How to Roll-Out your New Contract Template: 10 point Checklist
This is part 4 of my tips how to Roll-Out your New Contract Template as an Expert.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀:
* The top-down approach does not work
* Focus on the Why, How, When and Benefits
* Make a Communication Plan
* Identify Relevant Users and Teams
* Notify / Pre-inform the team about the upcoming new template
𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗽: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁
See below a non-exhaustive checklist of the items that I would recommend to include in your message When rolling out & communicating the new Contract Template.
-𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲: Use a clear subject line that communicates the purpose of the email, such as “New Contract Template – [Add name relevant document] – Please Review and Adopt.”
-𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗪𝗵𝘆): Start with a brief introduction that outlines the importance of adopting the new contract template.
-𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀: Provide an overview of the key features and benefits of the new contract template, highlighting how it will help streamline processes, reduce risks, and improve efficiency.
-𝗛𝗼𝘄: Add instructions on how to use the new contract template, including where to find it, how to fill it out, and any specific requirements to be aware of.
-𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Clearly communicate the timeline for adoption of the new contract template.
-𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: Include information on any training or support that will be available to help team members adopt and use the new contract template effectively.
-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁: Provide a point of contact for questions or concerns regarding the new contract template (e.g. a project manager or legal representative).
-𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: End the message with a clear call to action, such as “Please review and adopt the new contract template by 2026, and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.”
-𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 – 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹: highlight any legal requirements, regulations or policies that must be adhered to, in order to ensure compliance and mitigate legal risks.
-𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 – 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘀: mention important specific information or operational set-up details for certain teams.
Communicate Early: Pre-inform and Notify Team Members
As part 3 of my tips on how to roll-out a new Contract Template as an Expert, the following:
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀:
* The top-down approach does not work
* Team members need to know the critical components for the use of the new Contract Templates: the Why, How, When and Benefits
* Create and follow a strategic communication and follow-up plan (the Communication Plan)
* Step 1 Communication Plan: ‘Identify Relevant Users and Teams’
Now, let’s continue to the next step of the Communication Plan:
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆: 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀
Does the team know that the new Contract Template is final and will be implemented soon?
Before actually sending and rolling out new Contract Templates, create groundwork and buy-in from senior management and each team member to make sure that they will actually use the new Contract Template now it is final.
It is important to provide opportunities to these team members to ask questions, express concerns and offer feedback. In this stage, ask these questions to yourself:
– Are the team members aware that the new Contract Template needs to be used at a certain date?
– Is the new Contract Template clear and does the team (in principle – not everyone will agree from the start) agree and appreciate the new Contract Template?
– Do they know the Why, How, When and Benefits?
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:
* Have honest and open conversations with people that will use the Contract Template every day and with Senior Managers that will lead the relevant teams.
* Send out a pre-announcement e-mail / Slack of the actual intended roll-out date
* Organize meetings to explain the Why, How, When and Benefits of the new Contract Template
* Conduct Training sessions
* Involve key stakeholders in the process like Senior Management and Team Members from all Relevant Departments
* Set expectations and hold people accountable
In summary, by notifying, briefing and pre-informing team members of the upcoming Contract Template, businesses can ensure that everyone is on the same page and that team members are prepared for the upcoming changes. This can help to minimize any confusion or disruptions and increase the likelihood of a successful rollout.
Effective communication is critical when introducing a new Contract Template
As part 2 of my tips on how to roll-out a new Contract Template as an Expert, the following:
𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲.
To ensure effective communication, make a strategic communication and follow-up plan to convince and inform the company’s teams to use the new contract template.
As we have learned, the top-down approach does not work. It is not sufficient to simply send out the new template and expect its adoption.
To ensure success, team members need to know the critical components for the use of the new Contract Templates:
* Why
* How
* When
* Benefits
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 & 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀
Before starting your communication in the company, make a thorough analysis who will use the new template the most and/or who should be informed about the new template.
It is not about just informing the most obvious stakeholders like – for example – the sales managers who will use the new client contract.
In fact, there may be teams that business owners and Legal did not initially realize needed to be informed, like HR, Finance, Compliance, Operations, Product Teams, etc. Once identified, a communication plan can be developed that includes reaching all relevant stakeholders.
In summary, to ensure success in the roll-out of your new Contract Template, communicate your new templates to a wider group than you initially first thought of.
Contract Template Tip 10: How to Roll Out New Templates Like a Pro
To conclude our series on how to improve your Business Contract Templates, I will share with you the expert steps I advise to use when rolling out your new templates in your organisation.
Having introduced new templates, policies and procedures for more than 15 years as Legal Counsel / Manager in various companies, I have a lot of (too much!) information to share on this complex and multifaceted subject – which I hope will be of great insight to you.
As a business leader, I know how precious your time is. Therefore, instead of packing all my insights into one long article, I have decided to break it down in separate posts which I will share with you in the next weeks.
