Ask Once A Year
One uncomfortable conversation, repeated annually, worth more than any budget.
People will spend a weekend comparing supermarket prices and never once ask their employer, their bank, or their insurer for a better number.
Rates and salaries are not fixed. They are defaults, set by whoever is not being asked. The asking is uncomfortable, which is exactly why so few people do it, which is exactly why it works. Done well, one hour a year can move more money than months of small economies — though unlike those economies, this one is not guaranteed to pay off.
Book it, do not wait for the moment
Pick a date. The right moment never arrives on its own and waiting for it is how years pass.
Bring one specific number
Not a feeling. A competitor quote, a market rate, a list of what you delivered. The number does the work, not the tone.
Ask, then be quiet
State what you want and stop talking. The silence is uncomfortable and it is doing something.
Take a no as information
A no with a reason tells you what would change the answer. That is worth having. Ask what would need to be true.
Go deeper
What the paid version adds to this one.
The salary conversation in detail, including what to do with a no
Scripts for insurers, banks and utilities, which respond to different pressure
How to build the evidence file across the year so the ask writes itself
Recorded run-throughs of both conversation types