If you feel you're not being paid enough for the role you perform at work then it’s time to call your very own salary summit.

Salary is the most delicate of negotiations and you need to research the facts and play your hand carefully to get a result. Try these tips from industry experts:

Pick your time

Don’t try and bundle a salary discussion into another work conversation. It’s an important topic and needs to be considered in its own right.

If your appraisal or a recent project went well, these might be cues to raise the topic. Tell your boss you’d like a meeting to discuss your future with the company. It’ll give him or her chance to reflect on your value and they won’t feel on the back foot.

The six Ps

‘Proper planning prevents pitifully poor performance’. Enter any salary discussion knowing your market worth and well armed with examples of how his work has added value to the company.

Keep your cool

You cannot hope to persuade someone with your emotions. Only their emotions or hard facts will sway them. So if you say: ‘I want £x because that’s what Jeff earns’ remember you might have a reason for paying you the lesser salary – it could be the very reason your boss might want to sack you.

Don’t reveal your hand

Avoid putting your cards on the table and stating a figure up front. The danger of naming a figure first is that you get tied to it.

Only when you’ve convinced your boss of your worth do you bring up salary. Let your boss name a figure first. “In the light of my contribution I’m sure you’ll be able to offer me a rise that is appropriate’ is a good way to start talking figures.

Think of collateral

Don’t lose sight of the overall package. Pension contributions and training allowance - as well as the usual laptops and mobiles - can all beef up the basic salary.

Work out what items such as health, bonuses and options add to your remuneration and have your ducks lined up – it’s not smart to have to start counting on your fingers.

Fight your corner

Some blokes are good at fighting for others but they're a pushover it comes to their own interests. So remember you’re doing it for your family/ girlfriend as well.

Money for its own sake is meaningless to most people so you need to think of the things you’d like and then imagine life without them. Most of us fight harder to prevent loss than to achieve something.
 
My thanks to Calum Coburn,The Negotiation Academy
David Peters, managing partner of head hunters Heidrick and Struggles
Tracey Richards, senior training consultant with negotiation specialists, PTP