Before a serious negotiation, what deep plan does an expert make to understand their own best backup options and guess what the other person's best backup options are?

Before a serious negotiation, an expert makes a deep plan centered on understanding their own Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and meticulously estimating the other party’s BATNA. Their own BATNA is the most advantageous course of action they can take if an agreement cannot be reached in the current negotiation, defining their walk-away point or minimum acceptable outcome. To understand their own BATNA, the expert first brainstorms every possible alternative they have if the negotiation fails. For example, if negotiating a job offer, alternatives could include pursuing other job applications, staying in their current role, or starting a business. Next, they evaluate each alternative based on its value, feasibility, and potential consequences, considering factors like financial impact, time commitment, and risk. From these evaluated options, they select the single most attractive and realistic alternative, which then becomes their BATNA. An expert also proactively works to strengthen their BATNA before the negotiation, such as securing a competing offer or lining up another potential client, to enhance their leverage and confidence. Knowing their own BATNA provides a clear reservation value, preventing them from accepting a deal worse than what they could achieve by walking away. Simultaneously, the expert develops an equally deep plan to estimate the other party’s BATNA. This is an educated guess about the other party's most appealing option if this negotiation fails. This estimation process begins with extensive information gathering and research. They analyze industry trends, market conditions, and competitor offerings to understand standard practices and available alternatives. They review publicly available information such as financial reports, press releases, and news articles to gauge the other party's business objectives, financial health, and strategic pressures. They also consider any known history or past negotiation behaviors of the other party. Through perspective-taking, the expert tries to understand the situation from the other party's viewpoint, identifying their core needs, problems they aim to solve, and internal constraints. Based on this research and perspective, they brainstorm potential alternatives the other party might have, such as purchasing from a different supplier, finding another investor, or developing an in-house solution. They then evaluate the plausibility, cost, and benefit of these potential alternatives from the other party’s perspective to estimate their most likely BATNA and their probable reservation value. Understanding the other party's estimated BATNA allows the expert to identify the Zone of Potential Agreement (ZOPA), which is the overlap between both parties’ reservation values. This insight helps the expert tailor their offers effectively, anticipate the other party's resistance, understand their own leverage, and know how far they can push before the other party might walk away, thus avoiding offers worse than the other party's best alternative.