Vocabulary Bank

the first substantive number on the table, which distorts everything said afterwards

the negotiator whose internal selling has made abandoning the deal expensive

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement — the fallback against which every offer is priced

the shape and speed of successive moves — read by the other side more than the moves themselves

a hedge that acknowledges a real constraint without exonerating the decision ('granted, …')

opening a retrospective with the live cost before naming the historic cause

the accumulated set of retrospective sentences a team refuses to lose

'most-favoured-nation' — the guarantee no other counterparty will get better terms

the sentence that connects a past signing to a present P&L cost

a concession made not on the merits, but to end the meeting

the disciplined naming of walk-away, BATNA and alternative done before the negotiation session

the audible sign, in the room, that the negotiator can leave

any subsequent event that gives one side a right to renegotiate a signed term

a deal executed and completed in the same session, without a gap for renegotiation

swapping 'is this a good deal?' for 'is this better than another two hours in this room?'

the fees, flights and time already spent that feel like reasons to sign — but aren't

the non-binding one-page summary of the commercial terms under discussion

the outcome below which a negotiator would rather have no deal at all