Examples where you can use these expert tips:
Roll-out of a new template:
– Customer Contract
– Partner Agreement
– Order Form
– NDA (Confidentiality Agreement)
– DPA (Data Processing Addendum)
Introduction of a new policy & procedure that your teams need to follow:
– Contract Procedure explaining all steps in the contract negotiation process
– Contract approval policy
– Legal Involvement Policy (e.g. legal involvement is only approved after completion of a questionnaire and for deals > 100k)
– Vendor Questionnaire Procedure/Handbook
Looking forward to share my insights on this topic with you in the next weeks! If you have any questions in the meantime, do let me know in the comments or in a direct message.
Please see the full list of articles with all steps to take to successfully roll out contract templates in a company::
Tip 9: Use general terms & conditions where possible
Which Issues Are We Trying to Solve?
It takes a lot of time to get your company’s customer contracts (B2B) signed, even if you have great templates.
Do you constantly need to go back and forth with your customers to make small changes to your contract template, which leads to delays because e.g. both the commercial team and legal team need to amend the client contract manually?
What is a Solution for These Issues?
Consider making T&C’s instead and add these to your website.
Next step is to create a great 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 with:
– details of the customer and company;
– pricing;
– products list;
– …,
with a references to these T&C’s.
Make sure to perform a legal and commercial analysis depending on your company to determine that all important clauses are added to the Order Form.
This is a very common practice for B2C companies, but for B2B there is still a lot of work to do. Software/tech companies are leading the way in this way of contracting.
What is the Result?
What can you gain with using T&Cs?
- the Order Form can be completed by the Sales/Commercial Team without involvement of Legal.
- there is no need to complete the customer contract so you can share the customer contract in a very early stage of the sales process.
- if the client has no comments, the Legal Team does NOT need to be involved.
- if the client has comments, the Legal Team can negotiate the T&Cs, but only under certain conditions (e.g. approval management, volume and/or strategic importance).
- contracts are signed quicker.Make sure that all your clients have read and approved the T&Cs. Only mentioning the link to the T&Cs is not sufficient.
What is the Background of This Advice – Example?
In the past month I noticed with three clients (all tech companies) that, next to their Order Form, they also had to complete and send out specific customer contracts (traditional customer/client contracts). Traditional contract meaning: manually add name and details parties on the first page, specific contract wording follows where further specific information needs to be added. Of course perfectly fine in a more traditional setting, but when handling with tech/SaaS clients this not very ideal. I advised all three clients to change the contract setup from traditional contracts to Order Forms with a link to T&Cs. They all implemented this approach with great success and very good feedback from the Management and Sales teams.
Important to Note
This approach does not work for all companies, but is especially helpful in technology companies (SaaS / AI / CPAAS / Fintech / MedTech / ConstruTech, etc). Please discuss with your legal counsel / lawyer how to implement this in your company (and if it would be suitable at all).
About AMST Legal
At AMST Legal, we provide advice how to improve your (legal) processes and contract templates. Helping you to make sense of all your standard contracts and templates and crafting new Terms & Conditions or improving them is part of that. Contact us at lowa@amstlegal.com or book a meeting here for help with your legal (compliance) framework.
Tip 8: Consistent terms & definitions in your documents
Make sure that you use the same terms and definitions in your contracts and other important documents. It is also advised to follow the same rule for commercial documents like pitches / offers and even your website.
Why is this Important?
There are many reasons why consistent use of terms in your organization and definitions in your documents. To name a few:
- 1. Consistent use of most used terms in your organization improve efficiency as you will not have to think & have meetings which term or what definition to use.
- 2. It helps everyone understand what is meant exactly by a certain term that you use in your company.
- 2. To create the best possible customer experience.
- 3. To avoid any misunderstanding on what service or product the customer has purchased from you exactly, and under which conditions.
- 4. In case of commercial discussions (and even litigation) about a term in the contract for whatever reason: e.g. exact services purchased (and under which conditions), the price for the service, termination possibilities, volume commitments, compliance and system requirements, etc.
Examples
For a typical SaaS/Software company this means that the same terms/definitions should be used for the following documents (depending on the contractual set-up):
- General Terms and Conditions
- Product Specific terms
- End User License Agreement
- Customer Contract / Master Ordering Agreement
- Order Form / SOW (Statement of Work)
- Annexes likes the Data Processing Addendum (DPA), Data Security Addendum and the Pricing Annex
- Disclaimer on the website
About AMST Legal
At AMST Legal, we provide advice how to improve your (legal) processes and contract templates. Helping you to make sense of all your standard contracts and templates and improving them is part of that. Contact us at lowa@amstlegal.com or book a meeting here for help with your legal (compliance) framework.
Tip 7 – All Contract Standards & Templates in One Place
Create a Central Repository
Remember to store all your (contract) templates in one central place to make sure that everyone is (i) able to find the correct templates quickly and (ii) using the correct template.
Sounds very straight forward, but in reality I rarely see companies that store all templates in one central place easily accessible for all involved team members.
Storing all contract templates in one central place is challenging for most companies, but especially in case of:
- fast-growing companies
- mergers/acquisitions
- activities in multiple countries
- large groups with many subsidiaries or a complicated corporate structure
- contracts in different languages
- involvement of different departments (Account Management, Sales, Partnerships, Sales Operations, …)
What is the Best Way to Make Templates Easily Accessible?
