boss about the criteria, there’s a good chance that it would stimulate a good discussion among him/her and the higher ups paving the way for a criteria to be made.

I mean, think about it.

If there is such a criteria for having a pay increase, then you’d never hesitate asking for the increase if you’ve met all the criteria, right?

What’s next?

The thought of asking for a pay raise can be nerve-racking. However, if you come prepared and are equipped with ideas, tools, and strategies that are proven and tested to have worked, there’s a good chance that you’d get an affirmative answer from your boss (or your client) after leaving the negotiation table. In an article published in Forbes about pay raise they have shared a few tips to ask for a pay raise.

It’s important that you remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when asking for a raise. That being said, be sure to tweak the tips that I’ve shared above to fit to your situation. Sometimes if you have an additional qualification you may get a pay raise. Some of the courses Python, SQL, Computer Network Security etc can help you get a pay raise.

If you have other ideas or tips that you’d like to share, please do so in the comments section below.

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