A Master Tip on Negotiating Salary

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Welcome back. On the podcast today, I’m answering a question that has come in, asking me about salary negotiation. The specific question here is, I’m almost close to accepting an offer. And do you have any tips for me for negotiating the salary? Okay, so if you’re close to accepting an offer, I don’t know what to say. That means you already made a decision to take the offer, there is not much I can tell you think it is some kind of hesitation you have, I think you’re stepping into a compromised position. You’re stepping in with some degree of unhappiness. And that’s why you asked this question. But my suggestion is, it’s too late. It’s too late to restart a sales process. I say, why don’t you take the job, go in and see what happens there. That’s my recommendation. I don’t think you can do anything.

Now you’re so close to accepting an offer. But let’s talk about negotiation in general. Let’s talk about that. I think anything and everything about negotiation is already there on muse.com. Harvard review has some suggestions on how to negotiate a salary and all that. So I don’t think I can add anything here, in addition to what you already find on all these websites. But then I can tell you, one thing for sure, you cannot ask for a salary hike unless you have stacked up the process. So from the point, from the initial point of contact to all the way through the different stages of the interview all the way to the end, if that stacking has not happened properly, it’s very difficult to ask or command a price. That is true in any form of selling. If you have not marketed the product, right, it’s very hard to demand. An ask that’s much bigger than what they’re willing to pay. Just that’s a bit less than their mind.

My suggestion is that, let’s say and hoping everybody who’s listening to this podcast, let’s say you are listening to this podcast. In my opinion, the first person who quotes a price is a loser in a transaction, you are guaranteed to lose, it’s very difficult to raise beyond the price that you say. So let’s say the position offers you a $200,000 salary, I’m just making it up. And you said 150. And they say yes, it’s hard for you to move up from that point later on you discover it was 200,000. Now you missed out on a $50,000 spread. Now let’s say you say 250, let’s say right, and they decided 200 was the highest from their side, and it’s hard for them to even match up. So you come across as if you are too much for what they can afford. And they can move on to the second or the third person on the list and ignore you completely, they will never come back and even talk to you, you run that risk. So the ideal position to take is you never ever ask and let them offer you let them start with the number. So one of the ways to really open up the conversation on money is to ask what’s the range when you ask for a range, you know, the bottom, you know the top now, when you ask for a range, they also know that you know the range because you are in the market. So, there are enough websites that provide you a range for the role that you want to take up every role has a range. So they know you know this you are asking for range, you are not offending, you are not saying something from where you cannot recover. That’s how I would approach I would approach with a range and that’s the start point. But here’s the key part to all this you should postpone any negotiation to the very end. And at any point in time during this conversation. Every point is nothing but negotiation. At every point in time. Your job is to assess whether they can every interaction, every interview, let’s say you have five in-person interviews. Now every interview has to be incrementally becoming stronger Making Your Case stronger. And the stronger the case becomes, the stronger the Ask will become at the end.

Now here is another strategy. always sell the next thing don’t sell the overall thing don’t tell them that you are the best in the industry and you could do things that nobody else can do all you know are these things are all The mute the listener or the will make the people in the hiring process who whoever there are, who are is listening to you, they will disengage. So I would always sell the next step. So first, if at any point in time, in the middle of an interview, or at the beginning of the interview, the question of salary comes, usually comes to the chart at the very beginning. So, let me go through the process, and we’ll talk about it. We have a range, every role has a range, we’ll talk about it. So you keep on postponing. And the idea of postponement is that every subsequent step of the process, every interaction is building your case for a bigger ask. That’s why you’re postponing to the end. You always speak in ranges, you never specifically mentioned a figure if you mentioned a figure, get ready to lose. Now, why this process is going on, you keep on researching the market as much as you can. I’ll tell you, money is tricky. Asking for money is hard. And it needs a certain kind of preparation. If your preparation is right, then automatically, there comes a point where you don’t have to think about it. So you’ve done this jobs, you’ve done the practice or you’ve done you’ve gone through the process so well in your mind that you automatically when you position, the price, the price is accepted. So price positioning is very hard in sales in marketing and sales in every aspect of business hard, but it’s also extremely hard in a salary negotiation also. Okay, I hope this gives you an idea. I could run a whole negotiation class. In fact, I used to, and I do this in career breakthrough coaching. But then there are so many elements to it. But again, as I said, there is enough information online, and there are some golden nuggets, you go to muse or you go to Harvard review, you’ll find golden nuggets on negotiation. I’m not saying that I have the best, but I used to just to check that out also.

Okay, so that’s all for now. Loved these questions coming in. So thank you for the question. And hopefully, I lived up to the answer. And that’s all for now. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll come back and talk a little bit more about some other career aspects. We’ll continue, this process of career development for a few more days. Okay. That’s all. Bye now.

