In his most recent article for Inc. Magazine, BigSpeak’s EVP Ken Sterling took a clearheaded look at a common myth about negotiating skills– that with the right skills and mindset, a person can make great deals 100% of the time. Unfortunately, Sterling says, reality is a little less rosy than the fantasy gurus, books and classes have been pushing for decades.

With decades of experience himself in the dealmaking arena, Sterling has learned that sometimes, you need to throw in the towel and save your energy for your next opportunity. In short, if you’re in the middle of a negotiation and it isn’t shaking out in your favor– walk away. This offers two potential advantages:

1. You’ve freed yourself up to pursue a deal that you can close.
2. There’s a chance that demonstrating your willingness to look elsewhere will give your negotiation partner a wake-up call, causing them to reconsider their terms and be more amenable to a deal.

Sterling also warns that all negotiators look out for these warning signs a deal is about to go belly up so you’ll know when it’s time to withdraw:

1. The client is being evasive, refusing to share details about key deliverables and who needs to be involved in decision making.
2. The client is not replying to your attempts at communication at all; to use modern parlance, you’ve been ghosted.
3. The client claims your contract is too expensive. If this is actually true, steer them to an option that betters suits their needs.
4. The client constantly requests changes in the terms of the deal, making it too difficult  and time consuming to close the deal.