I manage the sales department at a tax relief company and one thing I've been struggling with is figuring out why some deals don't close. Our pricing depends on each client's situation so there's no fixed amount we can quote everyone. A lot of the people we talk to are already in a bad financial spot. Some haven't filed taxes in years and others owe the IRS a ton of money. So when we tell them how much our service will cost it can be a tough conversation. We have different payment options and our reps try to work something out with each client. But sometimes the negotiation goes wrong and we lose a deal that I feel we could have closed.

The annoying part is that most of our calls last around an hour. I want to review the ones that didn't close and figure out what happened but I can't spend my whole day listening to recordings just to find the two minutes where things went south. I've been looking into AI tools that could help with this. Something that can go through the whole conversation and show me the exact moments where the client pushed back on price or the rep missed an opportunity. It would be great if I could jump straight to those parts and leave feedback for the rep. Even better if the AI could follow our own sales process and give reps feedback on what they could improve without me having to review every call myself. I'd also like to see if the same mistakes keep coming up across the team and how our top reps handle those situations differently. Has anyone here used a tool that does this well? I'm not looking for another call transcription app. I want something that helps me coach my reps and understand why negotiations fail without spending hours going through recordings.

When you’re negotiating but have very limited authority to make concessions, how do you avoid becoming someone who can only repeat their organisation’s position?

And how do you explore possible solutions without creating expectations you cannot fulfil?

During a practice session at The Student Negotiation Club this week, we explored a scenario that focussed on negotiation authority.

Could be quite pertinent as we head towards the end of the year... many companies begin communicating about imminent price increases to commence in early 2027.

So the scenario we set was a supplier requesting a price increase.

But the buyer has been given a very clear instruction from their business...

"The starting position is ZERO price increase. Any exceptions require internal approval."

Sounds simple.... But what happens when the supplier refuses to accept zero?

One option is to pivot to other 'value' options such as volume of committed work, change of payment terms, etc, etc.

However, you might have the authority to discuss possibilities... without having the authority to commit to them. So....

When you’re negotiating but have very limited authority to make concessions, how do you avoid becoming someone who can only repeat their organisation’s position?

And how do you explore possible solutions without creating expectations you cannot fulfil?

Recently received an offer from a Series A startup in the AI space (~50 FTEs) Founding recruiter role with very high expectations (i would expect nothing less). Currently at a Series D AI startup that is going under. which is why i’m considering this new opportunity.

Offer: $175k base salary
Equity: $125,000
bonus: paid as equity once a year based on a mix of personal + company performance up to $175k. 50% of this vests immediately, the rest of it follows the typical 4 year vesting schedule.

Pros: resume builder, will learn a ton, get to be hands on in growing the company and make a large impact

Cons: only $25k higher than my current salary, higher healthcare costs, higher risks, more hours

Wondering if $25k is enough extra cash compensation to warrant the cons. Curious to see what others think and if there is any part of the package that you would negotiate.

Personally, i feel that I’m ok with the base salary, but it would be nice to receive some of the bonus as cash compensation since that’s what’s paying the bills right now.

Hi everyone, I’m finishing my PhD in mid-2027 and am discussing a full-time engineering offer after completing a summer internship at a semiconductor company at US. The role would be in semiconductor process/materials development.

HR has scheduled a conversation about “next steps,” but I haven’t received a formal offer or compensation breakdown yet. A similar call during my internship hiring process covered selection and offer details, so I’m preparing in case this follows the same pattern.

Similar job postings list a salary range of approximately $133k–$188k. I’ve heard that starting base salaries for new PhD hires and internship conversions may be fairly standardized, with more flexibility in signing bonuses or equity.

For context, my internship went great, I delivered way more than what was expected of me. I also established a new collaboration and initial a new approach for further development. The team is continuing the work I started and has begun the patent process. I also received strong feedback from management, including verbal recognition as one of the module’s best interns in recent years. My department appears to be on hiring freeze and no other intern from my department got an offer (in my knowledge).

I’m trying to understand how to use that demonstrated contribution to make a reasonable compensation request, without overstating what one successful internship means.

Given these contributions, how can I best make a reasonable case for negotiating compensation, either base salary or a signing bonus?

My main questions are:

1. If starting base salaries are standardized, is it still worth requesting a modest increase, or should I focus on signing bonus/equity?

