In today’s corporate legal environment, finding tools that speed up contract lifecycle management is a top priority for small businesses, and contract playbooks, in our opinion, should be at the top of this list.
It not only helps in comprehending the contract and the issues at play but also leads to better negotiations in upcoming deals.
Additionally, it largely eliminates the option of pointing the finger at legal counsel when contracts are delayed or cannot be reached at all.
Creating a playbook takes a lot of work, but the creation is not the end of the process and it should be reviewed annually in order to keep it current and fresh.
Among others, here are a few takeaways for creating such a Contract Playbook for small businesses in line with the present-day business environment, which will eventually turn out to be fruitful and worthy in the year 2023:
- Alternative Positions: The alternate course of action to take in a negotiation when your initial strategy or pitch has failed should be described in the contract playbook.
- Strategies for Negotiations: Best practices for negotiating, the provisions that are most frequently negotiated, and how to handle these sticking points are all aspects that should be frequently covered within contract playbooks.
- Preferred Wording for Contracts: Legal terminology won’t come naturally to company teams that self-serve in contracts. There will be a tonne of terminologies in the contract that needs to be explained. It’s also standard practice to include guidance and sample provisions in your contract playbook.
- Contract Escalation: The specifics of when, how, and to whom you should escalate a contract-related issue will typically be stated in your contract playbook, as well as how to escalate an issue.
- Approval Process: Even though business teams are frequently given the authority to self-serve on routine contracts, legal teams should also quickly review contracts. Usually, the contract playbook will specify the precise order that must be followed for approvals. These can be used to help workflows for approval.
