Being weaselly about your number is a very noob thing to do in a negotiation. A skilled negotiator will seize on this and anchor the negotiations in at a very low rate. You need to know your number ahead of time, and drop it on them like it's the most natural thing in the world.
I don't think anyone is saying to not have an idea in mind ahead of time of what your goal number is. The point Patrick is making is to just not be the first one to state a number.
Just because they've attempted to anchor the discussion at a low rate doesn't mean that you don't already have another mental anchor known only to you of your goal number.
But the argument is that if you are the one to give your number first, you could lose out on money you could have gotten because you had no idea that they were willing to offer even more. It's hard to state you want $X/year and then ask for $1.1X a few minutes later. If you are the first to state a number and you ask for $100k/year and they were willing to offer $150k/year, you will never find out about that extra $50k/year.
If you are the first to state a number and you ask for $100k/year and they were willing to offer $150k/year, you will never find out about that extra $50k/year.
That looks good in paper but doesn't happen much. Vast majority of the time you will be low balled.
I don't think anyone is saying to not have an idea in mind ahead of time of what your goal number is. The point Patrick is making is to just not be the first one to state a number.
Just because they've attempted to anchor the discussion at a low rate doesn't mean that you don't already have another mental anchor known only to you of your goal number.
But the argument is that if you are the one to give your number first, you could lose out on money you could have gotten because you had no idea that they were willing to offer even more. It's hard to state you want $X/year and then ask for $1.1X a few minutes later. If you are the first to state a number and you ask for $100k/year and they were willing to offer $150k/year, you will never find out about that extra $50k/year.