Career & jobs
Quick answer
Enter your current offer, target and market range and the tool tells you whether the counter is realistic, then writes the words: the anchor sentence, the justification, the concession you can trade and the close. It also scripts what to say if the answer is no, which is where most negotiations are actually decided.
The counter-offer is one email. This tells you whether your number is realistic and gives you the words.
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Your ask
$108,000
Realism: reasonable — expect a meeting in the middle
Thank you for the offer — I want to work with this team. Based on what the role covers and what comparable roles pay, I was targeting $108,000. Your offer is at $95,000. If you can meet $108,000, I will sign today. If base is fixed, I am open to closing the $13,000 gap another way: a signing bonus, an extra week of leave, or a written six-month review with a defined increase.
Never counter with a range. If you say "somewhere between 100 and 110" you have already agreed to 100. Name one number, and make it the number you would sign for.
Anchor on the market rate for the role, not on your current salary. Your last employer's budget is not evidence of your value, and bringing it up invites a small percentage bump instead of a market-rate offer.
When base pay is genuinely capped, move the conversation to signing bonus, leave, title or a written review date. Those levers usually sit with a different budget and a different approver, which is exactly why they are easier to win.
| What it answers | Counter-offer realism check plus the words. |
|---|---|
| How the answer is produced | Negotiation outcomes are mostly decided before the conversation, by the evidence you bring and the number you anchor on. |
| What you need to enter | Collect three to five outcomes from the last year with numbers attached before you book the meeting. |
| Where it stops being reliable | It cannot see your employer's finances or band structure, which sometimes genuinely cap the outcome. |
| Cost and sign-up | Free, runs in your browser, no account and no stored inputs. |
Negotiation outcomes are mostly decided before the conversation, by the evidence you bring and the number you anchor on. The script therefore starts with preparation: a documented list of outcomes you delivered, a market range for your role and location, and a specific figure rather than a range.
The conversation itself follows a sequence designed to keep the discussion collaborative: acknowledge the relationship, present evidence, state the number once and clearly, then stop talking. The pause after the number is the single most effective element and the one most people skip.
The script also prepares for the four standard responses — budget is fixed, we will revisit later, that is above the band, and everyone gets the same increase — because having a prepared answer to each is what turns a no into a scheduled yes.
Negotiation research and practical experience both point to the same uncomfortable fact: most people talk past their own strongest moment out of nervousness. After stating a specific number, the instinct is to immediately soften it with justification or a smaller fallback figure, which hands the other side a lower anchor before they have even responded. Saying the number once, clearly, and then stopping — even through an uncomfortable silence — keeps the anchor exactly where you set it and forces the other party to respond to your figure rather than to your nerves.
Evidence gathered before the meeting does more work than anything said inside it, because a manager approving a raise usually has to justify the decision upward to their own manager or to HR. A documented list of outcomes with numbers attached is not just persuasive to the person across the table, it becomes the material they use to make the case on your behalf afterwards, which is often the actual bottleneck rather than their personal willingness to agree.
It also pays to rehearse the specific words for the pause itself, since silence in a live conversation feels far longer to the person who created it than it does to the other party. Practising the ask out loud with a friend beforehand, including sitting through the silence without filling it, makes the real conversation noticeably easier, because the discomfort has already been experienced once in a low-stakes setting rather than for the first time when the actual raise is on the line.
How you handle a no matters almost as much as how you handle a yes, because a poorly closed negotiation often ends the conversation permanently, while a well closed one converts a temporary refusal into a scheduled second attempt. Asking explicitly what would need to be true for the increase to happen, and getting a date and conditions in writing, is what separates a real pipeline toward a future yes from a vague, unenforceable promise to 'revisit it sometime'.
The candidate opens by acknowledging the relationship, presents three documented outcomes with numbers — a project delivered under budget, a process improvement saving four hours a week, a new client relationship managed solo — states 'based on this, I'd like to discuss moving my salary to £52,000', and stops talking. The manager's hesitation is met with silence rather than an immediate concession, which keeps the anchor at £52,000 rather than sliding down before any counter-offer is even made.
Instead of accepting the first figure or issuing an ultimatum, the candidate says 'I'm genuinely excited about this role — based on the market range for this position and my experience with [specific skill], I was expecting closer to £58,000. Is there flexibility?' and waits. If the answer is a firm no, the fallback script asks about signing bonus, extra annual leave, or an early six-month review tied to specific goals, converting a capped base salary into other forms of value.
In a raise conversation, yes — you are the one requesting the change, so anchoring is yours to use. In a new-job negotiation, deferring until you have the range is usually better.
Move to the conditional close: ask what would need to be true for the increase to happen, get it in writing, and set a review date. That converts a refusal into a defined path.
A single professional, evidence-based ask is normal and expected. Risk comes from ultimatums you cannot back, not from asking.
Written and reviewed by Jim Vernon, Editor, AI Intelligence International. Published by AI Answer Engine, a service of AI Intelligence International, and checked against our editorial standards.
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