Every task you do at work comes with its own skillset, and that includes the stuff that doesn’t show up in your job description – such as asking for a raise.

You wouldn’t expect to be great at sales, contract negotiations, or a particular piece of software right out of the box, and neither should you leap right into salary talk without thinking things through and doing your reading. The first thing you’ll discover when you take a deeper look at the raise-request scenario is that the dreaded ‘conversation’ in which you ask for money is just the iceberg-tip of a successful campaign.

Your boss needs to know who you are before they do anything crazy like giving you more money. Even if you reckon you’ve earned that bonus, you might figure as no more than a distant silhouette on your manager’s radar. To flesh out your presence, it’s important to continually make your impact felt – by offering help, vocally expressing your ideas, and even asking for advice or extra training.

Once you’ve established that profile, your boss will be more invested in you. They will want to see you succeed and feel fulfilled in your work. Converting that goodwill into dollar signs requires a more acute skill set. You need to identify the best time to pop the question and figure out what kind of vocabulary will interest your boss.

It could mean using numbers to back up your argument. Statistics are a great way to objectively prove your value to the team. Or maybe it’s more about your personality and ideas. In that case, you’ll benefit from talking about your vision in the future tense, identifying today’s problems and outlining how you’re going to solve these issues over the coming weeks, months, and years.

[RELATED: 10 Steps To a Promotion (Without Working Longer)]

A great place to start planning your raise-request campaign is this step-by-step visual guide from SavingSpot. It’s packed with ideas from how to lay the groundwork right through to keep that momentum going when you’ve secured your raise – or even if you missed out this time.

Making sure you’re properly rewarded for the work you do is a necessity that will stick with you for your entire career. Whether you’re fishing for a new year’s raise or you’re playing the long game, don’t forget: your campaign begins next time you enter the office.

How to Use the Art of Persuasion to Get That Raise at Work