The issue is not to have your offer accepted or rejected or to be the first to make an offer, but to be in a position to start strong and maintain control of the discussions. It is only through a series of high-yield questions that you will learn what the other side really requires, enabling you to reformulate your offer to meet their specific needs. This phase of the negotiations should be regarded as an opportunity to create an atmosphere of trust, leading to an exchange of strategic information. It is not the time to start making concessions. Executives from certain corporate or local cultures consider this initial phase a waste of time and enter immediately into trading away concessions.
Successful negotiators know better.
They invest their time by finding out the real needs of the other side and by determining how best they can satisfy those needs in an acceptable package. Handling common rejections to first offers Your offer is too expensive. Ask what is meant by too expensive. Find out what is considered acceptable and on what basis. Respond by providing justification.