Conventional negotiation wisdom strictly cautions negotiators against opening first—to avoid tipping their hands. If everyone does this, you are liable to end up in a comical cat-and-mouse game in which both parties develop elaborate methods to avoid answering any questions as long as possible and eventually walk away without a deal.
I don't know the origin of this bad advice, but I'd like to banish it right now. I researched the scientific literature and explored numerous studies that have investigated negotiators' offer patterns and outcomes. In none of those investigations did it harm negotiators to open first. In fact, it appears to always benefit negotiators to open first. One caveat: In the rare ...
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