Teachers in West Virginia are back to work this week after a torturous nine day strike that grabbed media attention nationally. Traditionally one of the lowest pay states for teachers, they saw no option other than to walk out on the job to get the attention they deserved. Fighting tooth and nail, they got what they wanted.

A five percent pay raise. Just five percent.

They of course deserve more. But the way the systems of government pay are set up are so entrenched with bureaucracy and politics that it takes a strike and a walkout to finally stoke the fire enough that the only option for the politicians is to pay attention.

So now think about your job.

If you want a five percent raise there are a number of ways to do it starting today.

You can try to work five percent harder. But how do you honestly measure working five percent harder?

The best way is simply to work smarter.

Try this: take the top three SKU’s by volume in your book. Then look at your territory and find the top three accounts by sales that don’t have your top three SKU’s.

Then work your ass off to make those placements. Don’t stop until you do. If your top three accounts simply refuse those wines, work down the list until you find wine shops and restaurants that do.

If you make those placements in the right accounts, odds are good it will be far better than just a five percent raise.

Be appreciative of the advantages of your job, a key one being that you are in charge of your own raises. Work smarter to find the right wines, at the right times, for the right accounts. That is the key to growth.