Storm of showstoppers

Showstoppers are

A clause or term that could bring negotiations or your contract to a juddering halt

Over the past 9 months, my newsletters have proposed a series of tips, tools and techniques to spot and solve showstoppers.

What should you do?

  1. Do you work with or for your clients? Rather than negotiate a bad contract, offer yours as a starting point
  2. Get the knowledge skill and experience you need to be the ‘fearless person in speedos’ when it comes to contracts
  3. Once you’ve spotted a showstopper, decide whether to shrug or hug
  4. Design a process for reviewing contracts to safeguard your business
  5. Query/reject clauses which do not support your intentions
  6. Be aware of implied terms which can change your contract
  7. Decide your showstoppers before you start negotiating
  8. When you meet a potential showstopper, reassess your strategy (learn from your mistakes)
  9. Don’t bet your business on one bad clause
  10. If you spot a clause you cannot comply with, get it removed

My top tip is to delete showstoppers and jargon from your contract so you know what you are signing up to; and I advised you not to ignore clauses.

Clauses we have covered include:

But if there is was one tip I want you to remember it is this:

don’t bet your business on one client and one bad clause

If you want more details, you can read all these back issues of the Dotted Line in my archive.

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