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Is it absurd to ask for a 35% raise?

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3chordcharlie said:
Only loosely related; you're assuming that his company knows what he is worth.

But then you would also need to assume that he knows what he's worth.

If both of those were true, he'd already be making that number, or have moved on.
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I said, he's worth what a company is willing to pay him... I didn't say his company.

Try this: Ask for a 35% raise. If shot down, then offer one's services elsewhere. If offered 35% more elsewhere, he is now worth 35% more.
 
Josh said:
Spoke with VP, it went well. VP "understands why I'm being aggressive" and "wants to see me stay at the company". VP will be going to the people who have the final say and I should be finding out soon enough if its a yay or a nay.

One thing is for sure though, there is no doubt in my mind they will be giving me something more than the standard raise I was going to get. However, how close that # is to what I wanted will obviously be the deciding factor if I decide to apply/interview at other places.
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Are you prepared to walk if they offer something like 15% or 20% raise? It is a lot less than the 35% you are looking for, but a lot more than the typical 3-5% yearly raises most people get.

As a manager myself, my job is to make sure that you get a number that you are willing to stay, but less than the cost of hiring a replacement (which includes the replacement's salary + time/money spent on getting the replacement up to speed).
 
How much better (more valuable) are you than your fellow salesmen? Like Idmn04 said, his decision to look at your value versus a replacement.
 
Imdmn04 said:
Are you prepared to walk if they offer something like 15% or 20% raise? It is a lot less than the 35% you are looking for, but a lot more than the typical 3-5% yearly raises most people get.

As a manager myself, my job is to make sure that you get a number that you are willing to stay, but less than the cost of hiring a replacement (which includes the replacement's salary + time/money spent on getting the replacement up to speed).
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I have thought about it and will stay if they offer 20%, anything less I will most likely walk. I am young, and although I do enjoy the corporation I work for, the room for growth is minimal.
 
Josh said:
I have thought about it and will stay if they offer 20%, anything less I will most likely walk. I am young, and although I do enjoy the corporation I work for, the room for growth is minimal.
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Would you even have the ability to walk out in this economy?
 
Josh said:
I have thought about it and will stay if they offer 20%, anything less I will most likely walk. I am young, and although I do enjoy the corporation I work for, the room for growth is minimal.
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I would've line up another job first and had that in my back pocket.
 
Technically I received a 85% increase at one point, but through somewhat less approved means 😉
 
I've gotten a 20% raise in the past (2 or 3 years ago) and have been offered a 50% raise to not leave a company. If you're that underpaid and you know that people in the company value you working there, go for it.
 
If they don't come back with what you're looking for, what if you apply to one of those jobs that will give you what you're asking for, then come back to your current job with the offer from the other job in hand and show it to them.
 
What kind of sales are you doing? What are you selling? I'm asking because we just hired another sales guy, and we're 15 minutes from the Lincoln tunnel.
 
I've done this.

I asked to work out of home because they starting letting certain roles do this (one of which I was). Eventually I started working out of home but then I wanted to move. They told me no. I applied for another job and got it. Came back to my manager and voila, not only was I allowed to move, they paid for the whole thing, gave me a bonus check and about a 10% increase (still nowhere near what I was offered at this other job, but I wanted to relocate more). I still work out of home to this day 3 years later.

I'm willing to bet I could do it again and get a raise, but for what I get I can't complain too much.
 
If they don't come back with what you're looking for, what if you apply to one of those jobs that will give you what you're asking for, then come back to your current job with the offer from the other job in hand and show it to them.
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I'd be taking the other job in that case - if you accept a counter-offer by your current employer, it just means they're biding their time until they can find someone cheaper to replace you.
 
senseamp said:
It's not absurd, but you are better off asking for it at another company. Even if you want to stay at your present company, having a competing offer on hand will sure get the point across real quick.
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This. Prove to them with a job offer that you're worth 35% more. Some facts about how you've outperformed your peers at your company would help make your case as well.
 
JS80 said:
1) Calculate your yearly sales
2) Subtract for cost of sale, come up with gross profit
3) Estimate support costs and overhead (engineers, finance, marketing, CEO, rent, etc)
4) Estimate your sales book's net income
5) Compare to your all-in compensation

You may find that you are overpaid. I've seen many companies take losses on salespeople for the sake of having a functioning sales department.

But come back to us after your estimates on 1-5 and we'll have a better answer.
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That doesn't really work, especially for large companies. I'm personally responsible for over $1M per year (quota around $9m for a three person team, base line comes in for our quota that we never touch). Way too hard to distinguish what you should be paid based on revenue.


Bignate603 said:
Sounds like you have a good plan, good luck with it!

Last year my company didn't have raises for anyone but I had been particularly burned by how they had changed some of the benefits. During my performance review (which was very good) I told my boss that if things didn't improve I didn't see myself staying with the company over the long term. I didn't set a date on when I would leave and just left it open ended. My boss said that he would see what he could do. A few weeks later I was very quietly given a promotion and a 12% raise. I think that if I had threatened to quit immediately it wouldn't have played out nearly as well.
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Yeah that's definitely the way to go about it. Tell them you want to be there long term but current salary or something like that is preventing this. IE, my company pays the same in TX as they do in LA. My buddy who just moved to sales in LA let them know he'd love to stay there but he has a baby and wants another one and for his wife to be able to not work. He's committed to 3 years but if they want him to stay longer they will really have to up the ante. And they do want him to stay, it's hella hard to train a good salesperson, let alone a sales engineer like my company needs.


ThePresence said:
What kind of sales are you doing? What are you selling? I'm asking because we just hired another sales guy, and we're 15 minutes from the Lincoln tunnel.
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I'm wondering as well. I just moved to Boston to be a field sales engineer (outside sales). 30% commission based. Honestly, 8% revenue growth would be pretty small for my company, we target 20-40%.
 
Phokus said:
Would you even have the ability to walk out in this economy?
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a bad economy is generally good for proven sales people.

Most sales jobs have a VERY minimal base salary and the bulk of your pay is based on commission. So a company can hire in a sales guy at $20k a year and potentially have him bring in millions in profits. Its very win/win for the company and the sales guy.
 
Tweak155 said:
I've done this.

I asked to work out of home because they starting letting certain roles do this (one of which I was). Eventually I started working out of home but then I wanted to move. They told me no. I applied for another job and got it. Came back to my manager and voila, not only was I allowed to move, they paid for the whole thing, gave me a bonus check and about a 10% increase (still nowhere near what I was offered at this other job, but I wanted to relocate more). I still work out of home to this day 3 years later.

I'm willing to bet I could do it again and get a raise, but for what I get I can't complain too much.
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what kind of work do you do?
 
I received a 38% raise once... mainly because my company was paying me 1/3 less than I was worth out of college. I got two other offer letters and said I would walk unless they matched. They matched. 😉
 
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