Well-Written Contracts Make You Look Professional
If you are selling something, you are well-advised to think about what a contract says about you. I recently drafted a contract for the sale of a costly piece of computer software that my client intended to market to a number of large corporations. When I discussed with my client how much they wanted to invest in the process of drafting the contract, we took a look at the revenue they intended to garner from selling the software. We considered how important the success of their sales, marketing and service arrangements would be to the success of the company as a whole. We concluded that it was of great importance to have the contract well drafted, covering all of the features of concern both to my client and to the prospective purchasers of the software.
We began with a standard form, and expended a substantial amount of time tailoring each of the features of the contract to the particulars we figured would arise in the purchase, installation, use and maintenance of the software. Finally, we discussed installing a security feature in the software itself which turned out to be easy to implement and added value to the product for both the client and purchasers. The contract has been in use for several months now, and we recently produced an amended version to allow companies to lease the software on a yearly basis. Using the contract, my client has transacted a number of sales and leases. This contract suited the client, made them look good, helped close deals, and provides a roadmap for dealing with business transactions (like custom programming modifications and support) that we anticipated could arise in use of the software.
CONTRACTS HELP ORGANIZE TRANSACTIONS
That is an example of a contract for selling a product. There are many other kinds of contracts that you will need to enter into in order to run your business in a well-organized fashion. Virtually all of the transactions you conduct in your business will be documented in writing, so it makes sense to make sure that those writings fully express what you intend to accomplish through the transaction. An exchange of emails in which one party agrees to deliver a product in exchange for a payment from the other party will create an enforceable contract. But it won't resolve all kinds of necessary and helpful issues, like the place where a dispute will be adjudicated, whether the matter can be submitted to arbitration, whether the loser pays attorney's fees, and a number of other issues that are routinely addressed in the standard “form contract” that a lawyer would use to accomplish the same transaction.
People are often timid about proposing agreements that include detailed provisions, but large corporations are never shy about the length of their contracts, and any deal worth doing is worth doing right. By spending a little time looking at forms that are appropriate to the transactions you're trying to accomplish, you will find your thinking about the deal clarifying, and you will come to see the value of starting with a form to use as a checklist, making sure you have covered all of the important points.
We began with a standard form, and expended a substantial amount of time tailoring each of the features of the contract to the particulars we figured would arise in the purchase, installation, use and maintenance of the software. Finally, we discussed installing a security feature in the software itself which turned out to be easy to implement and added value to the product for both the client and purchasers. The contract has been in use for several months now, and we recently produced an amended version to allow companies to lease the software on a yearly basis. Using the contract, my client has transacted a number of sales and leases. This contract suited the client, made them look good, helped close deals, and provides a roadmap for dealing with business transactions (like custom programming modifications and support) that we anticipated could arise in use of the software.
CONTRACTS HELP ORGANIZE TRANSACTIONS
That is an example of a contract for selling a product. There are many other kinds of contracts that you will need to enter into in order to run your business in a well-organized fashion. Virtually all of the transactions you conduct in your business will be documented in writing, so it makes sense to make sure that those writings fully express what you intend to accomplish through the transaction. An exchange of emails in which one party agrees to deliver a product in exchange for a payment from the other party will create an enforceable contract. But it won't resolve all kinds of necessary and helpful issues, like the place where a dispute will be adjudicated, whether the matter can be submitted to arbitration, whether the loser pays attorney's fees, and a number of other issues that are routinely addressed in the standard “form contract” that a lawyer would use to accomplish the same transaction.
People are often timid about proposing agreements that include detailed provisions, but large corporations are never shy about the length of their contracts, and any deal worth doing is worth doing right. By spending a little time looking at forms that are appropriate to the transactions you're trying to accomplish, you will find your thinking about the deal clarifying, and you will come to see the value of starting with a form to use as a checklist, making sure you have covered all of the important points.