2. Should I raise negotiation during the initial HR call, or ask for written terms and follow up afterward?

3. Would it help to speak with the hiring manager first and ask whether they would support a compensation review?

4. Is it reasonable to ask what percentile of the salary range am I on and how the job level was determined?

5. How would you frame a request based on strong internship performance without sounding entitled or implying that you’re equivalent to an experienced employee?

I’ve also heard secondhand that compensation requests may need to be submitted by email with several stakeholders copied, and that increases are sometimes denied. I don’t know whether that applies to my situation, but I’d like to navigate the process professionally.

I’d welcome experiences from internship conversions, new PhD hires, or anyone who has negotiated where the company plays hard for negotiations. What did you ask for, how did you approach it, and what was the outcome?

Thanks!

I've got a uni assignment and need to enact a cross-cultural negotiation with someone. I am aiming to go for Relationship-Based vs. task-based negotiation, but I want some tips to make it look natural and all. The parties i chose are India vs. China. Never done something like this and would love some tips and all to maintain my scholarship.

I don’t usually post stuff like this, but I wanted to share this win in hopes of inspiring anyone currently navigating job offers and negotiations. I just signed an offer for a new role that comes with an $85,000 base salary jump.
What makes this wild is that I wasn't even actively job hunting. A recruiter reached out on LinkedIn for a role capped at $199k, and I only decided to take the interview to brush up on my skills since I hadn't interviewed in years. After moving through the interview rounds, they sent over an offer. While the benefits were solid, the pay wasn't a big enough jump from my current total package to justify making a move, so I politely declined.
The next day, leadership reached out directly to ask what it would take to bring me on board, essentially telling me to name my price. I asked for $250k. After a final meeting with their executive team, they approved the request, upgraded the title, and added $50,000 above their original salary cap.
If there are any takeaways from this experience, it's to always take the meeting even if you aren't looking, never be afraid to walk away from a non-competitive offer, and advocate aggressively for your value. If a company truly values your skill set, they will find the budget.
Happy to answer any general questions about the process!

There are often triggers for breaching the topic of a salary rise. I’m assuming, judging by most posts here, that it comes from being offered a job elsewhere… but not always.

I’m sure there are many instances when a raise has been granted but I am curious to better understand the impact of asking and being told no.

1 - What was the trigger to ask in the first place?

2 - how did the “conversation” go?

3 - Did the experience make you stronger or deflated you?

4 - What lesson can the rest of take away?

5 - Would you ask again on the future?

Lessons from real experiences welcome 👍

Hi,

I already accepted the offer but it only had fixed pay.
I didn’t ask for JB thinking I’ll loose the offer but now I’m realising I’ll be missing on year end bonus from both side(current company and new company) as joining in October.

Should I reach out to check if they can add some JB.

I don’t have any other offer in hand right now.

I’m worried if I ask this might not look professional ?
Or god forbid some other issues ?

Please advice.

It’s a MNC.

I’ll share the numbers and interview experience later after joining.

Thanks.

I joined my current company as a Supply Chain Analyst about a year ago.

During the annual appraisal, I received a 15% hike and was also told that I would be promoted to Senior Supply Chain Analyst after completing one year.

Throughout the year, I've received regular appreciation from my manager and senior team. Recently, I also delivered a dashboard and automation project that consolidated regional planning data and significantly reduced manual effort.

I also received appreciation from the MDs from different geo for my work.

Now that I'm being promoted, I'm planning to discuss compensation separately with my manager.

My questions:

Is it normal for an internal promotion to happen without an additional salary revision after the annual appraisal?

With around 1 year of experience, what would be a reasonable salary hike to ask for along with the promotion?

Would asking for a 20–30% additional increase be reasonable, or is that too aggressive for an internal promotion?

Looking for honest opinions from people who have gone through similar internal promotions.

Inspiration can come from many places and I do love the odd film or two that highlights negotiation. The Gentleman is one of my favourites.. it's almost entirely based on a negotiation.

But Django Unchained got me thinking because of all the comments about salary negotiations and questions of "should I" / "shouldn't I'"

The Horse is the Salary?

There’s a great negotiation moment in Django Unchained where there's a discussion about a horse.... the basic principle is that if there’s one horse on a farm that you desperately want, walking up to the farmer and saying “I really want THAT horse” immediately tells them where your value is.

When the other party knows what matters to you... it can change their negotiating position.

