Where do you start?
There are two places to start.
The first place to start is the sales process. The sales-contracting process (SCP – I’ve written about this in previous posts) is a process in its own right, but it’s a subset of the overall sales process. And the overall sales process’ primary objective is to get the customer (and its money), and that means signing a contract.
It’s important to understand the sales process, as experienced by the sales team, because you want to get the sales team onboard. If the sales team sets the wrong expectations with the customer, then the contract negotiation becomes painful. On the other hand, if they set the right expectations (i.e. expectations that align with the contract) the contract closes faster and everyone (including the sales team that get their commission faster) is happy.
Moral: integrate the sales-contracting phase into the overall sales process.
The second place is the company’s history of implementing the contract. If it’s been trading for 3 years, then there’s enough real word experience to draw on. When revamping the contract, you can avoid contract theory and work with what has been tested in practice.
Look at the clauses that don’t add value, and take them out.
Look at the clauses that create friction and, if they have value, adapt them to reduce friction: if they don’t add value, take them out.
What pain points haven’t been addressed in previous version of the contract (e.g. inflation protection) and make sure they are addressed this time round.
Moral: avoid legal theory, adapt for the real word.