BATNA and Preparation — The Art of Negotiation

1. What is BATNA?

BATNA stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement — the best option you have if this negotiation falls apart. Put simply, it’s the answer to “What can I do if this deal doesn’t happen?”

A clear BATNA means you don’t have to force yourself into an unfavorable deal at the table. A fuzzy BATNA, on the other hand, makes it easy to cave under pressure, mood, or a looming deadline and end up with a losing agreement.

2. Target, expected, and reservation points

Negotiation preparation means separating what you’d like to get from the line you absolutely won’t cross.

Concept	Meaning	Example
Target point	The ideal outcome you’re aiming for	A $70,000 salary
Expected point	What you realistically think you can get	A $66,000 salary
Reservation point	The floor you won’t go below	A $60,000 salary
BATNA	Your best alternative if talks fail	Accepting another company’s offer

A target point alone turns into greed. A reservation point alone turns into pure defense. You need a BATNA to judge your own limits objectively.

3. Preparation checklist

Before any negotiation, prepare at least four things. First, write down what you want in numbers and concrete terms. Second, estimate what the other side wants. Third, honestly check what your alternative looks like if talks collapse. Fourth, sketch out several combinations of terms you could accept.

For a freelance contract negotiation, for example, don’t look at the rate alone — map out the deadline, number of revisions, deposit terms, and whether you can showcase the work in your portfolio.

4. Shoring up a weak BATNA

You won’t always have a strong alternative. When that’s the case, gather more information, adjust your timing, or build several smaller options to compensate for a weak BATNA. What matters most is not getting trapped in the feeling that you have “no alternative at all.”

5. Key takeaways

• BATNA is the best alternative you can turn to if a negotiation breaks down.
• Target, expected, and reservation points are different benchmarks, and you need to keep them separate.
• Insufficient preparation makes you easy to sway with pressure and atmosphere at the table.
• A weak BATNA can still be shored up by gathering more information and widening your options.

The next chapter looks at how to uncover the interests hiding behind stated positions.