When making a big professional change, you may not feel you’re entitled to ask for more money. Do it anyway.

There’s a lot of excellent negotiating advice available. You can find it in dozens of career books or online. Here’s a quick synopsis:

• Defer the in-depth salary discussion until after you have an official offer in hand.
• Research your market value and how to relay it to the employer based on what you bring to the role.
• Focus on your worth in the market, not what you personally want or need or what you were making in the last position.
• Never accept an offer on the spot, even a seemingly great offer. There’s always something to negotiate.
• Negotiate directly with the hiring manager (versus the headhunter or human resources).
• Be confident and respectful, not demanding or entitled.
• Don’t drag out the negotiations over multiple meetings. Know your negotiating points and alternative options so you can be efficient.
• Know your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and your walk-away number.

All these steps are important. Just add this one vital strategy: Go into the negotiation meeting assuming positive intent on the part of the hiring manager. While it’s advisable to prepare your rationale—it will give you the confidence and data support you need—you’ll end up with a better outcome by going into the discussion expecting success. Hiring managers anticipate that you will negotiate. Unless your requests are completely unreasonable or presented as demands, managers will likely be happy to revise the offer if they’re able. Even if they can’t give you exactly what you want, ask if they can meet you in the middle.

Keep the large view of a compensation package in mind. Look at the total compensation. You may not be losing as much as you think if the company covers tuition reimbursement and your commute requires much less gas. It’s worth the extra effort to think creatively. Perhaps you have experiences that will add additional value. If your desktop publishing skills could save the company $5,000 annually on an external vendor, maybe they could add this amount to your salary when they hire you. Remember, if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.