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Comment by garrettgillas | Hacker News Reader

This is the one thing that I WOULD NOT do. The must successful contractors that I've worked with always take charge of the negotiation and try to say things like "going rate" or "standard rate", essentially stating their prices authoritatively. If they're paying you to be an expert, than you should maintain that persona through to your billing and price negotiation as well.

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I've always heard the adage "the first guy who mentions a number loses".

That's probably true in some cases, like trying to land a contract with new client.

I am giving this advice based on the context that this person has a fairly good idea of what this company pays their employees & contractors, since he already has a relationship with them.

I'm not sure if I got the exact word for it (english isn't my first language) so I'll call it the "anchor price" effect.

Basically, if you are the one who mention the first number, you can set the "anchor" of the conversation. This mean that if you ask for 55$ first and they try to offer you 40$ You can focus on the fact that it's around 30% lower than your asking price.

On the other hand, if they mention 40$ first, you are the one who has to convince them to give you 30% more.

PS : I'm not saying you are wrong, just bringing another point of view on that.

On that same note, I would recommend trying your best to avoid saying things like "whatever you think", "I don't know" or "..if that's ok with you guys".

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