Aiming for the right target
Even after conducting your negotiation prep and research, you may still find yourself left with some important questions:
What should my final target be?
How flexible should I be during the negotiation?
How do I know if I got a good deal?
An honest and thorough assessment of your goals and findings can help point you in the right direction and clarify your overall position. Here are three steps you can take to pursue a winning target and strategy:
Step 1: Organize and package your asks
First, take stock of your current situation — your salary, role, responsibilities, terms, etc. Then identify the areas you would like to improve or change, ideally informed by your market value assessment.
Here’s an example:
After compiling your list, determine if it’s possible to package your asks in a way that streamlines the negotiation and keeps the focus on the big picture. For example, let’s say you’re shooting for a higher salary as well as extra career development perks such as tuition assistance. Based on your successful performance at work, it may instead make sense to advocate for a promotion — which usually comes with a more senior title, increased compensation, and access to additional support and resources.
While multiple, distinct asks may be appropriate in certain situations (e.g., your project requires more funding and you would also like an extra week of vacation), avoid issuing an exhausting, piecemeal list of requests which can be unproductive and run the risk of annoying the other party.
Step 2: Identify points of leverage
Let’s face it — it’s much easier to stick to a target if you have leverage. In professional negotiations, leverage is typically achieved by:
competitive offer(s)
indisputable, rock-solid data (e.g., access to specific compensation numbers)
superstar status (e.g., your expertise and experience are in high demand)
having nothing to lose (e.g., you don’t need this engagement, you are happily employed elsewhere, etc.)
When applying leverage, it’s still important to convey a positive and professional tone to reinforce the win-win and preserve goodwill. Here’s an example script:
“I’m excited for the offer but Company B is offering me $X more. I truly value the team and opportunity here and would really prefer to work for you. If you can match, I’ll happily accept.”
Step 3: Explore and collaborate
Whether you have compelling leverage or find yourself lacking options all together, it’s important to stay open-minded. Focusing on getting 100% of what you want, completely on your terms, can prematurely close the doors to other promising options.
For example, instead of declaring:
“In order to do a good job on this project, I need 4x the budget.”
Adopting a collaborative approach may be more productive:
“In order to do a good job on this project, I am estimating a budget of $Y. I would love to hear your thoughts as I know this is a high priority project for our team.”
A collaborative request promotes healthy dialogue and invites the other party to be a trusted ally in the conversation. You may even find yourself rewarded for your receptiveness and flexibility — perhaps after discussing the full scope of your work, your boss realizes that it would make more sense to increase your headcount and promote you to a more senior title so you can successfully manage your project and other key initiatives — a considerably bigger win compared to the original request.
Going into a negotiation with a goal is smart, but developing a sound strategy to obtain your goal is smarter. By fully understanding your objectives, identifying areas of leverage, and adopting a collaborative approach, you can consistently win big on your professional journey.