Why Mindset is 80% of Negotiation Success

As you probably know, I support women in negotiating their careers and salaries. And I do this by coaching them mostly on their mindset. This often confuses people. 

Isn’t getting really good negotiation outcomes down to knowing strong negotiation techniques? Having access to insider tips and tricks?

Sure, they help. 

AND… as I often say: my clients’ ridiculous success rates (last year, their average reported salary increase was 93%!!) are 80% down to the inner work they do, and only 20% to the negotiation strategies and techniques I teach.

Anybody who thinks that they can get awesome career and salary negotiation results by reading negotiation books or looking up some listicles online, or these days: asking ChatGTP for the best advice, is in for a unpleasant surprise. Not just because these by and large are written by white men for other white men, and as such do not work for us as women.

The more insidious reason why focusing on techniques is not going to cut it during salary negotiations: you WILL get pushback when you ask for more. 

(And if you don’t…. my god, we have a whole new problem… Because then you haven’t asked enough and you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.)

And when you get the expected pushback and you haven’t built an unshakeable self-confidence, you will crumble. You will lower your standards, give in too early or give up altogether. 

When, on the other hand, you are crystal clear on what the value of your work is and why you deserve the role or the salary you are asking for (and yes: when you know how to communicate this effectively), you will end up building the relationship AND getting exactly the salary negotiation results you want.

If you need help with any of this, consider joining my WIN Program, where we teach both the best-in-class negotiation strategies for women AND focus heavily on mindset, transforming the way you see yourself and your place in this world and unleashing your ambition.