

When to Make the First Offer in Negotiations - kristiandupont
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4302.html

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patio11
It is not obvious to me than anchoring matters nearly as much in situations
where the party being anchored _knows they are in a negotiation_.

(Couldn't you defeat it by, I don't know, pulling out a piece of paper and
writing a number on it beforehand? Granted, that would be an improvement over
the truly _atrocious_ negotiations I've seen and been party to... I mean, if
you are hearing the first whisper of your market value during salary
negotiations, something is seriously borked with your decisionmaking
processes.)

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cperciva
_It is not obvious to me than anchoring matters nearly as much in situations
where the party being anchored knows they are in a negotiation._

On the other hand, an anchor can backfire when the party being anchored
doesn't know they're negotiating, too.

When Google offered me a job back in 2006, they named the first number -- and
coming from an academic background and having no experience in industry, it
didn't occur to me to try to negotiate. Instead, the low offer simply
contributed to me rejecting the offer.

It's entirely possible that I would be working for Google if they had offered
me what they thought I was worth. (I don't know what they thought I was worth,
but in hindsight and with the benefit of talking to many Googlers in similar
positions, I'm sure it would have been at least 25% and probably 50% higher.)

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furyg3
For a really good primer in basic negotiations, take a look at Fisher & Ury's
_Getting to Yes_ ([http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-
With...](http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-
Without/dp/0140157352)).

It's a quick read but very useful, and these guys are respected in the field
of negotiation.

~~~
joshkaufman
_Bargaining For Advantage_ by G. Richard Shell
(<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143036971/>) and _3D Negotiation_ by David Lax and
James Sebenius (<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1591397995/>) are even better than
_Getting to Yes_ , IMO.

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schwit
Why do you think products have an MSRP? It's a number that has no bearing on
the true value of a product.

~~~
itblarg
Similarly, every nice restaurant will have a $60 steak entree on the menu to
make the $29 chicken entree appear more affordable.

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lionhearted
I think the "Don't offer first" advice from before it was so easy to do
research. Anecdotally, most of the people I know who are good at negotiating
are comfortable offering first, and seem to do so more than half the time.

