People & Influence

Negotiation & Persuasion

Reach agreement without losing yourself

Novice

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Novice

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Foundations

The mental setup before any negotiation: knowing your BATNA, your number, and what the other side actually wants. Most deals are won or lost before they begin.

Define your walkaway number in writing before the conversation starts.
Identify your BATNA and the other side's BATNA, honestly.
Separate your real interests from the position you opened with.

Concepts (6)

BATNA
Your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement, the course of action you take if this deal fails.
Open
Positions versus interests
A position is what someone demands on the surface. An interest is the underlying need that demand is trying to satisfy.
Open
ZOPA, Zone of Possible Agreement
The range between each side's reservation point where any settlement is preferable to no deal for both parties.
Open
Black Swan rule (Voss)
Hunting for the unknown unknowns that, once surfaced, change the entire shape of the deal.
Open
Reservation point
The worst deal you would still say yes to before walking away to your BATNA.
Open
Distributive vs integrative bargaining
Two basic modes of negotiation: distributive splits a fixed pie, integrative grows it through trades across issues.
Open

All Negotiation & Persuasion glossary

Back to overview

BATNA
Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.
ZOPA
Zone of Possible Agreement, overlap of acceptable ranges.
Anchor
First number that biases the negotiation range.
Label
Voss-style verbal acknowledgment of the other side's emotion.
Mirror
Repeating the last 1-3 words to invite elaboration.
Position
What someone is asking for on the surface.
Interest
Why they're asking for it.
Principled negotiation
Fisher & Ury's method, focus on interests, generate options, use objective criteria.