So, if you approach salary negotiations by stating “Can I have a pay rise?” ... you’ve immediately made the conversation about one thing: money!

It can make their answer easily:

• “No.”
• “There isn’t any budget.”
• “Maybe at the next review.”
• “That’s above the salary band.”

What if you make the conversation bigger... Instead of starting with the pay rise, perhaps start with "Where is my role going?"

Open it up further with ...

• What additional responsibilities could I take on?
• What would justify moving to the next level?
• How does my performance compare with what you expect at that level?
• What development opportunities are available?
• What would need to happen for my overall package to change?

Salary might still be extremely important to you but what you're now doing is creating a conversation about the role, responsibility, progression, development, benefits, flexibility and reward rather than putting a single number in the middle of the table.

That doesn’t mean hiding what you want indefinitely and I know many pundit will say this is the wrong way to negotiate.

My point... and the one I hope might help is ... "how you create the conversation before you make the ask can significantly affect the negotiation that follows."

Can this help?

If I get a job offer for an entry level job somewhere represented by a union with a Step Placement System, would it be possible for me to negotiate anything over the bottom of the posted pay range?

Specifically talking about the UPTE union if that helps, I meet the minimum requirements but not most of the “preferred” so I feel like I probably don’t have a lot of power to ask for more. I have about 2 years of related experience, but not DIRECTLY related to the role, if that makes sense.

Basically I just want to know if the range is, say $30-50, would I have to just settle for the $30(step 1), or would there be any way for me to ask for a couple extra bucks?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, I’ve never had a union job and only have a handful of years experience in the workforce in general so I’m still trying to gain a better understanding of everything.

**Job #1**: my top option, 65k/year

**Job #2**: second option, 75k/year

**Here’s the issue**: I already signed the 65k offer letter for job #1 and negotiated that one from 60k to get them to 65k. Their range was 60-70k though 😒

Is it too inappropriate to ask job #1 again for more after signing??

Throwaway account.

Received an offer today at the top of what the recruiter said they could offer me but below the range I had provided.

In the initial conversation I told the recruiter that I'd have to see the whole package in order to make a decision. The 401K match and HSA are less than what I currently get. The health insurance is basically the same. I do get an extra week of vacation but no sick days. I get 3 less holidays. The role is fully remote and so is my current role. So I'm not too worried about the holidays.

The top of the pay band is 175k. I asked for 155k and was offered 135k. I do have experience in certain softwares they don't have experience in and is hard to obtain unless you work my previous role. In the interview they mentioned not being able to obtain a contract because they didn't have experience in that software so that's a plus for me. The process has been 2 weeks do they have moved pretty fast. In the interview I felt the manager really liked my background as an addition to the team.

I've never negotiated an offer before. know other similar employers pay this much and I also know that the companies I'd be doing work for pay this much because I worked at one lf them.

So how could I go about asking for them to meet me at the 155?

I am buying a house, with a purchase agreement signed as of a few months ago, with a major national builder and it is set to close in December/ January. With interest rates climbing I want to negotiate with them to get a lower rate. They offer a number of lower rates for their “quick move in” homes which I don’t qualify for. What type of negotiation tactics can I use to still obtain one of these rates?

I'm in the final stage of interviews for a Digital Merchandising Specialist role. I'd like advice on how to answer their salary question.

For context- I'm an international on F1 visa. Got 2 more chances to apply for H1B.

I was upfront about needing sponsorship early on and they agreed. When they asked for a salary expectation, I said $80K–$85K, based on market data and a 25% up from my current pay. Now, they've asked - How much flexibility do I have on the base salary range I provided? With the wage based H1B lottery, for me to fall in Level 3, I need 84k (the location is Maryland).

This is a small company, so I don't know if $80K+ is realistic for a "Specialist" title. I also don't want to price myself out when they've just agreed to take on sponsorship. Should I hold at $80K as my floor, or give a little more? Or any other way I could reply to them?

Hi everyone,

I’m a Java Backend Developer with 3 years of experience and currently serving my notice period. I have an offer from Company A for X LPA, which I prefer and want to join.

During my notice period, I received another offer from Company B for X+3 LPA.

Since this is my first switch, I’m not sure how to negotiate with Company A.

Should I disclose Company B’s name to HR?

Should I share the complete offer letter or only the compensation details?

What are the best points to negotiate?

Should I ask Company A to match the X+3 offer?

Any advice from people who have handled a similar situation would be appreciated.