Prior to beginning negotiations, parties are advised to really assess their BATNAs. What is the best way for parties to leverage the power of their BATNAs? By building a trusting relationship with the counterparty, a negotiator can best leverage their BATNA by telling the counterparty about their options and working together on a mutual agreement By privately unpacking their multiple alternatives, negotiators can make more aggressive opening offers, and ultimately achieve better outcomes By consolidating their BATNA alternatives to a single option, negotiators can keep negotiations simple and speed up conversations towards a final agreement Negotiators should come up with some true BATNA options and a few false ones so as to leverage the counterparty's uncertainty and use them to pressure them into an agreement