3 Quick Tips on Selling Yourself

The following blog post is from this excellent site by Tracy Boyer:

Innovative Interactivity (II)

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Selling Yourself: Improving your negotiation skills

By Tracy Boyer ⋅ March 11, 2011

Negotiating is mandatory in nearly all aspects of your professional career from negotiating your salary to negotiating quality/quantity expectations in a project. Many hate to negotiate, but if done poorly or not done at all it can and will have long-term effects on your career. Here are three quick tips on how to improve your negotiation skills.

1. Never quote your ideal salary if you don’t have to!
I have seen it time after time where employers request salary ranges or a preferred monetary amount. It is smart on their end to do this because most of the time people undervalue themselves in order to look “more attractive” to the company and secure an interview slot. However, if you aren’t required to, never state numbers!

There is a well known anchoring and adjustment bias in business where future estimates are made in proximity to the initial quoted figure, regardless of the inaccuracy of the number. So, if you undervalue yourself from the beginning, this anchoring bias will follow you throughout your career since raises are anchored to last year’s salary.

Also, if you initially give a low-ball estimate then the employer will counter with a figure around your number and you will never know if they had a higher number in mind before the negotiation period began. Never leave extra cash lying on the table!

2. Do your research to determine your true worth.
While it is ideal to make your employer or client give the first quote, many times this is not an option. In order to maintain the upper hand in this situation, do your research. Coming to the table with a well-defined argument will nearly always ensure that you get what you want.

For example, when negotiating salary at a job be sure you examine multiple salary calculators and speak with others to get a feel for what the industry pays for certain positions. The site TechCareers has an excellent base salary range calculator based on industry and location. I searched the “Internet and New Media” job category in the Raleigh/Durham, NC region and here are some figures they calculated:

Median Expected Salary:
Executive Producer – Web = $139,708
Creative Director – Web = $127,920
Associate Producer – Web = $68,490
Copy Editor – Web = $56,482
Entry-level Designer – Web = $51,314

Obviously these figures largely depend on the company, as a philanthropic organization or small start-up will not be able to afford those amounts. However, I encourage you to create a free account and search for salary estimates in your area to become more knowledgeable about what your particular field financially offers its employees.

3. Get public commitment.
In my Leading and Managing class last fall, Professor Alison Fragale taught us about different persuasion tactics and principles. One was the consistency principle that proves people like to stick to their public commitments to protect their own professional image.
An interesting study around this principle is the “foot in the door” tactic where you first ask for a small favor that will be accepted, such as signing a petition supporting a philanthropic organization. Afterward, you ask for the large favor that you initially wanted, such as financially supporting the non-profit.

“One explanation for the success of the foot-in-the-door procedure is that people comply with the second, target request to be consistent with agreeing with the initial small request,” researchers wrote.

Public commitment can come in a number of forms. If you are negotiating for something within a group, ask to do a public vote where everyone raises their hand to confirm commitment. If you are working on a project and negotiating price, workflow, job responsibilities etc., ask for an email detailing the specifics and feel free to cc relevant people so that everyone is aware of the agreement. Lastly, if you are having a one-on-one conversation with a colleague or boss and you want to utilize this consistency principle, rather than beginning with a statement begin with a question. For instance, “Do you think I have been working hard lately? Great, I do too. That is why I’d like to ask for a day off next week …”