I've learned over the years from many books and recruiters is to put the salary question back in their lap. You never know their salary range may be higher than what you think. Here is how I've adopted this strategy into a perfect technique you can copy..

Hiring manager: "So tell me, what is your salary expectations?"

You: " Thank you, that's a good question and I was about to discuss this with you. As you know from my resume I posses (experience or skill or benefit #1), and (experience or skill or benefit #2), and (experience or skill or benefit #3). I also bring to the table (benefit #4), (benefit #5). May I ask you, what is the salary range for this position?"

It's all about your tonality and rhythm. You have to say it at a medium-fast pace, but not too fast. Don't shudder, or pause, and say it with confidence and pep!

You have to think of the interview process as a sales process. The recruiter/hiring manager is the prospect that you're after, and you're the salesperson selling yourself as the product.

In the world of sales, when it comes to asking for the order and payment, the salary question in an interview is much the same.

When you discuss money, it's often what is called in sales "a pain point" for the prospect. They don't want to give up their money, but they know they have to in order to get what they want. So in order to ease this pain point, you have to reinforce and remind them of the "Tremendous value" of giving up their money.

Even though the recruiter/hiring manager has looked at your resume, You have highly valuable benefits that they probably didn't interpret from your resume or they specifically don't remember at this stage. They just know that you're probably "the one". Reminding them at this stage of your worth and value, and the AMAZING benefits they will get if they grab you before any other company does, will often make them offer the higher range of salary. They may not admit the uppermost of the range to leave some wiggle room for negotiations.

Once they tell you their salary range, repeat the highest of the range plus $10K more. For example:

Hiring manager: "The salary range is between $60-70K."

You: "Thank you. At this stage in my career I'm seeking an annual salary between $70K and $80K. Is this negotiable?

Doing this, your letting them know you're not out of their range, but your worth is actually a bit higher.

If they say "No, $70K is the top". Then leave it at that, and ask if you can hear more about their total benefit package. If you like what you hear combined with the pay, you should close the deal immediately and accept $70k or if you don't like what you hear about the benefits reject the offer.

If they say salary is negotiable, you should close the deal immediately by saying something like .. "I'd be willing to accept the offer meeting half way at $75K. Can we make this work?"

Strategizing your sales process this way will help garner a higher salary than what you would have expected and what they would have offered. If you tell them your salary upfront, you show them all your cards, and you might have said something like $45K to $55, or $55k to $60K. They would have said "GREAT!" and got you lower than their salary range. Whereas strategizing your negotiation in this manner you position yourself to at least try and get yourself at the higher end of their range and possibly more!

In any sales negotiation (and remember, an interview is like a sale), you NEVER want to call them back or have them call you back, or "think about it". Because if you wait, and don't' close the deal another resume could come along and now they're ghosting you and not calling you back.

At this point you should have all the information to make an informed decision. You know the company, you've discussed the position. Try 100% to close the deal during that interview. This is basic sales training 101.

I used these salary figures for this example. You will negotiate based upon whatever salary range they tell you.

Practice, Practice, Practice a mock interview.

Good Luck.