When You Don’t Have an Alternative in a Negotiation, Try Imagining One

Conventional wisdom suggests that negotiators need alternatives to succeed. Alternatives give negotiators the confidence to negotiate offers more ambitiously, to push for more optimal outcomes, and to walk away from the table when needed. But negotiators often have no alternative at all. For example, a recent survey by GMAC suggests that the average MBA graduate only has a single job offer to choose from, suggesting that many MBAs have to negotiate their job offer without an alternative to fall back on.

So what can you do if you lack an alternative? How can you walk away from the table with a better outcome?

In our recent paper, forthcoming in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we found that negotiators can actually reap some of the benefits that alternatives typically offer by simply imagining having an attractive alternative.

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Originally published at hbrascend.org.