How to Ask for a Raise: Set Your Number, Make the Ask on the Call, and Turn "No Budget" Into a Date

Published October 26, 2026 · Updated October 26, 2026 · 8 minute read

The call with your manager is on the calendar and you have to say a number out loud. This page gives you the number to set, the evidence to bring, the exact words for each moment, and what to do when the answer is "no budget".

How do you ask for a raise on a call with your manager?

You decide your number and your walk-away first, state the number once with your evidence, and treat any answer short of yes as a date to come back to. Then you put the outcome in writing.

On a video or phone call, you can keep one page of notes open beside the call and glance at it as you talk. Our method is built around that page. We call it the forwardable ask.

1. Set three lines before you book the call. Your ask, your walk-away and the latest review date you would accept. Expect the walk-away to stay private for the whole call.
2. Build a case your manager can forward. Three pieces of evidence, each one sentence with a fact they can check. Expect your manager to need to sell it to someone else.
3. Say the number once, then stop. Expect a silence, then a question or a reason it is hard.
4. Turn a no into a path. Ask who decides, what has to be true, and by when. Expect a reason before you hear a final answer.
5. Trade, don't give. Any step down from your ask buys something specific: a date, a written review or a smaller amount sooner.
6. Write it down the same day. Expect nothing to be settled until it is in an email or a letter.

What should you decide before asking for a raise?

Decide your ask, your walk-away and your evidence before you book the meeting, and write all three on one page you keep open during the call.

Your ask is the salary you will name. Your walk-away is the lowest outcome you would accept on this call without starting to act on your alternative. Our working definition of your BATNA, your best alternative to a negotiated agreement: what you will actually do if the answer stays no. For a raise, that might be applying internally, taking an outside offer you already hold, or staying and asking again at a set date.

• Write the ask as one number. A range can invite the bottom of it.
• Write the walk-away as a package. For example: [$76,000] from next month, plus a written review of the rest by [date].
• Write your alternative honestly. If you would not act on it, it is not a walk-away. Never mention it as a threat.
• Write the date floor. The latest review date you would accept for a "not now".

For the evidence, pick three items your manager could check without asking you. Use a change in scope, a result with a number, and a pay comparison only if you can show where it came from. Say you pull three posted salary ranges for your role. Bring the links, not a claim that "the market pays more".

What exactly should you say when you ask for a raise?

Open by naming the topic, give your evidence in three sentences, name one number, and stop talking. Adapt the bracketed parts to facts you can stand behind.

What to listen for: whether the first reply is a decision, a constraint or a question. If they ask a question, answer it and restate nothing. A constraint, like budget or timing, is where the path starts.

When they ask: what number did you have in mind?

[Amount]. That reflects the [scope] I now carry and the [result] it delivered.

Why it works: one number with its reason gives your manager something to repeat. A range gives them the low end to repeat.

What should you say if your manager says there is no budget?

Ask who decides, what would have to be true, and when it can be decided, then ask to put that date in the calendar before the call ends.

When they say: There's no budget for raises right now.

Understood. Who would need to approve this, and what would they need to see?

When they say: Let's revisit it later in the year.

Can we put a date on that now? I'd suggest [date], and I'll come with [the result we agree on].

When they say: I'd support it, but it's not my call.

Then can I send you a short summary you can forward to [budget owner] this week?

Why it works: each line turns "no budget" into a name, a condition and a date. You leave with a path you can hold them to, and nothing you have given away.

Where your state or theirs requires it, tell the other person the call is being transcribed and get their consent.

How do you handle a smaller offer without giving up your position?

Treat a smaller number as an offer to trade on, not an answer to accept, and check it against the walk-away on your page before you say anything.

• Ask if it is approved. Is [smaller amount] approved now, or still to be signed off?
• Trade the gap. I could accept [smaller amount] from [date] if we agree in writing to review [ask] on [date].
• Ask for something sooner. If the amount is fixed, could it start from [earlier date]?
• Buy time when it is close. Let me think about that and come back to you by [day].

Never fill the pause with a lower number. A concession made to end a silence buys nothing, and it tells your manager the first number was soft. Only drop below your ask when you get something named back.

What does a raise call look like from start to finish?

It is the six steps above on one video call, and it ends in a written proposal rather than an approved raise.

For example: [Maya] is an operations analyst on [$72,000]. She has set her ask at [$80,000] and her walk-away at [$76,000] from next month. Her date floor is a written review of the rest by [June 1].

1. Booking. She asks for [30 minutes] to talk about pay. Her one-page case is open beside the video call.
2. The ask. Since [January] I've run the monthly vendor reporting, which cut [two days] from close. I'm asking to move to [$80,000]. She stops.
3. The constraint. Her manager says the budget is set and the director signs off raises.
4. The path. She asks what the director would need to see. The answer: the reporting result, in writing, before the [February] budget review.
5. The trade. Her manager offers to put forward [$75,000]. That is below her walk-away. She says: I could accept [$76,000] from next month if we also agree a review of [$80,000] by [June 1].
6. The close. Her manager agrees to take [$76,000] and the [June 1] review to the director. Nothing is approved until it is confirmed in writing, and she says so in the recap.

The director's answer comes by email on [date]. Either way, Maya has a written record of what was asked, what was proposed and who owns the next step.

How do you get the outcome of a raise conversation in writing?

Send a short recap the same day, label what is agreed and what is only proposed, and ask your manager to correct anything you got wrong.

Subject: Our pay conversation on [date]. Thanks for talking it through today. My understanding: you'll take [amount] from [effective date] to [approver] by [date]. We'll review [ask] on [review date] against [criteria]. Please correct anything I've misstated.

1. Write "agreed" only for what your manager has the authority to agree.
2. Name who does each next step and by when.
3. When a raise is approved, ask HR or payroll to confirm the new salary and its start date in writing.

A spoken yes from a manager who cannot approve the money is a proposal. Keep it labelled that way until the written confirmation arrives.

What goes wrong when you ask for a raise?

Each of these can be headed off on your one-page plan before the call.

• Giving a range. You may hear the bottom of it back. Name one number.
• Filling the silence. Saying "or whatever you think is fair" undoes the ask. Count to five instead.
• Hinting at leaving. A threat you won't carry out costs trust. Keep your alternative private.
• Accepting "later". Later without a date is not a path. Ask for the date on the call.
• Arguing need instead of value. Rent and bills are real, but they are not your manager's case to the approver.

To rehearse the ask before the call, NextSay Negotiate sets your ask and walk-away and runs the conversation against an AI counterpart. See How NextSay Negotiate works.