4 Sales Strategies That Will Land You A Dream Job

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Today on the podcast, I’m going to shift my role and become a career coach. So today in the podcast episode, I’m going to touch on three or four specific points. If you are looking for a job, if you’re looking for an immediate move in your job situation, today’s podcast is going to help you now I wouldn’t do this, I won’t highlight these points. If I am in a different context, like I’m in a seminar or workshop, I’m gonna highlight these things. But I’m going to do that on this podcast because I need to be in a different setup. Talk about other things.

Okay, so the question becomes is this? How can you get the next job? Now, there is one thing, regardless of which professional Warren, maybe you’re a software engineer, maybe you are a research scientist, or you are a research associate or whatever job you’re in doesn’t matter. The core fundamental principle in getting a job is your ability to sell yourself. Nobody wants to listen to this, I do all the seminars that I have done, since 2013, started 2013, I did about six or seven career breakthrough workshops. 800, people who walked into those seminars are actually more than 1000 people who are locked in into those areas, breakthrough workshops. And every time and most of them are software engineers. And each time I kept on telling that the only skill that you need is the ability to sell yourself. And you are in a sales profession, which you do not know that you are and you think you’re a software engineer, you think you’re a product manager, whatever. But they don’t, they never believe most of them never believed. Now, somebody who has been for about 20 years in the industry that went through a lot of struggles. Yeah, they agreed. But again, there’s denial, sales are seen as a very bad profession. It’s not about selling. But the ability to sell yourself is the key to all this. So please get that into your mind as you’re listening to this.

Now, if I want to change my job now, the only thing that I will do is I’m going to focus on my immediate usable skills. Let’s step number one, immediate, usable skills. What are some of the skills that you have within you right now that you can use? People always think about acquiring new skills, getting new certifications, spending some time getting experience before changing jobs, but you’re unhappy in the job? There is some compelling reason for you to move now? Why can’t you change now? So you got to focus on what you already have. So maybe you’re a good leader, maybe you’re a good manager, maybe you have done some things that are very unique to yourself, why not use them? Why worry about what the target position is seeking, you look at a job posting on LinkedIn or wherever and you start getting all you know, I don’t have the skills. Even though I match 30%, the other 70% I do not. That creates a lot of tension. Unnecessary, unwanted, you digress from your goal, your goal is to get the job, but the goal is not to become perfect to match the job. Right. So if not move on, look at another job freight as simple as that. So usable skills, whatever, you have got to use that. So that’s the point here. Now, as you’re communicating.

The second part to this is as you’re communicating you got to be likable. Whether in your resume, whatever you write likable in your cover letter, whatever you write, likable likeability is a big part of the sales process. People always buy from people whom they like and trust, like, and trust. So, if you’re in front of people, in an interview in front of the hiring manager, then there are so many things you can do to yourself to become likable. It’s not about dressing up. It’s not about the makeup. It’s not about the dress-up or any of that stuff. Your facial expressions, relaxation, posture, removing lethargy or laziness from your overall demeanor. And some basic courtesies all those many AQ likable then comes your ability to tell a story. So what’s happening on this podcast is I’m telling a story. I’m not a good storyteller. But if I can’t tell stories on this podcast, I’m going to lose you. And while I’m telling stories, I’m also trying to, I don’t try. But my goal overall goal with everything that I’m doing is that if you don’t like what I’m doing, you’re not going to listen to what I’m saying. That’s the truth. So if you’re a first-time listener to this podcast, I have no idea who I am, I just probably have like a minute or two before I lose you.

So everything that I say, and everything that I convey, you need to from the other side, as you’re listening to this, you need to see that, yes, this individual, even though I don’t like his voice, or maybe I don’t like the way he is giving examples of quoting whatever it is, but at least he has his heart in the right place. At least that’s the lowest denominator I’m trying to achieve. That’s the least expectation I have from myself is that sometimes I can’t get the content, right. Sometimes I can’t get my words, right. Sometimes I do multiple takes I get tired on this podcast, even though I don’t edit anymore, but you get the idea. But the lowest expectation that I have myself is that whatever I say, right, the listener should feel that. Yeah, let me invite this guy into my life. Let me give him my year. I need to be likable. So that’s what I have from my side on this side. But storytelling is an art. And regardless, which professionally or any got to. So a lot goes into thinking of who you are, what you have done. All the experiences you’ve had along the way, 10 15 20 years, whatever, maybe you’re just starting, even if this is your first job, let’s say, First job search, still, you have a story to tell. What makes your life what kind of character do you become, who are the people who made you who you are. Spend some time talking to your friends and family, share your story with them, and get some feedback. That’s where I would start. And there is no better way to sell anything. Without stories. I promise you, wherever you go the story, even software writing software, is a story. Because these days, everything is a story. There is no way to take a requirement from let’s say, from the sales team or marketing team, whoever is giving you requirements.

