Personal & Life
Salary Negotiation Prep: Market Rate, Your Floor, and the Words to Open With
Intermediate | 1 whiteboard page · Task board: 5 columns (5 parent tasks, 13 subtasks)
Intermediate: Method names appear, but the whiteboard explains the key points. Use the examples as a guide and fill it in, thinking it through for your own situation.
A salary negotiation prep template for anyone with an offer conversation coming up who needs the market rate for the role, a walk-away number, and the exact words to open the ask. The whiteboard holds a target-and-floor panel, a grid that breaks each offer into base pay, hours, bonus, and real hourly rate, and a 5W1H layout (What, Why, Who, When, Where, How) for building how you raise the number. The kanban runs five columns, from market research to agreed and closed, with five parent tasks and 13 subtasks waiting, from gathering evidence to getting the terms in writing. Settling the market number and the floor in advance means the offer call stops being improvised, and you know exactly what to say, and in what order, before the answer deadline.
Once you have a free account, you can copy this template from the marketplace
Whiteboard preview
Read the whiteboard text as plain text
Salary Negotiation Prep
How to use: 1. Gather 3 market data points 2. Break the offer apart 3. Build the ask with 5W1H 4. Say it out loud until it flows
1. Target, Floor, and the Evidence (lock these in before you talk)
- Your target (one number, not a range) $132,000 total pay, before tax Current $118,000 → up $14,000
- Your floor (below this you walk) $118,000, the same as you make now Also decline anything under $56 an hour real rate
- Market evidence gathered (3 postings - Company B, listing C, listing D) - Listing C $126,000-$140,000 / listing D $136,000 (on-call included) - Federal wage data, median for your level about $104,000
- Risk and deadline Answer due September 12 (seven days after the offer) The longer they wait on you, the worse it reads
2. Offer Breakdown (real hourly rate = total pay ÷ hours worked in a year)
| Base salary (annual) | Hours and overtime | Bonus and stipends (annual) | Real hourly rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company A (offer in hand) | $108,000 a year $9,000 a month, base only | Exempt, so no overtime pay at any hours Recruiter says 45-hour weeks in the busy quarter | Bonus discretionary, 13% last year = $14,400 No stipends, commute not covered | $122,400 ÷ 2,280 hrs = about $53.70 1,920 scheduled hours plus 360 unpaid |
| Company B (from the posting) | $120,000 a year $10,000 a month, base only | Exempt, on-call one week in four Get the real weekly hours in writing | Bonus fixed at 10% = $12,000 Home office stipend $100 a week = $5,200 | $137,200 ÷ 2,460 hrs = about $55.80 Highest total, still below your current rate |
| Your current job | $104,000 a year $8,667 a month, base only | Steady 40-hour weeks, no unpaid crunch About 2,100 hours worked last year | Bonus twice a year, $14,000 last year Commute and phone reimbursed in full | $118,000 ÷ 2,100 hrs = about $56.20 Decline any offer that lands below $56 |
3. Build How You Open the Ask (5W1H)
- Asking for $132,000
- What $132,000 total pay, one number and never a range
- Why Three postings for the same role ran $126,000 to $140,000
- Who The recruiter or HR contact, not the interview panel
- When After the final interview, before you say yes
- Where Live on the offer call. Do not chase it by email
- How Open with thanks, under a minute, say the number once
4. Lines You Can Say Word for Word
- Thank you for the offer. I have made up my mind about joining the team
- Three postings for this role ran $126,000 to $140,000, so I am asking for $132,000
- If the base cannot move, could you look at level or remote days instead
- Could you send me the full terms in writing before I sign
5. Things Never to Say
- Another company pays more (a threat breaks the relationship)
- I need more to cover my bills (it gives them nothing to argue with internally)
- I will take whatever you offer (you just erased your own floor)
- Sure, that works (never agree on the call)
6. What Else to Ask For (your value × how easily they can say yes)
Vertical axis: How much it is worth to you / Horizontal axis: How easily they can say yes
- Push once High value, hard for them. Base pay, sign-on bonus. Ask once, with the market data attached.
- Ask for first High value and easy to grant. Remote days, start date, level. Lock these down before anything else.
- Drop this round Low value and hard to get. Job title, laptop model. Cut them so you are asking for fewer things.
- Add at the end Easy to grant, small payoff. Book budget, certification fees. Tack it on as a closing line.
Task board contents
Market research 18 items
Gather market data
Negotiation runs on outside numbers, not on what you wish you earned. Collect the evidence first and you can judge any offer yourself.
Save 3 postings
Save three postings for the same role at your level of experience, and write the low and high figures into the market research column.
Note one wage stat
Pick one government wage source, such as the federal occupational wage data, and note the median for your level as evidence.
Pin your current pay
Confirm last year's total from your W-2. Talk in gross pay, never take-home, or every comparison drifts.
Break down the offer
Never look only at the headline number. Until you split out what it actually includes, you cannot tell whether it is high or low.
Check overtime terms
Ask whether the role is exempt from overtime pay and how many hours a normal week really runs. Unpaid hours are a pay cut hiding inside the total.
Annualize bonuses
Ask whether the bonus is fixed or discretionary and whether stipends count toward the number, then rebuild it all as an annual breakdown.
Find the real rate
Divide total pay by the hours you will actually work in a year and set it beside your current job. A bigger total can still be a smaller rate.
Set target and floor
The groundwork that keeps you steady in the room. Decide the numbers first and the mood on the call cannot move you.
Set a salary floor
Add rent, fixed costs, and your savings goal into one figure, compare it with your current pay, and take the higher of the two as the number you will not go below.
Pick one number
Put your target near the top of the market range and be able to say why in one sentence. One figure, never a range.
Script the ask
A script so you do not stall mid-sentence. Cut it down until you can read it out loud in one breath.
Write the opener
Write one sentence that asks for your number, backed by market data and your own contribution. Around 30 words, opening with thanks.
Pick 3 fallbacks
Decide what you will ask for instead when the number will not move, using the top three from the priority matrix on the whiteboard.
Draft a polite no
Prepare one sentence that declines without burning the bridge, ready to send by the answer deadline if the offer lands below your floor.
Get terms in writing
Do not let the agreement stay verbal. Until the paperwork arrives, treat nothing as settled.
Get the offer letter
Ask for a written offer letter before your start date and check the salary, the overtime terms, and the start date on it.
Check for mismatches
Read the letter line by line against what you were told on the call, and have anything that differs corrected in writing before you sign.
