How to confidently discuss your salary

Key Takeaways

Preparation is essential. Research market rates, document your achievements, talk with colleagues, and always practice the discussion beforehand.
Be strategic in your communication. Choose the right time, maintain composure, and be prepared for counteroffers or alternative benefits.
Documentation and follow-up can be crucial, so secure agreements in writing and schedule the next steps to keep the momentum.
Remember to remain professional, no matter the outcome. If it comes down to a rejection, take it as an opportunity for growth or to explore new options.
Leverage resources like salary comparison tools to confidently discuss your salary, and consider seeking new opportunities if your value isn't recognised.

Talking about your salary, and being able to negotiate it, is a key skill that you’ll use throughout your career. We've pulled together some key actions to help you navigate these conversations, so you feel confident negotiating a new offer, asking for a raise or settling your freelance rates.

How to prepare for a salary negotiation

Knowledge is power, so coming to these conversations prepared is essential. Before you even book a meeting in the calendar, it’s important to have everything ready to nail the conversation.

Do your research to understand your value.

REPORTS & GUIDES

2025 UK Salary Guide

Get the Guide

Do you know what the market is paying for your role? A good way to measure whether you're being underpaid is to look at what people in your industry, at your level, are being paid. Aquent’s Compare My Salary tool allows you to anonymously compare your salary with professionals in the creative, marketing and tech industries so you can keep up-to-date with what the market is paying.

We’d also recommend talking to your colleagues, or those in jobs of a similar level to try and see if you’re going in the right direction. If you’re a freelancer, compare your rates across multiple clients.

Demonstrate your successes.

What do you bring to the table? Put together a list of ways you’re valuable to your team and to the business by highlighting your skills, contributions to projects and any other successful moments during your year.

If you have KPIs, OKRs or any other metrics, have proof of achieving them in your pocket ready to present. You can also include future work and any targets you’re looking to achieve to present further successes.

Practice your pitch.

It’s a saying for a reason, practice does make perfect. Don't let the first time you have this conversation be with your manager. Dedicate time to preparing each of your talking points and speaking it out loud. You'll get more confident the more you rehearse.

If you have a colleague or friend to practice with, have them review your pitch. Have them ask you some difficult questions, or even interrupt you, so if it happens on the day you won’t fumble.

Choose the right time.

It’s important to get your timing right, and not blindside your manager with this conversation. Be upfront and message them to say you want to have a discussion about pay. However, also consider when a good time is to have this conversation.

Have you just completed a successful project? Do you have a performance review coming up? Is it a good time in your company's financial cycle? Is your manager able to dedicate this time to you right now? Consider all factors before sending your request.

How to handle the salary discussion

Now that you’re prepared, it’s time for the discussion. We’d advise sending an agenda with your notes and metrics to your manager beforehand, so they have time to digest and provide feedback.

Composure is key.

It may sound obvious, but keeping calm and collected is important. When talking about money, you want to be upfront, but resist arguing your point. Make steady eye contact, remain composed and let pauses happen. Silence during negotiations can be a powerful tool to project confidence and regain or maintain control of the conversation. If you’ve practised this conversation, you’ll know when the right time to pause is.

Be ready for negotiations.

Your manager may suggest a counteroffer, or non-monetary benefits instead, so have an alternative ready. A Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (or BATNA) is the process of determining alternatives to your ideal pay rise, so you know what you’re willing to compromise on during any negotiations.

Before the meeting, identify all possible alternatives to just an increase in salary. Packages can be just as valuable, such as holiday allowance, pension, bonuses, benefits, plus company culture factors. Having these in mind before the meeting will give you confidence in negotiation if it comes to that.

Have a next step, and the outcome in writing.

Don’t leave the conversation without booking your next catch-up. Whether it’s to finalise your offer or for your manager to share feedback, keep the conversation moving forward.

Also, get everything in writing. You should always have everything written out and confirmed, so anything you’ve been promised can’t be revoked.

Show gratitude and respect.

Whether the conversation went your way (or not), it’s important to show professionalism and gratitude for the opportunity to discuss your salary. In the long term, a positive and respectful attitude can leave a lasting impression, which can help reinforce your value for future conversations and negotiations.

Being turned down for a pay rise

If you’ve been told no, stay calm and turn this into a learning opportunity. Ask for feedback so you can understand the reasoning behind their decision, where you could look to upskill yourself or set better target expectations.

Alternatively, it may be the moment to start exploring new opportunities, where your skills and experience are more appropriately valued.

If you'd like to keep up-to-date with what the market is paying creative, marketing and technology professionals in the UK, use our real-time salary comparison tool.

Or if you're looking for a new opportunity, feel free to get in touch, we match the right people to the right roles to help your career thrive.

Here to help (5)