You can be cornered into accepting some deals especially in competitive deals as well a solution-based deals. As a matter of fact, you can be trapped into accepting bad offers from any kind of deal.

How Can You Prevent Yourself From Being Trapped Into Accepting Bad Offers?

Know Your Bottom Line

There must be a threshold you cannot afford to surpass. There must be a something you cannot go below. Once you know your bottom line, the next job would be to stick to it. However, it should be clear enough even to you that you will not be able to go below your that line no matter how you have been cornered. This is more of the case when it is just impossible. It is like someone asking you to give them what you do not have.

Knowing your bottom line also makes you to know where you will make your last stand. It means there is nothing the other person can do to make you change your position. Should be position where you will be willing to go into a deadlock.

Measure Every Offer To Your Bottom Line

This will help give you something that would serve as some form of reference point to whatever is slid across the table to your end. There are some offers that will be packaged to make you lose focus and you may never know that accepting such offers will make you go beyond that line. Preventing yourself from being trapped would mean you have to take your time to go through the offer and used the yardstick of whether it goes below your given line as a way of measuring it.

Measuring every offer in line with that bottom line will make you remain steadfast and consistent with your answer.

Make A Counter Offer

This will serve to both give you a breathing space as well as put them on the defensive. A counter offer can destabilize the other camp as they get to look at what you are offering. The offer should also be such that they will have to take time to dig through to find out what it really means.

Delay On Agreement If Possible

This will break their momentum. This is a good thing because you will be breaking that ability of them trying to mount up the pressure. Delays are like pressure valves that allow you to let off steam. The nature of the negotiation may mean that you cannot postpone the meeting even if it is for a day but that does not mean you will not be able to take a break. Delaying on an agreement breaks the rhythm of the opposing party.

Now you may have reached the stage when the agreement is about to be drawn up, delaying it could give you enough room to see how you can reject the deal. Delaying may also give you chance of seeing something that you missed. You get to step back and see the bigger picture.

Add A Back Door

This is one way that will ensure you will not get trapped. Make sure the agreement has a back door that you can use to escape. This can be in the form of conditions that must not be broken or it may be based on time I.e. giving you a chance to walk away after a certain period. The back door will be in form of a clause that will ensure that you can use the back door.

Do Not Sign Anything Unless You Are Okay With It

It does not matter if you are the one that added everything you are reading in that contract, it is important that you do not sign anything unless you are okay with it. you may need to seek a second and third opinion so but the idea behind this is that you should make sure you do not rush into signing anything as you come to regret this later.

Recognize If You Are Being Put Under Pressure And Back Off

If you feel that the other party is putting you under pressure, it may be a sign that they have more to gain and you might be falling into a trap. This is when you have to back out and seek an external opinion. It would be great if you can get that opinion from someone that is competent in that area.

There are just so many opportunities for you to stay on top a negotiation. You do not have to fall into any trap because there are things you can do during the process that will keep you free.