You won't get any objections to the issue of whether or not you should make more money . . . especially on the job. But getting a pay raise has to go beyond fantasy if you really want to achieve it. Wishful thinking doesn't get results.

The problem is . . . how do you go about doing it without jeopardizing your current status or job? It's the eternal question. But the good news is there's a way to do it that can dramatically improve your chances of making more money.

OK. We all figure we deserve to make more money at work. Sometimes that's sheer daydreaming . Sometimes it's really time for a pay raise. But, how do I ask for it? Here are 5 powerful steps that can virtually guarantee you'll get a raise if you follow them exactly!

1. Get your ducks in a row before you do anything. That means you need to prepare of list of contributions you've made to the organization's bottom line. And you must quantify them. Demonstrate your efforts with dollars realized, percentages increased, money saved, productivity gains, etc.

2. The best time to approach your boss is during a routine review where the discussion is already concerned with your performance. But, be prepared to be an advocate for your own cause.

3. Conduct yourself with professionalism. Demonstrate a mastery of your job and it's implications to the organization. Employers want to see very specific proposals that show you know what to do to make an added contribution. In other words, making more money is a quid pro quo.

4. The key to successful pay increase is to link it to future productivity gains. The best negotiation is a win-win situation in which your employer can see how he/she profit by expecting more from you and rewarding you for it. But you have to spell it out in very practical, quantifiable terms

5. Get a confirmation of your arrangement, preferably in writing. This can be handled very easily by suggesting you'd like to put down your ideas and proposals in writing for his/her review. Then your boss can acknowledge it by initialing your letter.

Look. No one is going to upgrade your compensation simply because you want it. And no one will countenance some kind of an adversarial approach. In which you demand to make more money. It just doesn't work that way.

On the other hand, if you understand that a pay raise can be negotiated on the basis of your ability to offer more to your employer, then you've positioned yourself correctly. So, the more you can document your prospective contribution, the better your negotiating advantage.

Making more money just got a lot easier if you use a carefully thought-out negotiation strategy.