Prepare to Negotiate 61

DETERMINE YOUR ALTERNATIVES AND RESERVE PRICE

What is your best alternative if your current negotiations fail? What
is the price (reserve price) at which you’d be willing to walk away?
Chapter 2 discussed these concepts in detail. Never walk into a
negotiation without having these in your head. If you are part of a
negotiating team, the team must be in agreement on these. Write
them down here.

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Our best alternative is

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Remember: Anyone who enters a negotiation with no feasible

alternative is at the mercy of the other side. He or she is doomed
to be a deal taker, not a deal maker.

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Our reserve price is

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Now put yourself in the shoes of the person with whom you
plan to negotiate and determine that person’s best alternative and
reserve price. This may require some investigation, but time spent
doing this is worthwhile. Having an informed view of the other
side’s best alternative and reserve price is analogous to knowing
which cards the other side holds in a game of poker. If you find
yourself in a win-lose negotiation, you’ll know when to push, when
to back off, and when to bluff.

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