Let’s say you’re a software engineer, they do that through stories. You want to get entertained, you go to a movie, it’s a story, has a definitive start, has a definitive end, has a different progression, has some positive characters, has some negative characters, has some drama has some comedy, all that as a hero, the script as a villain, all that stuff. Now, as you’re going through all this, you have decided to look for a job, right? One of the biggest challenges I see in people is they can’t hang on to that frame, that I need to change my job, I need to look for a job. And they don’t consider job search is a numbers game. And if you’re part of the career coaching program, you will see how jobs such as ID numbers game. So for your numbers to be on your side, that means you got to apply for 100 jobs. You get 20 people to talk to maybe 10 Or maybe seven, or maybe six, we’ll invite you in that you have in-person interaction, maybe three will offer you the numbers are pretty off you see from every 100 that you try, you get three. And again, there are so many other factors that go into this. Sometimes in a great job market, which is it is right now as I’m recording this podcast, great job market, you will you’ll get better numbers, better conversion numbers, but then it’s a numbers game regardless, in order for your numbers to improve. You got to stay and maintain a positive attitude towards the end outcome.

So the outcome cannot be compromised in your mind. So it’s a mindset game. So at all costs focus on the positives in every scenario somebody rejecting you somebody saying no to you, somebody close to you, completely, suddenly creating an expectation Since in you and completely walking away from you, you got to maintain a positive attitude towards everything. And this also holds true if you’re in an interview where they’re asking you questions that challenge the opposite emotion in you, and you feel very uncomfortable, even then, even then the outlook that you should have is that I’m looking for a job, and I need to get the job. So you stay with your composure, and you get to the finish line. Okay? So, these are some secrets, these are four things that I want you to try. If you’re looking for a job. It all comes down to you having an effective approach and my goal is that these four things, these four things, starting from you, focusing on your usable skills, you becoming likable, you sharing your story, and you maintaining a positive attitude. These will make your approach effective and will get you the job of your dreams.

That’s it. Okay, my time is up. This podcast is done for today. So I want to come back here again. Tomorrow. I’m going to record the podcast. Again, my process continues here. Okay. So hopefully, this is helpful. If it is then do me a favor, write a review. Like it, share it. Man, you have a question for me. You know how to reach me at 888180404. That’s all for now. Stay happy, stay focused.

Ask Great Questions – Part 2

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Welcome back to Success with Srini. Today on the podcast, I’m going to extend my thoughts from yesterday, which was about asking questions. And I said, there are six tangible benefits of asking questions. As a result of asking questions, we learn more, we become more observant, we engage in critical thinking, we build confidence, and we also become better communicators. That was the message from yesterday. So let’s take this discussion on questions and apply them to different parts of our life, and what kind of questions we need to ask in different aspects of life. Now, when we talk about different aspects of life, there are many, some people said that are eight aspects of life that we constantly have to engage in different eight different categories of life. Some said Rod was more than eight. Some have said there are 24 categories, different philosophers, different discussions, different ways to describe all of this. But here are the three areas that I like to focus on.

The first is relationships. The second is a career. Third, is other areas of life. So I kind of take everything else and put it in other categories. So let’s talk about relationships for a second. So the question you have to keep asking yourself all the time has what kind of relationship do I have with myself? My relationship with myself? Is it improving? This is a deep question. And listen to this podcast or read books or watch good motivational, inspirational videos, all that is an act of self-exploration. That’s the start doing all that that means without you being becoming deliberate, you are improving your relationship with yourself, the pursuit is to improve your relationship, whether you know it or not, with yourself starts with that, then comes the question. In the relationships I’m in and with people around me, can I connect with the people around me in a deep manner rather than at a superficial level, most people do that they have surface discussions. But they never really work hard enough to build stronger bonds. A large part of that is because of how you relate to your own self. And when we do not connect with people at a deeper level, then it comes across as if we are selfish, we are self-centered, we are not really we are for ourselves, we are not for them. And that’s not the position that you want to be in.

So apart, you could be completely correct. Your intentions could be awesome, and you have a good heart, you truly mean good for others. But then just because you cannot create that depth in the relationships, you may be coming across as if you are superficial. And then people may perceive you to be weak. You don’t wanna do that. So you got to ask questions. In every specific relationship you have, with your boss, with your significant other with your friend, with your parents, with your children, you need to ask, are you connecting more deeply? Then, in relationships, you have a fundamental responsibility to grow others. If others are not growing, whoever you’re related to. If they are not growing, that means they are shrinking. There is nothing called a static state in life. Either you are progressing, or you’re regressing. So there is no static patient, people don’t get a patient stay there in any aspect of life. For example, today, if you don’t make money, that means your net worth is not the same. It’s not static. Because everything in the world is changing. So your net worth might have moved up or might have gone down. It is not static at any point in time. From the time I started this podcast, by the time I’m gonna end the podcast, your network might have changed.

