Sales is the process of getting a customer from indifference to wanting to buy.

The Sales-Contracting Process (SCP) is getting the customer from wanting to buy to signing (whether electronically or by ticking a box) the contract. Most companies don’t think about SCP, and as a result:

• because getting to signed contract takes too long, you run the risk of losing the contract: the client’s CEO leaves the company, the client has a strategic change of direction, the client gets early buyer’s remorse, a competitor improves its offer.

• you take too long to close, and as a result in-quarter and in-year sales volume is reduced.

• your best sales people leave the business. Because they are paid on commission, they want to work in a business where contracts get signed quickly.

• time to cash is too long, and customer friction is too high.

• you are suffering margin leakage by either not having the right clauses in your contracts or by not having a process to apply the clauses you do have.

My SCP service gets your business’ SCP to a position where:

• Sales go up up because deals are closed faster (without hiring additional sales staff or investing heavily in lead generation),

• you don’t lose contracts.

• you keep your best sales staff.

• you increase contract size by getting your sales staff off lower value contracts and onto big ticket contracts.

• you gain a reputation for being easy to do business with (priceless).

• the process is as friction-free as possible.

• the time from contract signature to cash in the bank is reduced to a minimum.

• you minimise costs.

• your contracts give the business the protection it needs, and ensure that your margins remain protected over time.

The service comes in two parts.

Part 1: Diagnostic. Review the current legal practices of the business, and create a short report on what’s working, what’s not working, where the real problems are, and what can be done to fix things. The report is designed so that its recommendations can be implemented by a competent lawyer, not just me.

Part 2: Fix. Implement the recommendations of the report, and fix the problems.

1. I’m a specialist tech-sector lawyer. My clients are technology companies, and the bulk of these are SaaS companies.

2. I’ve got a process-mentality. The end result is a process (including the legal documentation and other tools) which intelligently, and appropriately, distinguishes between no-touch contracts, low-touch contracts, and high-touch contracts.

3. I have negotiated contracts with some of the toughest negotiators in the world: Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Blackstone, Prudential. I also know the most efficient way to get round difficult procurement departments.

4.  I’m a sales-side lawyer. I have always worked sales-side, and have a reputation for getting contracts over the line with a minimum of time and friction.

5. I have advised on, and implemented, sales-contracting processes with clients in many sectors, including retail technology, financial services, and payroll.

6. I have a deep background in IPR, data and related legal issues. I publish in professional legal journals in those areas.

Do Nothing. Always an option, but doesn’t move the problem forward.

DIY. Always an option too, but it’s unlikely that you have got the right skillset in house.

Use other external. If you can find an external with the right expertise and the right mindset, then this is a viable option. The trouble is, it’s really hard to find the right people for this kind of work (see next).

Part 1: Diagnostic - fixed price, based on scope and the nature of the business.

Part 2 Fix – fixed price, based on scope and the desired to-be (i.e. the output of the Diagnostic). You don’t have to use me to carry out the Fix (i.e. you could use internal resources, or other external resources): the Diagnostic report is designed to be implementable by anyone.

I estimate that poor SCP costs companies 0.5% of their revenues. Fixing SCP means that those revenues drop straight to the bottom line. So, unless your company is very small, ROI will be through the roof.