Before You Set the Salary, Plan the First Raise (and Two More Offer Decisions)

A salary range gives you the market picture for a role (our Salary Guide, coming out January 11, maps those ranges in detail), but deciding exactly where to land inside it is often the trickier call.

We recently worked with the founder of a premium chocolate brand to hire a Director of Sales. The brand was expanding from natural grocery into conventional, so they needed a builder: someone who could scale distribution, manage brokers and distributor relationships, and open untapped accounts. The approved range was $135K to $180K base, plus a 15% to 20% bonus. Leaders who have built distribution from the ground up are hard to find, and the good ones have options.

When a role is hard to fill, many founders default to offering the top of the range to lock in the candidate. In this case, however, the founder wanted to start lower, around $140K to $150K, to leave room for a near-term merit increase.

Both approaches can work, but each carries a cost. Pay the top, and you have nowhere to go at the first review. Start lower, and you risk losing the candidate to a stronger offer. Across the commercial searches we lead for consumer brands, getting the offer right often hinges on three questions.

1. Put the Raise in Writing

Can I name when this person's first increase happens and what earns it?

Leading with a mid-range offer can work if the candidate sees a clear trajectory to an increase. Without a defined path and timeline, in-demand candidates will likely opt for the company that doesn’t ask them to wait for the rest of their compensation.

"Room for earnings growth only matters if you put it in writing," says Kim Krauszer, Senior Executive Recruiter at ForceBrands. "When a client plans to come in lower, we strongly recommend that they outline when the first performance review will happen and what the candidates would need to deliver by then. Without that clarity during offer discussions, it can easily come off as a lowball that doesn’t reflect the candidate’s value."

If you can commit to documented specifics, coming in lower in the range is reasonable. If not, it's better to offer a higher base up front.

2. Benchmark Your Team’s Comp
Would this number top someone on my team doing comparable or larger work?

Compensation details rarely stay private for long. If a new hire makes more than an existing team member in a similar or broader role, you risk creating a retention issue.

"Before extending an offer, we ask the client to look closely at what everyone else on the team is making," Kim explains. "The number a founder most needs to protect often belongs to someone already on the team, and that person is likely to find out about the salary difference. If they are a high performer, that's a risk we want to avoid."

Anchor the offer to your current roster. If the candidate needs a higher base, plan adjustments for the peers it affects at the same time.

3. Account for Talent Scarcity

How many people can do this job, and what would it take to keep someone once hired?

A proven sales leader experienced in expanding business through major distributors like UNFI and KeHE, and who has managed brokers across natural and conventional grocery, knows competing offers don't stop coming once they accept yours.

"When talent is scarce, offering a base well below the top of the range leaves you exposed," Kim notes. "If a founder wants to keep the base conservative, we can structure a higher variable bonus to make the overall package competitive. For instance, a 20% target on a $145K base brings total compensation close to $174K, a number a strong builder will take seriously."

If total target compensation falls below what the candidate currently earns, you'll likely need to adjust the base upward. Bonuses can help bridge a small gap, but they rarely solve a major disconnect.

For the chocolate brand, that meant a base in the mid-$140Ks, a bonus near the top of its range, and a six-month review written into the offer letter. The offer was in line with teammates at the same scope and level, and the founder kept room for a raise without giving a unicorn candidate a reason to walk. Our 2027 Salary Guide, out January 11, breaks down base and bonus ranges for sales, marketing, and operations roles across consumer brands. If you're trying to strike a similar balance in an offer of your own, let's work through it before it goes out.