Just went through negotiation on a Salesforce Principal Consultant offer and did a lot of research before. Here's an honest debrief.
What worked:
Competing offer, written. I had an offer letter from a Big 4 firm at a higher total comp. Sending the actual written document (redacting the firm name was fine, they said) got the recruiter to escalate within 48 hours. The verbal "I have another offer" had done nothing for a week.
Being specific about what I needed. Instead of "I need more," I asked for a specific base ($180k vs the offered $165k) and a specific RSU increase ($40k bump). The cleaner and more justified your counter, the faster it moves through approval.
What didn't work:
Appealing to market data. I sent a well-researched comp range from Levels.fyi and it was politely acknowledged and nothing happened. They don't move on vague "market data." They move on competing offers or specific leveling arguments.
Asking for signing bonus on the first counter. They said signing bonus is set by the team and isn't something they adjust mid-process. I should have asked for it from the start.
Extending the deadline more than once. I asked for a 2-week extension to wait for another process to finish. They gave me one week and made it clear a second extension wasn't on the table. If you need time, ask for it once and make it count.
What I got in the end: Base went from $165k to $175k. RSU went from $180k to $220k over 4 years. Signing stayed at $25k.
In hindsight I could have pushed harder on the RSU early. The base ceiling felt real. The equity ceiling felt softer.
If you have questions about how to frame a counter, happy to work through it with you.