BATNA Worksheet: Find Your Walk-Away Point in Five Steps

Your BATNA is your best alternative to a negotiated agreement: the option you take if this deal falls through. This free worksheet walks you through listing alternatives, picking the strongest, setting your walk-away point and target, and prints the result as a one-page negotiation card.

We never send or store what you type - the worksheet runs entirely in your browser, no account needed. Autosave stays on this device.

Step 1 of 5

Name the negotiation

A card for one specific conversation beats a vague plan for all of them.

Step 2 of 5

List your alternatives

Up to three realistic options you could take if this deal falls through. One is enough to start.

If nothing comes to mind, that is itself a finding. Your first move is creating an alternative before you negotiate.

Step 3 of 5

Rate them and pick your BATNA

Rate how livable each alternative actually is, and note what it costs you. The highest rated is picked as your BATNA automatically.

Fill in at least one alternative in step 2 and it will appear here for rating.

Step 4 of 5

Set your walk-away point

Your walk-away point is where the deal on the table becomes worse than your best alternative. Decide it now, while you are calm - not in the room.

Step 5 of 5

Set your target and strengthen your hand

Aim above your walk-away. A target with one line of evidence is harder to argue with than a wish.

Your card says where you walk away. Holding that number under pressure is a skill you can rehearse.

Practice holding the line

Or see how it plays out in the rent negotiation scenario.

A worked example: lease renewal

BATNA thinking applies anywhere a deal can fall through - here is a completed card for a rent negotiation. Notice that nothing on it is a wish: every line is either a fact, a threshold, or an action.

Negotiation card

Lease renewal at Hartwell Street

with Dana, the building manager

Best alternative (BATNA)

Move to the two-bed on Carson Ave at 1,450 a month

Livability 4 of 5. Costs: moving runs around 1,200 and adds a longer commute two days a week.

Other alternatives
  • Go month-to-month while I keep looking (livability 3 of 5)
  • Move in with my sister for the summer (livability 2 of 5)
Walk-away point

Anything above 1,620 a month on a 12-month renewal - at that point the Carson Ave flat is the better deal even with moving costs.

Deal-breakers
  • No rent increase above 8 percent
  • No loss of the parking spot
Target

Renew at 1,540 with the parking spot kept

Evidence: two comparable units in the building listed at 1,520 and 1,560 this month.

Strengthen this week

View the Carson Ave flat on Saturday, so the alternative is real rather than theoretical.

With this card in hand, the conversation changes shape: the renewal quote stops being a verdict and becomes one option of several. That is the whole point of a BATNA.

Common questions

What does BATNA stand for?

Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement - the option you take if this deal falls through. The term comes from Roger Fisher and William Ury's Getting to Yes. A negotiator with a clear BATNA commonly concedes less, because the worst case is known and survivable.

What is the difference between a BATNA and a walk-away point?

Your BATNA is the option itself - the other offer, the month-to-month lease, the move. Your walk-away point is the threshold on the deal in front of you where taking that option becomes the better choice. The worksheet derives the second from the first.

What if I have no alternatives?

That is itself a finding. With no alternative, every demand from the other side carries full weight. Your first move is creating an alternative before you negotiate - even a modest one changes how you sit in the room. The worksheet's last step asks for one thing you can do this week.

Should I tell the other side my BATNA?

Reveal it calmly only when it is strong and credible - a real competing offer, a real backup plan. Said without heat, it commonly moves numbers. Never bluff one; a called bluff costs more than silence. If your alternative is weak, keep it to yourself and work on strengthening it.

How do I strengthen a weak BATNA?

Make the alternative concrete: book the viewing, get the second quote, take the interview, ask for the extension in writing. One real action commonly does more for your position than an hour of rehearsing lines, because it changes the truth behind them.

Where does my data go?

Nowhere. The worksheet runs entirely in your browser. Autosave uses your browser's local storage, which stays on your device - nothing is sent to a server, and no account is needed. The Clear button removes the saved copy.