Salary tips : Mid/Market Salary Negotiation

I anticipate an offer from my current employer for a new position. I will be moving from a Customer Service role to an Account Management/Inside Sales role. My employer is known for low-balling intitial offers. I' m looking for some perspective to determine if my opening counter-offer is too agressive. Details below. Thanks for your thoughts!

Current Position
Customer Services
Entry $35 Mid $41 Premium $52
Bonus (Contigent Comepsation) Eligibility: $4,800 at 100% of operational goals achieved. Accelerators kick in after 100%.
My pay is around mid range right now.
1st year rating was significantly exceeds with a 5.11% merit increase and a 149% bonus payout
2nd year rating was signficantly exceeds with a 5.01% merit increase and a 139% bonus payout
2nd year received $1100 on-the-spot cash awards for excellence
2nd year successfully negotiated a telecommute 2x/week schedule

New Position
Inside Sales
Entry $38 Mid $49 Premium $60
Bonus (Commission): $20k on 100% of sales goals achieved. Accelerators kick in after 100%
- no longer eligible for on-the-spot awards for excellence

My Intial Offer
$49,200 base
+ telecommute 3x/week

My offer is asking for a 20% premium over my current base salary (excluding bonuses & on-the-spot awards), and an extra day of telecommuting. Is this too aggressive from your perspective?

Thanks!

I don' t think you counter-offer sounds unreasonable, but I' d keep it in my back pocket until I' d heard their initial offer. If it' s an offer you' d otherwise be pleased to accept as it stands - accept it! Never try to negotiate more money just for the sake of negotiating. Besides, the initial offer could be closer to what you want and, therefore, might change your counter-offer. Still, I' d counter-offer with a range, rather than a specific amount. For instance, regarding salary, I' d counter by saying I was anticipating an offer in the $48K to $52K range - by doing that you leave yourself some more negotiating room within that range. Make sense?

Career Tips

Mid/Market Salary Negotiation