How to negotiate a salary, raise, or benefits

Here’s a stat to shake your shoes, 60% of women have never negotiated a salary or a raise. Yes, the same women who have been fighting to have a seat at the table and earn the same amount as their male counterparts are not asking for what they deserve. A lack of knowledge and confidence keeps them from earning a living that even the good Lord wants them to achieve. The reality is, the more you make, the more you can give back, right? 

So I asked Peggy Bodde, a corporate leader and mentor with 25 years of business and career experience, to join me to chat about how to appropriately and proactively go about negotiating a salary, raise or benefits, and the fun ways you can be creative in your ask to get you to a place where you can thrive even more. 

So get focused and have something to jot down all the important goodies, as this episode is packed with knowledge. Let’s dive in! 

About Peggy Bodde 

Peggy is the former senior vice president of Petzl America, a vertical equipment and hands-free lighting company headquartered in France. She resigned from her position in 2014 to start Word Studio, Inc., a freelance writing business. Her clients include various marketing firms and educational publishers such as McGraw-Hill Education and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peggy is also the founder of Sacred Work, a ministry that provides free career and leadership coaching for women. She is represented by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Management, working to bring Peggy’s book to market. The working title is Sacred Work: Equipping Christian Women to Lead with Strength and was birthed from Peggy’s 25 years as a corporate leader and the mentoring she continues to do with her ministry.

Negotiating can be a little frightening if you haven’t done the groundwork to feel confident in your ask. When negotiating a salary, raise, or benefits, Peggy Bodde suggests asking a series of questions and researching to back up your claims. You can break down the series of questions into two buckets: 

Big picture questions

You need to ask big picture questions to get a feel for what is going on in your industry. Two main questions to start with are: What’s going on with the labor market? And what’s going on with the economy? Peggy explains why, “So, for example, right now, in a lot of industries, there’s a labor shortage. Millennials are leaving companies in droves, the job market is very competitive, and the economy is stronger than it was a year ago. These factors create a backdrop for negotiation, so it’s important that we’re aware of them.”

Additionally, you need to ask yourself what’s going on in your specific company? Is the company getting ready to switch to 100% remote work? If you manage a team, that gives you extra leverage. Are there big projects planned for the next year that you will contribute to, like a new software system or rebranding? If so, that’s leverage. So these are the big picture questions that lay the foundation for the second bucket of questions – the more detailed questions. 

Detailed questions

The detailed questions get down to the nitty-gritty. For example, suppose you are looking to negotiate a salary or increase your pay. In that case, you will want to research the salary range for your position, keeping in mind company size, geographical region, and the industry. You will also want to ask yourself how many years of experience do you have? Do you have relevant degrees? What is your company’s benefits package? And what are you contributing to your company? So often, we miss the introspection of what we are contributing and how we are making an impact. 

Know your priorities

Finally, the biggest question that requires a lot of reflection is, what am I settling for? Peggy suggests making a list of three asks and ordering the asks in priority of what matters to you most. The goal, at a minimum, is to walk away with the lowest priority ask. 

What are negotiations you can ask for? 

Negotiations can go beyond a salary or a raise. The fun begins when you get creative and realize there is more to a fulfilling career than just money. Peggy provides several examples of the types of negotiations you could bring to the table: 

• Benefits
• Working remotely
• Schedule flexibility
• PTO
• Maternity/Paternity Leave 
• Educational Expenses
• Title change

OK, I’m ready. Now what? 

When you are ready to present, do you go digital or paper style? Both. Peggy suggests providing a one-page document to not overwhelm your intended audience and have supportive evidence emailed to them as a follow-up. Over prepare, but keep it simple. 

Negotiating can be scary, but it can also be fun knowing you are going to bat for a life you dream of or love – a life that will work for both you and your company. And remember, it’s not just about the here and now. How you negotiate now will affect what you receive in the future. For example, if you receive a $5,000 increase, imagine how much your next raise could be or your next salary negotiation with a new position? By going to bat for yourself now, you can set yourself up for a snowball effect of success in the future. Not to mention it will build your confidence and make it easier for you to continue to stand up for yourself in the future.  

More from the episode

So what if my boss says no? Although Peggy hasn’t found this to happen very often, the reality still exists. Tune in to find out how to move forward when you receive a big no. 

Connect with Peggy Bodde

Peggy’s passion is to help individuals get the best out of their careers and let their faith lead the way. Peggy offers a safe space for professional Christian women to get together and talk about business, careers and share strategies with each other. Sounds interesting to you? Join the Sacred Work Group on LinkedIn. 

If you want to connect with Peggy directly, you can connect with her on LinkedIn, her website, and via email at peggybodde@gmail.com. 

Looking to build a community of Christian women? Head over to Faith & Gather for connection and more stories to become faith-inspired.