5 Unconventional Ways to Negotiate Your Salary

5 Unconventional Ways to Negotiate Your Salary5 Unconventional Ways to Negotiate Your Salary0While most people know some of the conventional ways to negotiate for salary and benefits (for a refresher, check this out), theres more to negotiating than doing your homework (although thats very important) and practicing.The next time youre up for that big raise or need to negotiate your starting salary at a new gig, consider some of these unconventional ways to up your negotiating game.Here are five unconventional ways to negotiate your salary1. Take an improv class.It might seem silly, but the idea of being prepared for what you cant prepare for will take you a long way, leid only in improv, but in salary negotiations as well. The truth is you can practice every day for hours a day, but the likelihood that your boss will throw a curveball at you during negotiations is high.Taking a few improv classes will help you learn how to think quickly in the moment, which is a great benefit during salary negotiations- and life.2. Consider the negatives.Of course there are 1,001 reasons why you deserve a higher salary, but what are some of the reasons that you might not?Put yourself in your bosss shoes and try to imagine why she might say you actually shouldnt get more money. Write those things down and do your best to fix them (or at least have responses should they come up, like maybe youre halfway through a Photoshop class that will make you even more of a valuable asset, or tout the valuable lesson you learned and practices you put in place that one time you missed an important deadline).Make yourself the most valuable package possible to ensure your superior simply cant say no to your request.3. Pretend you arent in the bro.If you were just hired, remember that your boss hired you for a reason (likely she recognized your incredible skills), and if youve been at your gig for a while then youve had time to prove your worth.In either scenario, it might help going into salary negotiations pretending you arent in an office setting- in fact, if you can request the meeting actually not be in the office, even better Whats more intimidating than staring at your bosss Harvard diploma on the wall while you talk salary, or getting constantly interrupted by incoming emails, ringing phones, and eager assistants?Remember that at the end of the day, your salary negotiation is really just a conversation between you and your boss, so the more relaxed you can make your setting, the better youll feel about it.4. Make a list of your all positivesthen slash it.Your boss is a busy person, and while it would be nice if you could spend hours explaining to her just how awesome of an employee you are, that will likely only irk her (and make her think schwimmbad at time management in her head).Instead, before your negotiations, create a list of all the reasons you know you deserve a higher salary, then boil them down to the top three or four. Stick with reasons that are highly specific (I increased ad revenue by 24 percent in the third quarter) and relevant to the company (When our sales were declining, I drummed up five new clients with a ground campaign that netted the company $2.5 million).It also might help to memorize these 11 words and phrases that are best to avoid during salary negotiations. Hint Im sorry is one of them.5. Skip the nice, round numbers and go for odd ones, instead.According to this LinkedIn piece by negotiation consultant Victoria Pynchon, using odd numbers in your salary ask rather than round ones shows that youve really done your background research and know your exact valueperhaps to the penny. Using sites like PayScale and Salary.com can help you determine what you should be paid for your level of experience and education.