Know Your BATNA Before You Negotiate
Before any price talk, know your best alternative if this deal does not happen, and theirs, so you can stay calm and know when to walk away.
Lab studies show that negotiators with better alternatives get better deals, but these are mostly student experiments, not live sales.
Why it works
If you have no alternative, you feel you must accept any terms, and buyers sense it. Knowing your fallback sets a floor you will not cross and makes you more relaxed.
How to do it
- Write down what you will do if this deal fails.
- Work on your pipeline so you always have other options.
- Decide your lowest acceptable terms before the meeting.
- Think about their alternatives: another agency, doing it in-house, waiting.
- Walk away politely when the terms fall below your floor.
What to say
I'd rather be honest: at that fee we can't do the job well, and I don't want to let you down.
If in-house hiring works for you, that's fine. If it doesn't, we're here.
Avoid
Telling the buyer your BATNA as a threat. It is for your own calm, not a weapon.
Example
Because Pallavi had four active clients in Maharashtra, she could politely decline a Solapur firm that wanted a 5% fee. Two months later, after their own search failed, they came back at her normal rate.
Practise it
Related