The Insider Strategy Method Co
How to ask for a raise at work
Angela Langmann spent 16 years inside big tech approving the offers and pay increases other people were asking for. This is the same sequence she teaches: what to prepare, when to ask, what to say, and what to do when the answer is not yes.
The short answer
Ask early, ask for a number, and bring evidence your manager can repeat
A raise conversation is not a performance. It is a business case delivered to someone who has to re-tell it without you in the room. If your manager cannot repeat your argument in one sentence to their manager, the ask will quietly die between meetings.
Everything below is built around that one idea. Work through the seven steps in order — most of the work happens before you ever say the word "raise".
The seven steps
1. Start before the conversation, not in it
Most raises are decided long before anyone sits down. Budget is shaped in planning cycles, and your manager needs to argue your case to people you will never meet. Give them the evidence, the number and the language weeks ahead of the review, not on the day.
2. Work out what you are actually worth
Separate three numbers: what you are paid now, what the market pays for your scope, and what the role above you pays. Use live job ads with published ranges, recruiter conversations and peers in the same market. Bring a range, not a wish.
3. Build the business case, not the personal case
Cost of living, loyalty and how hard you work are not arguments a manager can take upstairs. Revenue you influenced, cost you removed, risk you prevented, scope you absorbed and work you now own that nobody backfilled — those are. Write five lines with numbers attached.
4. Ask for a specific number
Vague asks get vague answers. "I would like us to move my base to $X, and here is why that reflects the scope I am carrying" gives your manager something concrete to take away. If you leave the number open, someone else picks it.
5. Say it plainly, then stop talking
The most common mistake is softening the ask until it disappears — apologising, hedging, or offering the reason it might not be possible. Make the request, give the evidence, then let the silence sit. You are not being greedy; you are doing a normal part of your job.
6. Handle the objection you will definitely get
"There is no budget." "It is not the right cycle." "You are already at the top of the band." "Let's revisit in six months." Each has a next question that keeps the conversation alive — what would need to be true, who else signs off, and what is the exact date we revisit with a number attached.
7. Get the outcome in writing
Follow up the same day with a short email summarising what you asked for, what was agreed, and the date of the next step. Written follow-up is what turns a friendly conversation into something that survives a reorg or a change of manager.
What to avoid
Six mistakes that cost people money
- Asking in the hallway instead of a scheduled conversation with an agenda
- Leading with personal need rather than the value you deliver
- Naming a number below what the market already pays for your role
- Accepting "no budget" as the end of the conversation instead of the middle
- Waiting for the annual review, when the budget is already allocated
- Never following up in writing
When to ask
Timing matters more than wording
The best moment to raise pay is when your scope changes — you take on a team, absorb a departed colleague's work, deliver something visible, or get asked to do the role above yours. That is when the evidence is fresh and the argument is easiest to make.
The second-best moment is six to eight weeks before your organisation's planning or review cycle, while budget is still being shaped. The worst moment is the review meeting itself, when the numbers are already locked.
Go deeper
Get the exact words
The free masterclass walks through the scripts for the ask itself and the four objections above — word for word, in under 30 minutes. If you want the full sequence, the Insider Strategy Method course adds the salary analyser, the contract and equity modules, and a 60-minute 1:1 with Angela to build your personal strategy.