Sometimes the best deal is discovering there should be no deal.

There is momentum in any negotiation that pushes toward agreement, because everyone has invested time and nobody wants to have wasted it. That pressure can carry people into deals they should have refused. Recognizing that no deal is the correct outcome is a genuine result, not a failure, and it usually takes more discipline than closing would.

Decide before you start what conditions would make you walk. Write them down so the momentum does not quietly revise them. Then treat a clean walk-away as a win rather than a wasted afternoon.