During a business deal, you will often hear “I am the contract negotiator”. If you are sitting across from one, then that means you have reached a significant step in contract execution. The sale is done, but the deal must happen now.
But do you have the expertise or the tools to be the negotiator for your business? When you don’t devout enough attention during this process, then more often than not get stuck with a long term deal that is undesirable, damaged relationships and eventually lawsuits.
What is the price?
What are your Terms? and obligations?
Is there a catch?
What is the cope?
What are your payment terms?
Do you have an SLA?
What is your response time?
What are your guarantees?
We need to renegotiate the indemnity clause……
An experience negotiator will have your head spinning with these questions, the push back would be unbelievable and no matter what answer you give, he seems to be coming down harder and harder on you. If your business don’t have contract templates crafted specially for your product and / or, services, you are now negotiating around the contract terms written by the other part. Their terms, are written expressly to protect their business interests, not yours.
Piecing together a well documented contract, takes a lot of organization on your part, and, knowing the ins and outs of the deal won’t be enough. During this stage the negotiator together with the drafter will cleverly take your contract template apart a bit by bit.
What do most small business owners do when they are confronted with this problem?
There are two alternatives available to them,
1. negotiate the contract themselves with help of Google.
2. hire an expensive lawyer.
Surely almost everyone uses Goggle, it will lead you to blogs and amateur writers, and that advise is not worth taking even if it’s free.
The second option is to hire an attorney. But is it worth it? And surely you can’t hire an attorney every time. An experienced contracts attorney will charge anywhere between $350-800 dollars an hour. The back and forth between the negotiator and you, means attorney’s retainer disappearing before you close the deal.
Learning to negotiate a contract takes skill, time and coaching. But having an iron clad contract template for your business will safeguard you against the sharks in the shark-tank.
