What Does My Business Contract Branding Say About Me? [updated 2020]
The Standard of your Contracts reflects your Brand
Q: Where did you get your business contract templates from?
Perhaps a friend gave you their old template, or maybe you just swiped something that looked OK from a Google search on the internet?
If you did either of these things, then don’t feel too bad. You are in the company of many others who did exactly the same thing. Up to 80% of small business owners head to the internet to find a contract template, or to ask their friends to give them a contract they can copy for use in their own business.
But there can be problems with either of those approaches.
Contracts are your Brand in action
The template contracts you use in your business are actually an expression of your brand.
They are an under-recognized expression of your brand.
Think about that for a moment.
Have you received a contract from a potential client, that has been poorly drafted with loads of spelling errors, or the font is different in one paragraph compared to the next? Perhaps the contract looked fairly polished at first glance, but looks were deceiving, and on closer inspection the contract doesn’t contain important clauses - such as what happens if you decide to stop doing business together because your customer didn’t pay you or there’s nothing written about what you both do if you have a disagreement? Did you feel confident in doing business with that prospective customer if they haven’t thought about these kinds of things? Or did their lack of care with their contracting, actually make you feel hesitant about embarking on a business relationship with them?
Contracts provide you with a first impression of your potential client, their attention to detail. Contracts are therefore good evidence of your customer’s brand in action. Chances are if your client’s contracts are not in good condition, it may reflect their approach to doing business with you will also be under par.
2. Contracts are a mirror reflecting the way you do business with your clients
The standard of your template contract really does give your client a first peek into what their client experience with you, is going to look like.
Let me give a example from one of my clients.
My client, let’s call them “SmallCo” - received a Services Contract from a very big consulting company – let’s call them “BigCo.”
SmallCo was to provide bespoke training for BigCo’s employees for a global project.
It was clear that the contract was not tailored to the transaction because it didn’t mention any of the specifics that SmallCo and BigCo had talked about over email.
There was no mention of how to handle the fees if BigCo’s employees didn’t turn up for the training, or what would be the situation if the trainers from SmallCo fell sick and were not able to perfrom the training on the day, or if some other event (like an earthquake or typhoon) prevented the training from going ahead as scheduled.
The agreement looked suspiciously like an imperfect English translation of a basic Japanese language agreement. Translations of “other language” agreements are, on the whole, unsuitable for international transactions as they don’t go into any depth and miss out many of the basic clauses you typically see in (native) English langage agreements.
So SmallCo sat down with me to go through the agreement with a fine tooth comb. We went over all the things that BigCo and SmallCo had promised in emails and meetings, and added in all of those terms into the agreement. We also beefed up the basic clauses that were vague or were skeletal with no meat on them.
I prepared an explanatory note to help SmallCo explain to BigCo what changes we had made along with reasons to support the changes. SmallCo was easily able to handle the negotiation.
BigCo admitted that their clients thus far had never made changes to their template and that SmallCo’s red-lining of the document, was a first for them. But BigCo also gracefully acknowledged that their immediate impression of SmallCo was that because SmallCo had been so diligent in reviewing BigCo’s agreement template, that they believed SmallCo would also be super diligent in delivering the important training to BigCo’s employees. SmallCo’s approach to the contract review mirrored how SmallCo would do the training for BigCo’s emplpoyees.
BigCo ended up accepting all of SmallCo’s changes to the agreement and the relationship started off on the right foot with both parties clear about their rights and obligations for the training project.
As a side note, BigCo even later revealed to SmallCo, that BigCo decided to adopt SmallCo’s revised contract as their new Service Contract template!
Your contract is an extension of the brand you portray to clients and others, just like your website, company logo and business card also are part of your brand. This example illustrates how contracts truly reflect your business brand. BigCo’s contract reflected them in poor light; SmallCo’s dilligent review reflected them in good light; and BigCo’s adoption of SmallCo’s upgrades reflected SmallCo’s brand in even better light.
Many small business owners (and large businesses too!) don’t even think about their contract being an extension of their brand. The fact is that your brand is intertwined with how your template contracts look from the outside (fonts, spelling errors, etc) and how they look on the inside (incomplete content, wrong content, etc.)
3. Bringing it all together
It can really hurt your brand to use contracts that look like they came off the internet and are not specific to the actual deal. This often comes from thinking that “having something is better than nothing”. Smart clients pick up on this and will take advantage of that weakness. The answer is to get your contract templates from a lawyer. It’s the only way. Engaging a lawyer is not an expense - it is an investment in you and your business!
If you use sloppy contracts, your customers are going to sense you are not a professional and so they won’t treat you that way. Just as you get dressed well and appropriately for a business meeting, ensure your contracts templates are well-dressed too.
Your contracts absolutely mirror your brand in the market and speak as to how you provide your services. Make sure your contracts are solid referees for you. Ensure that you have a lawyer look over an agreement you received from your prospective client, to make sure they are ship-shape and without any holes in them.
Make it easy for your client to download your template and provide a super simple process to sign and return to you. Going the extra mile for your customers creates a great impression and sets you apart from your competition. Many businesses offer e-signature these days and so there is really no excuse for not having a streamlined contract process from start to finish.
Great contract templates protect you and allow you to be perceived as a professional, giving you the confidence to step forth with your business. Think of SmallCo and all they achieved with a copy-worthy template, and the assurance that their contracts were a reflection of the excellent work they ended up providing to their satisfied client.
4. Final words
Set aside time to review your contract templates with a professional.
Do your contracts make you look like a real pro and brand you as well as does your logo and webside?
For help with your contract branding, reviewiing your client’s templates and drafting a suite of contract templates for your business, to get results just like SmallCo did, contact me at: catherine@catherineoconnelllaw.com