<p><pre><code> In face, your goal in a negotiation is not always to get
the lowest possible terms. Your goal is to understand the
needs of your partner and create win/win outcomes where
both sides are incentivized to continue to want to work
hard together – now and into the future. Sometimes that
means you want the absolute best deal you can get. Other
times it doesn’t.
</code></pre>
That's a lesson that applies to employee salary negotiations as well. I've seen too many instances of employers trying to take advantage of an employee's lack of negotiation skills, trying to squeeze out that last $5k/year. It's much more important to have an employee who is happy with their compensation and dedicated to your company than to shave a few grand off your annual payroll.
I'm glad to hear someone who likes to negotiate talk about the downsides of getting too good of a deal. It's a dimension too often ignored by people who forget that if the other guy isn't happy you might end up with far worse of a product/service/employee, etc.<p>There are even times when it makes sense to pay more than the asking price for better service or for the long term sustainability of the deal.