What metrics do you use to justify a pay raise?

The best metrics to use to justify a pay raise are those that tie to revenue and direct value impact (internally and customer-facing). I like to keep a private list (for example, Asana) of the projects I've worked on and my contributions to them so I can refer to it during performance reviews, promotion advocacy, etc. 

Revenue metrics - must be quatifiable:

• Net Revenue Retention in my portfolio
• Expansion revenue
• Renewal win rate (this is a ratio or percentage, not a $ amount)
• CSQLs provided to sales (Customer Success Qualified Leads)

Value Impact:

• Significant contributions of customer advocacy events, including customer speakers / event participation, referencability, creation of case studies
• Creation of 1:many customer-facing value drivers, such as webinars, podcasts, training series, enablement materials

Metrics

- Gross Retention of your book of business

- Net retention of your book of business

Leading indicators that you are doing your job well:

- ROI delivered: We look at how many goals of the customers we have accomplished and how much percentage of customers do have an ROI delivered in the last 365 days. Note these goals are about value delivered to the customer and not the goal of your organization with the customer.

- Higher Usage/Adoption (if reported and tracked) as compared to your segment

- Stakeholder Alignment: Are you meeting your customers regularly and do you have a multi-threaded relationship

Intangibles:

- How do you run your EBRs? Are you well prepared? Are you making sure that the right people from both sides are joining and is it a good use of everyone's time? Is your EBR valuable or ticking the box?

- Does your leadership trust you to give you the most demanding customers because they know you will turn them around?

- Are you establishing trust with your customer? Are your customers vouching for you?

- Do your sales counterparts vouch for you? Are you a good partner?

- Do you have a clear plan for your customers? What will make them successful?

- Are you able to call out organizational barriers that are stopping the customer from delivering value?

- Are you an established expert in your field or are you making an attempt to get there with certifications, answering questions in your community, answering internal questions, etc?

Here are a few areas to consider.

1. Financial Factors: Is the overall economy healthy. A salary increase may be dependant on how the company is performing; Are the financial objectives at or above target and can the company therefore allocate budget for salary adjustments

2. Performance Assessment: An employee's performance is evaluated based on their ability to meet or exceed their set objectives (OKRs), their productivity, the quality of their work and the value they bring to the company. Does the employee consistently perform and contribute to the success of the organization.

3. Market Rates: How does the employee salary compare to similar roles in the same industry and at the same grade level. If they are below market rates then their salary increase may be warranted to bring them in line with the market, otherwise the employee could seek a role elsewhere.

4. Increased responsibilities: If the employee has taken on more responsibilities or has had an increase in scope of their core work (from the job description) then this could make them eligible for a salary increase.

5. Relevant Experience: Does the employee have relevant experience, valuable knowledge and skills that are hard to replace. Have new and important skills been obtained via training and certification?

I wouldn't present metrics to ask for a raise. Firstly, I would understand how my company typically provides salary increases and align with that process. In the interim, I would look for opportunities to drive impact for the business and look for growth opportunities, for example,

• Take on a new project and quantify the impact of that project

• Make a substantial contribution to a company initiative

• Review the company OKR's and figure out how you can create results against them

If you feel you are underpaid compared to market rates for some reason, use the review process to make your concerns heard, perhaps using benchmark data to highlight that you should be paid more. Yet that's the kind of thing you should naturally do before taking on a new role. My perspective would be that you either try to get promoted with a pay raise or look for a role elsewhere that will pay you more.

Here's some excellent advice on how to get a raise without asking for one: https://tinyurl.com/bddbyuwb

It depends on the level, but the main ones for us are retention (making renewal a non-event), increased customer usage and adoption/engagement, connection to the company values, strong, multi-threaded relationships with customers, and upsells/account expansion which increases product stickiness.

My philosophy is that I want everyone on my team to be eligible for a raise, so it’s my job to help them understand what they need to do so that I can make the case to the business. Just as they are the advocate for our customers, I am the advocate for them. It’s not just about the quantitative - there are many qualitative things I consider when recommending a pay rise.

Some of the most common pieces of advice I give to my team are:

1. Make sure you are a master of your business. Exceed your metrics or have a clear explanation of where and why you fell short. It isn’t essential that CSMs are always over 100% on everything, but you should have a clear plan that addresses  why you are behind.

2. Are you having an impact outside of your specific book of business? Are you helping others when you can? Are you seeking out and taking on additional projects and opportunities when they come up?

3. Are you upholding the values of the team and organization? Are you having a net-positive effect on the morale and engagement of your peers around you?