Have you ever asked for a promotion or raise you deserved and been turned down? That’s disappointing but don’t let that end the conversation. Remember that your boss has to justify every penny in her budget, so prepare a business case to give your manager the firepower she needs to help you advance.
How Do You Make a Business Case?
A business case will help you get everything from a new job to a raise or promotion in your organization. In its simplest form, to make a business case means to support your request by showing how your skills and actions have or will benefit the business. Whether you have improved efficiency and productivity, raised morale, increased sales, opened new markets, streamlined operations, of improved public perceptions, express the value you have created for the company in dollars and cents.
State specific skill(s) you bring to the new job and how they improved results. If you don’t yet have a track record, you can cite examples at other companies similar to your own.
- Include your track record associated with those skills. Did you increase sales or improve the bottom line? If so, by how much? Even if you don’t have exact numbers, state ranges that can be verified for your industry.
- State specifically how you improved, or plan to improve, the new position in a unique way, focusing on adding customers and creating a sustainable increase in profits.
- If you’ve already been doing what the new job requires, be sure to include how your current actions and expertise will reduce the cost of your on-the-job training.
- Finally, ask for what you want. End your business case with a classic call to action. State clearly and simply what you want in specific terms.
Let’s look at how this works:
- Mr./Ms. Parks, in my current job I managed a campaign that doubled our followers on social media. Industry data suggest each customer can spend up to $$ a year with a company they like, so my campaign potentially increased revenues by $$ annually.
- I handled the business from XYZ Company on a national scale. Besides coordinating existing business, I personally added ## customers in # years.
- This increased sales by $$ year over year and $$ overall.
- I did this through improving customer service by xyz, building customer loyalty through abc, and increasing word of mouth referrals by ###.
- My actions were so successful that management assigned ## employees to work on my team. This grew my department by ## employees and they added ## additional customers. Their effort added an additional $$ in sales and all of us together added $$ net profit last year.
- What we’ve been doing for XYZ Company can easily be applied to MNOP Company.
- I would be happy to apply my experience to make MNOP Company excel for ## compensation in # management position/capacity.
Figure out how to adapt these steps to whatever situation faces you. If you are trying to make a move within your company, adapt the steps to fit a different department or move up in your own department.
What If You Can’t Make a Case Now?
If you have not done anything that added value to your company, it’s probably a waste of time to ask for a raise or promotion right now. Instead, develop a strategy to modify your actions to actually create value. The value of communications is notoriously difficult to quantify, but you can look to industry groups for research to support your case, or use your network of contacts to cite results in other companies. Pull together a small advancement group in your network and help each other build your business cases. Other people can often see your value better than you can yourself.
Business is built on estimates and projections supported by hard data, and it’s important to nail down the specific benefits in a business case. It can be scary to promise results, but how else will you advance? Women may be afraid to do this and instead say things like, “I have always done a good job and did everything you asked to the best of my ability.” It’s likely that whoever you’re addressing knows or guesses that much. Instead, you need to use your voice and educate others about the actual value you deliver.
These are a few of the many tips and tools in my new book, In This Together: How Successful Women Support Each Other in Work and Life.
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About the Author
Nancy D. O’Reilly, PsyD, is an international philanthropist, licensed psychologist, and author of In This Together: How Successful Women Support Each Other in Work and Life [Simon & Schuster/Adams Media, January 2019]. She urges women to define themselves and each other as leaders to create an equitable world. Stay up-to-date on thoughts, practices, and solutions from today’s leading women on Facebook, Twitter , and at DrNancyOreilly.com
If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy Kaley Daniel’s post “I Changed Jobs – What the Hell Was I Thinking?”
