Negotiation is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to most of us, but it’s an important life skill nevertheless. Can you imagine a scenario where your boss just calls you in one day and says, “You’ve been performing more than we had initially anticipated, consequently, the management has decided that you deserve a raise, and HR has been asked to bump your package by 40%, have a nice day…”? It’s a bit implausible, isn’t it?

That’s exactly why we must all learn to negotiate. It’s a skill that not only helps you get that raise you deserve, or that job that you’re so suited for, but also just about everything else — from asking your neighbor to keep the volume low to getting a better purchase price on a new LED TV. Most of us who aren’t great at negotiating with associate it with power and domination, yet, it doesn’t have to be about that. As Rameet Sethi points out, a good measure of preparation may just be your best negotiation tactic.

Most people are terrible at negotiating their salary. They leave over $1 million on the table because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. And they worry that it’s not possible to negotiate “in this economy.”

via Use the briefcase technique to earn thousands of dollars.

Use the briefcase technique to negotiate a higher salary