ContracT Review

Sales & Procurement Contracts

Sales and procurement employees at a electrical component manufacturing company were signing contracts without first running them by management (or anyone, really). This was resulting in conflicting contract provisions for different accounts and sometimes even binding the company to problematic agreements.

Typically, we see one-sided contracts with extremely unfavorable terms specifically in the cancellation clause. This can bind a business into long-term contracts that are not beneficial.

Client Industry

Client manufactures and distributes electrical components and software products so both procures the raw ingredients and manages a variety of distribution channels.

Initial Problem

Identifying contractual problems generally occurs when an agreement is highly unfavorable to the client, so this contract is generally addressed first.

Solution

We started by reviewing existing contracts, focusing on the largest and longest agreements, for problematic terms then working to renegotiate those agreements.

Opportunity

Longer term solutions included training for sales and procurement staff, a set of thresholds for contract provisions, and adding legal review to the sales and procurement processes.