Negotiating a pay rise can be a daunting concept, even if you know you’re worth a higher salary. As a Salesforce professional, you may be an expert. However, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to selling yourself and proving your worth to your employer.
The good news is Salesforce professionals are in a particularly strong position to start discussing potential raises right now. According to the Salesforce Talent Ecosystem report, the global demand for skilled professionals in the Salesforce landscape has increased by 364% since 2020.
Employers need Salesforce talent more desperately than ever before, which may also mean your company is willing to pay a little more to keep you happy.
The key to success is knowing how to pitch your pay rise suggestion to leadership without making the wrong impression. Here are five ways to improve your chances.
1. Do Your Research
First, you need to know exactly how much you’re asking for in your pay rise. Knowing your worth can be difficult in a rapidly-changing environment like the Salesforce ecosystem, so it’s worth chatting with a professional recruitment team if you want some inside knowledge on pay.
You can also look at job listings online to see what kind of salary is being offered for someone with your specific skills. For instance, a Salesforce administrator in the UK can earn an average salary of around £47,449. While online research will give you a good starting point, remember the exact amount you can ask for will depend on numerous factors, such as:
- How much demand there is for someone with your skills.
- How much experience you have in your role.
- Where you’re located
Once you have a rough figure in mind of what you can reasonably ask for, it’s worth starting by suggesting a figure around 10% higher than you’d expect, as this leaves some room for compromise.
2. Set Aside Time for a Discussion
A discussion about pay shouldn’t be diluted into a quick Slack message or email to your boss. You need time to present why you deserve your raise in a structured manner. As such, you’ll need to arrange a time for a meeting, either face-to-face or via video.
Let your leader know exactly what the conversation will be about so they have time to prepare, and ensure you’re requesting this meeting at the right time. Usually, it’s a good idea to ask for a raise after you’ve recently achieved something incredible or your company has just reported a quarter of positive growth.
Don’t ask for a raise right after something goes wrong in your business, as this will set you up to fail. It’s also worth doing some research before you make your request to see if there are any obstacles standing in your way. For instance, do you need to speak to your manager about a raise, or is this something you need to discuss with an HR director or Chief Financial Officer?
3. Highlight Your Performance
Once you’ve established a time to speak to your manager about a raise, you can begin putting together a mini-presentation highlighting why you deserve the money. You might draw attention to the recent Trailhead courses you completed in your free time and how they’ve boosted your productivity and improved business results.
You can highlight the recent projects you’ve been working on and their benefits to the business overall. Remember, statistics, graphs, and evidence of your performance will all help to make your proposal more convincing.
It may also be worth discussing how you’ve gone above and beyond in your role recently, perhaps taking on leadership and mentoring positions which aren’t part of your job description. The focus should be on showing your boss what they’re paying extra for.
4. Demonstrate Why Your Current Salary is a Problem
Aside from showing your manager why you deserve a raise, you should also be highlighting why the money you get now is problematic. This is your opportunity to draw attention to the average wage of someone in your position if you’re earning less than you deserve.
Talk about how important you think it is for you to earn the right amount to continue to deliver your complete focus to this role. You can discuss how you feel the pay rise will help to motivate you and demonstrate a level of mutual respect between you and your employer.
Try to maintain an air of confidence during this conversation, making regular eye contact without being overbearing or aggressive. Additionally, while it’s important to ensure your boss understands what you want, avoid making any ultimatums unless you’re willing to follow through with them. Saying “I’ll go elsewhere if you don’t pay me more” and then sticking around will lead to bad blood between you and your manager.
5. Know How to Handle a “No“
Even if you present the best pitch in the world, highlighting exactly why you deserve to earn more money, there’s still a chance your boss will say “no”. It’s important to stay calm and unemotional when this happens, as you don’t want to burn any bridges.
If your manager tells you a raise isn’t possible, ask what you would need to do to change this fact. Is it simply that the timing is off? If so, ask when you might be able to discuss a raise again at a later date. Do you need to earn new skills or demonstrate your value in a specific way?
If there’s nothing you can do to change your employer’s mind, the next step is simply figuring out where you want to go from there. Do you want to try again in a few months, or is it time to work with a specialist recruiter to find a new Salesforce role?
Thanks,
Lee
About Resource on Demand
Resource On Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company.
We assist innovative and disruptive organisations in growing their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles across the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on 01322 272 532