There are three main things you need to take care of.
- Be clear about what “good” looks like for your business. You first need to be clear about the risks and opportunities your business faces, then you need to decide which ones you are going to talk about and which ones you will stay silent on, then you need to work out a process which will get the contract signed with the least friction.
- You need to find (internally or externally) good people to negotiate your contracts for you. I spoke to a sales consultant the other day. A client had approached him: their contract negotiations with customers were really painful. The consultant recommended a sales-adept lawyer he had worked with and the problems went away for his client. Getting the right people makes a massive difference.
- Put in place a rigid process whereby only good contracts get approved by the board – the process should include DOAs, comprehensive board packs etc. A series of checks and balances that support rather than impede.
It’s not that complicated, but it’s rarely done well.