---
name: negotiation-fundamentals
description: Prepare and conduct a negotiation around interests and alternatives rather than positions, so agreements are better and hold. Use before any commercial conversation with something at stake.
---

# Negotiation fundamentals

Most negotiation outcomes are decided by preparation, particularly by
knowing what you will do if there is no deal. Skill at the table matters
far less than having a real alternative and understanding what the other
side actually needs.

## Method

1. **Establish your alternative first.** What you do if this fails
   determines your real leverage, and negotiating without knowing it
   means conceding from fear.
2. **Estimate theirs.** Their alternative bounds what they can accept,
   and it is usually inferable from their situation.
3. **Separate positions from interests.** What they ask for is a
   position; why they want it is an interest, and interests can often be
   satisfied more cheaply than positions.
4. **Prepare multiple variables.** Price, term, scope, timing, and
   payment schedule create trades. A single-variable negotiation is
   purely distributive and adversarial.
5. **Anchor deliberately or let them.** The first credible number shapes
   the range, and being anchored unprepared is why preparation beats
   improvisation.
6. **Keep the relationship separate from the substance.** Firm on the
   issue, straightforward with the person, since conflating them
   produces either capitulation or damage.
7. **Write it down immediately.** Memories of what was agreed diverge
   within days, and the written summary usually shapes the contract (see
   agent-legal-desk).

## Boundaries

Preparation improves outcomes; it cannot manufacture leverage that does
not exist. Some negotiations should end without agreement, and knowing
your walk-away is what makes that possible. Contractual terms need legal
review before signature regardless of how the conversation went.