So a question you got to ask yourself is am I fostering growth in people around me? And you cannot force the growth in others unless you are also growing? This is funny, I can’t come and do this podcast and pretend son would happen cannot happen. Because if I do, you could read through, I’m going to come across you can, you’ll figure it out. And I can’t have a superficial relationship with you. And every podcast episode is nothing but a pursuit to deepen this connection. So these are some questions you have to ask yourself, let’s talk about your carrier for a second, this is a significant part because we spend a lot of time and your job and your business, you know, all that, that we do. The first and foremost is a test, you got to be loving that which you do, how hard it is for me to do this podcast. If I don’t love this though, it’s gonna be hard. I tell you, I’ve given up multiple times in the past. And I take this podcast in itself as an example, because this is the only mirror to you, I don’t know you never met you. Maybe I may have met you. But then this is the only mirror this is the only tunnel, there’s only passes through which I can see you, or hear you or talk to you. At least talk to you can’t hear you can’t see you. But I can envision you through this. So I better love this. If not, it’s a failed endeavor, it’s a wrong activity. It’s an incorrect engagement. So here’s what I want you to do, I want you to ask yourself a deep question, which is, Do I really like doing what I do? Or whatever I’m doing right now? If the answer is no, then change it. Because this is a happiness game. You’re not happy doing what you’re doing? Leave? Cannot worth it.

Then another question you got to ask is How can I make a career out of what I’m what I love? See, people dislike their jobs, but they have other passions for them. They have other desires in them, they have other inclinations in them. Let’s take the word passion for a second, you are passionate about something. But you really don’t know whether you can make a career out of it. I have many passions myself. And I never really explored making a career out of those passions. Possible. Yes. Another subnet Yes, can I do it? Maybe I have not done it. But if you’re unhappy doing what you’re doing today, and that is not your passion, your job is to explore the possibility of turning your passions into a career, or something from which you can derive the pleasure of making money. Otherwise, you’ll continue to do what you’re doing. That is completely irrelevant, is not in line with your self-esteem. And what’s the point of doing it. Now, I’ve lost my voice talking about this in multiple consultations on air in my seminars and workshops, for lack of a better way to put this, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates were together, I believe at a conference at the university. Warren Buffett said something profound. And pardon me for saying this year. He said it’s just like if you work for 20 years happily or without knowing who you are and what your true identities are? And how do you align your identity to the work that you do? And you have your existing in some level of uncertainty, but let you know you’re suffering. And you know that you could have fixed it, but you choose not to because there is some payoff, some money coming in something. It’s just like, trying to defer sex to an older age. And if that video is there on YouTube, it’s funny if you seriously think about it, with people who keep on saying they want to defer happiness, why defer happiness? This is happiness me. Look at the resume that you have asked questions about. Is it a true reflection of who you are? Can the outlines of that resume be changed? Can you redraw that resume to reflect who you want to be? And if you can, what is the cost of doing it? Ask those questions. Some other questions you got to ask yourself, Is your life meaningful?

That means are you living a meaningful life? That means you wake up in the morning you are able to attach meaning to things that you do or is how flawed bad programming from childhood for some things that you observe here and there. And that’s how you define your life. And that’s how you define your activities. That’s how you define your day-to-day proceedings. totally incorrect. But again, there is more to this, today’s Sunday. So I just want to be more cautious here. I’m going to stop here. I mean, I, you can see, I’m totally into this, I can expand this conversation big. But then I want to do I want to leave you with homework to do if you have some time today, which is, I want you to look up, Socrates, and the Socratic method of asking questions to lead a meaningful life. You know, how Socrates spent his life and tired life asking questions because he thought that true enlightenment happens when you asked questions and Two good questions. He was moving on the streets asking questions to such a point that he got, I think prosecuted by the king for asking questions. Not sure I think he did. I remember reading it. There are so many layers of questions you can ask. But I want you to start asking some basic questions. Even if you ask one or two or three questions a day across one or two categories of your life, you are going to improve your life. Way beyond your imagination. If you owed a period of time, maybe over a period of the next 30 60 90 days. Unbelievable what to do to you.

Hopefully, this motivates you. Hopefully, this inspires you. If you like today’s podcast episode, do me a favor. Share it with your friends and family. Write a review. Whichever app you have, every app has a place for you to write a review. Trust me, there is and you have a question, you know how to reach me. So that’s all for now. Wherever you are, take care and I will talk to you early and bright tomorrow morning and catch you on a Monday with my best.
Thank you