In their best-selling book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton introduced the concept of having a best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, defined as “the standard against which any proposed agreement should be measured.” When you have a solid BATNA strategy in negotiation, you can ensure you don’t accept less than what you could get elsewhere.
Generally speaking, the better your BATNA, the greater your bargaining power. Suppose you have received an appealing job offer from another company. This strong BATNA might equip you to negotiate with your boss for a promotion, with minimal worry about what will happen if they can’t meet your needs. By contrast, if you had no other job offer, this weak BATNA would give you less power in a negotiation with your boss.
Negotiators often wonder whether they should reveal their BATNA to their counterpart and, if they do, at what point in the negotiation process they should do so. The following six dos and don’ts will help you manage your BATNA strategy with confidence.
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Six BATNA Strategy Guidelines
- Don’t reveal a weak BATNA.
It’s Negotiation 101: Never share your BATNA with the other party if it is hopelessly weak. A bad BATNA is also known as a WATNA, or worst alternative to a negotiated agreement. Telling a potential supplier, for example, that you abruptly lost your last supplier and are desperate to do a new deal is a surefire way to ensure the new potential partner will bid high on price. Avoid appearing to be in a hurry, seeming stressed, or revealing that you have a wide-open schedule—all potential “tells” that you are eager to close a deal.
- Don’t bluff about your BATNA.
What if the other side asks you about your BATNA directly? Explain (truthfully) that you are working on various possibilities but want to concentrate on your present negotiation for the time being. Resist the urge to embellish or fabricate a BATNA to try to boost your bargaining power. You’ll compromise your ethics and reputation if you’re caught in an exaggeration or a misrepresentation of facts.
- Don’t reveal your BATNA too early.
Even if you’re certain your BATNA strategy is rock solid, hold off on revealing it. That’s because the information could come across as a threat: “If you can’t give me an even better deal than the one I just outlined, I’m out of here.” Threats in negotiation foster a competitive atmosphere and hinder your ability to explore value-creating trade-offs.
Another risk: If the other party doesn’t think your BATNA is as strong as you do, they might drive a harder bargain than they would if they didn’t know about your best alternative. They might even try to worsen your BATNA. For example, if you tell a potential employer about a great job offer you have that’s due to expire in 24 hours, they might try to eliminate the competition by dragging out talks to allow the deadline to pass.
Finally, keep in mind that a strong BATNA could be a useful bargaining chip near the end of a negotiation after you’ve exhausted other strategies.
- Do work to actively improve your BATNA.
It’s not enough to simply talk about your BATNA. Rather, you need to do everything you can to try to improve it. For a job seeker, that might mean continuing to seek leads in your network or thinking about other paths, such as going back to school.
- Don’t let them talk you out of your BATNA.
Suppose you’re thrilled with your BATNA and eager to play it up: “I’ve got a great deal for a used car waiting for me at the dealership down the street, but I wanted to see what you had to offer first.” Don’t be surprised if the salesperson starts telling you about the unreliable car they bought from that dealer 10 years ago. Of course, it’s smart to investigate any potentially legitimate claims someone makes about your BATNA, but recognize that they have strong incentives to try to convince you that your outside options are not as good as you’d like to believe.
- Do encourage them to share their BATNA.
Negotiators are sometimes reluctant to ask counterparts about their BATNA for fear of discovering that it’s impossible to compete with. In fact, this would be knowledge to seek out rather than to avoid. If there’s no way you can give a counterpart with a strong BATNA what they can get from someone else, revealing this and ending the negotiation would save everyone time. On the flip side, finding out that your counterpart has a weak BATNA will put you in a stronger bargaining position.
What other elements of BATNA strategy have you found to be useful?
Claim your FREE copy: Negotiation Skills
Build powerful negotiation skills and become a better dealmaker and leader. Download our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
