Commercial contracts & risk
Most of a contract's risk is set before signing. Most of its value is won or lost after. I work on both: what you agree to, and what you collect once it's running.
Before you sign
A commercial read of the contract: what each significant term costs you, which ones are worth a fight, and what to offer in exchange.
- Exposure summary: liability, indemnities, insurance, payment, termination, scope
- Negotiation brief: your priorities, opening positions and fallbacks
- Proposed wording for the changes you want, ready for your lawyer to review
- Support in the negotiation itself, leading it or sitting beside you
Value you're not collecting
Contracts that have run for a year or more almost always have money left in them. Scope crept without a price. Indexation was never claimed. The customer needed more, and nobody offered it under the contract you already have.
- Look-back on work delivered but not charged, and change requests never priced
- A change control process both sides will follow
- Price reviews, indexation and rate mechanisms applied on time
- Extra services the customer needs, offered within the existing contract where the scope allows it
Running the contract
- Obligations and key-dates register
- Quarterly commercial reviews with the other side
- Disputes and claims before they escalate
- Renewal strategy started early enough to have leverage, and clean exits when it's time
If you're the buyer
Mid-sized businesses sign significant contracts with major suppliers and rarely have anyone whose job is to manage them commercially. I spent years doing exactly that for Telstra, nbn co and MLC.
- Choosing a supplier for a significant contract: requirements, evaluation, negotiation
- Renegotiating or renewing a supplier agreement
- Getting an underperforming supplier back on track, including service credits you haven't claimed
Check one of your contracts
For suppliers or buyers. You get a risk score, a value capture score and a ranked list of what to fix.