Whether you are selling, buying, or negotiating anything, this rule should be carefully considered: leave room to bargain when you open talks and give in grudgingly as you move toward agreement.

Where you start and how you give in is crucial to how well you will do. My research consistently shows that those who start high and make concessions in smaller increments do better.

People who are stingy with concessions come out ahead. They hoard concessions by giving in slowly and making the other party work for all they get. When a concession is granted, it is a small one. They signal that they do not have much to give.

Many negotiations are lost when people cave in before they need to. As you negotiate, make sure the other party is never certain whether you will back down further from your position. If you retreat too soon or by too large an amount, the other side will be encouraged to try for more.

Negotiators who concede quickly or make large concessions usually do so to move the agreement toward closure. But often this drives the partier further apart by raising the expectations of the opposing side to unrealistic levels.

Everything you do in a bargaining situation affects the expectation level in the other person’s mind.