Why Naming A Precise Figure During Negotiations Could Backfire

In negotiating, is a more precise opening offer always better? It might be — but it depends on the experience level of the person with whom you’re negotiating, a recent study from Germany found.

In the study, researchers showed that increasing the precision of an opening offer improved a person’s negotiations with amateurs, but could actually backfire on negotiations with experts.

In most situations, precision can influence social perceptions during a negotiation, suggesting more confidence and competence, the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in October in the journal Psychological Science. People tend to assume that those they’re communicating with provide exactly the right amount of information needed — not any more, and not any less, the researchers said. Thus, people may intuitively feel that a more precise offer reflects more knowledge about the value of what is being bought or sold, the investigators said.