Salary Negotiation: Building a Business Case That Gets You the Raise

By

Hannah Kissel

March 31, 2026

•

14

min

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About the episode

You're delivering excellent work, taking on more responsibilities, and getting glowing performance reviews, so why is your salary still lagging behind? In this episode, Hannah responds to a listener who's 15K below the median for her level despite supporting nine executives and receiving zero critical feedback. Hannah breaks down exactly how to build a business case that gets results, even after you've already heard "no."

Key Takeaways
1. If you don't advocate for yourself, no one else will
2. The $15K gap is bigger than it looks
3. Build a business case, not a conversation
4. The business case framework
5. Schedule a dedicated meeting and don't back out
6. A "soft no" is not a final no
7. Over-delivering without being compensated is a pattern, break it

Timestamps:
00:45 - The most common salary question Hannah gets
01:00 - Two issues at play: practical skills vs. confidence and self-worth
01:30 - Listener question: underpaid HR Director, soft no from her boss
02:55 - Hannah's response: why you must re-approach this negotiation
04:10 - Step 1:Build your business case (the one-pager framework)
08:35 - How have YOU approached salary negotiation?
09:05 - Step 2:How to actually have the conversation
10:30 - Mindset: reinforcing your self-worth before you walk in the room

Hi there, I'm Hannah

Executive Coach, podcaster, speaker, writer, and builder of big f*cking Dreams. My mission? To help ambitious professionals build self-acceptance, self-trust in their careers.

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