17 counterintuitive salary-negotiation tricks that actually work

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Whether you're asking for a raise or negotiating your salary at a new job, one thing stays consistent: It's nerve-racking.

We combed through research to collect some of the simplest — and most surprising — strategies that help lead you to what you want.

Max Nisen and Rachel Sugar contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Open with something personal, and your negotiating partner will respond in kind

In an experiment where Kellogg and Stanford students negotiated by email, those who shared unrelated personal details over the course of the negotiation — hobbies, hometowns, etc. — ended up getting significantly better results than those who kept things to name, email, and the dry monetary details.

Opening up a bit sends a signal that you're trustworthy, according to Wharton professor Adam Grant in a LinkedIn post, and makes it more likely that they'll reciprocate. 

Always use precise numbers in offers and counteroffers

Throwing out your target salary as $103,500 seems a little bit silly — doesn't $100,000 tell pretty much the same story? — but research from Columbia Business School suggests that using precise numbers makes a more powerful anchor in negotiations. 

According to Malia Mason, the author of the study, kicking off a negotiation with exact numbers leads the other party to think that you've done research to arrive at those particular digits — and that, in turn, makes them think you're likely correct. 

It's better to suggest a salary range rather than a single number

Using precise numbers doesn't mean using single precise numbers. In a separate study, Mason and her Columbia Business School colleague Daniel Ames find that presenting a salary range — including and above your desired target — is the best way to get results.

In the past, organizational psychologists thought a range would work against you — wouldn't people just fixate on the lower number? — but Ames and Mason suggest that's not the case. 

Presenting a range works for two reasons, they say: It gives your boss information about what you're actually asking for, and it makes you seem polite and reasonable — which means you're less likely to get hit with a hard-line counteroffer.