yettobenamed

The first thing I'd counsel is to ask your prospective employer how they came up with that number.

Then offer them reasons that that number was too low.

Then look for non-monetary items that will make you happy but not cost your prospective employer money (at least not obviously).

And most importantly...have a BATNA - Best Alternative To A Negotaited Agreement. If you have another option/job offer, you are MUCH more likely to succeed in your current negotiation.

And remember..if they offered you the job, they WANT to hire you. That immediately puts you in a strong position.

They are only focused on what they want to achieve in the negotiation. If you also focus on what you NP wants, you will succced much more often.

And second to that...not setting a walk away position in advance.

Remember Pawn Stars where the sellers are interviewed afterwards and there was always something like, "I was hoping to get $5K for my 18th century faberge egg but hey, I got $87 and that is more than I had when I walked in."

They all failed because they did not decide in advance what their walk away number was and were going to take whatever was offered...hoping that it would appropriate.

Unscrupulous negotiators (and scrupulous ones) can see that mindset a mile away and the unscrupulous ones will take advantage of it.

I answered a similar questions elsewhere. Here is my answer...

I write about Trump in my book. I may offend some people here but I think he is a terrible negotiator. As far as I can tell he only uses two strategies - he belligerently sticks to untenable positions and he is a bully. (I use different terms in my book.)

Both work sometimes (particularly when he, as now, has the benefit of a significant power advantage) but are awful for long term success.

Honestly, I think Canada and Mexico did a great job negotiating NAFTA 2 with Trump. They were methodical, talked to others in the US administration who could see reason, did not get provoked into anger, looked for local allies who could advocate on their behalf, and more than anything waited Trump out.

Trump has staked so much of his reputation on getting a better deal than NAFTA 1.0 that Trump almost HAD To agree to NAFTA 2.0 or his reputation as a master negotiator would have taken a hit. Failure to get a deal would have made him look bad.

So Canada and Mexico conceded almost nothing and they allowed Trump to declare victory.

They let Trump declare victory because Trump wanted that more than anything.

So that worked. Also, I think outrageously sucking up to Trump and feeding his ego works too.

Most of my work is in the context of legal disputes and contract disputes. I do not actually directly handle that many negotiations now but consult with others and coach them in their preparation and strategies during the actual negotiation.

The truth is that everyone negotiates virtually everyday. It is just that most people do not realize that that is what they are doing. I help people get better results - often much better results - than they would otherwise get.

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