Jim: Being courted by smaller company who couldn't pay! Creative compensation package included perks, benefits, tax benefits and Greens Fees! 

 

 

 
Jerry: Fifteen minute coaching nets 45,000 cash and up to $25,000 over that. Book got the strategy, coaching built the courage. 
 

 

 
Jill: Tempted to give in and take what she was offered to be safe, but research gave her confidence to negotiate anyway. 
 


 Step #1 (of 5) When to Discuss it at All


 
 1. Salary-Making Rule #1: 
Postpone Salary Talk Until They're Serious

This is the hardest-to-do of all five rules. We’re trained in school to eagerly raise our hand and offer the right answer. Don’t! In Salary negotiations, if you give the “right” (a.k.a. factual) answer, you’ll often be giving the “wrong” answer – the answer that costs you money. 

Why wrong? The usual outcome of talking too soon about salary is that you get screened-out or you get screened-in, but low-balled. 

Until you know you're on the short list, it is advantageous that you put off disclosing your salary expectations. 

--At the start of the interview process you don't have enough information to know what the job's worth or what its potential could be. You could end up agreeing up front for a smaller salary than the job is worth. 

--Later on, it’s still a strategic error, because you could lose out to a “cheaper” candidate and never know it was your salary number that knocked you out of the running.

So, wait until they’re serious about you. And… when are you sure they’re serious? When they make you an offer.

Postponing without upsetting your interviewer requires tact. To put off answering the What are your salary expectations, question, you’ll need your own personalized phrase. Something you can say with confidence and that sounds like you. Having that statement well prepared and rehearsed can gain you thousands of dollars. 

--MORE ON THIS TOPIC: Click on the video on this Home Page to catch a few examples.

--MORE ON THIS TOPIC: I cover this delaying process in detail in Chapter 2 of Negotiating Your Salary, How to Make $1000 a Minute.

--MORE ON THIS TOPIC: you can read a real life example here: 

Real Life Example: Rule #1

What if you already “blew it?” and let them know your range? Don’t worry, you can recover. First make sure they haven’t screened you out because of your blunder. As long as that hasn’t happened, you’ve cleared the first hurdle. Next, make sure your research (see rule #4 below) is spot on so you can make a clear case for earning your market value, not a bump from your last salary.

--MORE ON THIS TOPIC: Check out the advanced salary negotiations: “Blew It.” It’s an article on the SPIN/VARIATIONS page (click the SPIN/VARIATIONS button on side bar of this home page). Also consider coaching so you don’t blow anything else.

--MORE ON THIS TOPIC: BTW, it’s getting increasingly harder to “pull off” this first Salary-Making Rule. Don’t miss the advanced salary negotiations articles and specifically the “It’s Harder, so Here’s Four Postponing Strategies“ page. I think it’s “M” on the SPIN/VARIATIONS page.