Best options are:
- (a) fully/partly automate your contract creation and be strict that this is the only way that contracts can be generated. This way the relevant, most up to date and correct Contract Template is used and all templates are stored in one spot as you should only be able to use this automated system; and
- (b) create a central place (usually an internal website or – less ideal – a shared folder).
Crucial Step
Give training – at the start of employment and regularly thereafter – to your employees to make sure they know where the contract templates are located and how to correctly use these templates.
About AMST Legal
At AMST Legal, we provide advice how to improve your (legal) processes and contract templates. Helping you to make sense of all your standard contracts and templates and where to store them for easy access to the team is part of that. Contact us at lowa@amstlegal.com or book a meeting here for help with your legal (compliance) framework.
Tip 6: When making your specific contract, start with the correct template
Introduction
Previously in the series “How to improve contract templates”, we emphasized knowing the content of your contract templates. See the full article here: https://amstlegal.com/tip-5-review-the-contents-of-your-templates/. Now we’re zooming in on perhaps the most common issue with contract templates: How the templates are used daily. Because even with all the technology available to automate contract creation, most contracts are still created in word processing software such as MS Word. The templates are often saved in unstructured ways too. Additionally, the people that use the template contracts on a daily basis for a specific customer contract do not always use the correct template, i.e. the latest version, when making a new contract. While simultaneously doing that without using contract automation, unexpected risks can show up later on. Keep reading to learn what risks you could be facing, and how you can manage them.
When making a specific contract, start with the correct template
Why is it so important to start with the correct template?
Naturally, it sounds very convenient to use a contract of another client or the contract template that you have been using for years when making a new contract. However, this is the biggest risk associated with contract creation for companies that do not use contract automation. More time and money will need to be spent on the (re)negotiation of the contract and/or potential mistakes or claims in the future because your contract did not fit with the client or the specific situation. Using the correct template can be a step on the way to minimize encounters with these risks.
How do you minimize this risk?
So how do you avoid the risks connected to not using the correct template? There are many options to minimize those risks. However, we have found from experience that the two best ways to minimize these risks are:
- Fully/partly automate your contract creation and be strict that this is the only way that contracts can be generated; and
- Create a central place (usually an internal website) to store the contract templates, and give your employees regular training.
Unfortunately, the first tip can take some time to set up and requires recources for it to fully work. The pros outweigh that though, so don’t fear the power of technology when making contracts. For the second tip to fully work, we advise to provide training to the employees regularly. For example at the start of the employment followed by regular consistent training after that. This is our standpoint because you want your employees to know where the templates are located and how to use them.
Another tip that could be conjoined with the other two is to make sure that the importance of this is discussed regularly in your team or during company meetings.
Conclusion
To sum up this article, it can make a major difference on the aftermath of your contracts whether the correct template is used or not. Therefore we do advice to invest in good templates and good training for the employees. Doing this will make your contracting process much easier. If you feel like this is something that you would benefit from, contact us at AMST Legal for further personalized advice.
About AMST Legal
At AMST Legal, we provide advice how to improve your (legal) processes and contract templates. Helping you to make sense of all your standard contracts and templates and where to start drafting or using these standards is part of that. Contact us at lowa@amstlegal.com or book a meeting here for help with your legal (compliance) framework.
Tip 5: Review the content of Your Templates
Introduction
This is a follow up on the previous tip 4 to make a full list of all your contract templates. If you want to read that part, follow this link here: https://amstlegal.com/tip-4-make-an-inventory-of-your-contract-templates/. Staying on the same track, we at AMST Legal strongly advise to regularly perform a detailed review of your contract templates. That is part of our tip 5 of the article series “How to Improve Contract Templates”.
Keep reading to learn more about this appraoch.
Review the contents of your templates
Leaning back on the previous tip 3, which builds on cross-departemental collaboration, legal should review the templates – of course together with business – to make sure that the templates are all legally up to date and still work for all products/services that you are offering and cover all business risks. That require knowledge of the content of your templates though. The solution to that is to review your contract templates on a regularly basis.
What the review can show you
Think back to when the company started. In the beginning, the company might used certain contract templates without legal alignment, i.e. templates made by the commercial team or online templates. Another scenario is that the company has changed considerably. Thus, your company’s current needs might not be reflected in the contract templates.
Due to this review you might also find out that you can potentially:
- combine templates to limit the amount of different templates,
- remove templates that are not used, or
- make new templates,
Doing this can further improve the scalability & productivity of your company.
Pro-tip
Certain large corporates that I have worked with even ask an external law firm every two years to do a full review of their templates. That concerns e.g. General Terms & Conditions and Master Ordering Agreement. This ensures that their templates are up to date. It can also show how they generally can improve the templates for the business and their customers.
Conclusion
If you make sure to keep an eye on your templates you can ensure that the content will be up to date, Additionally, the contracting process can be made easier if unnecessary templates are removed.
Do you want to improve your scalability and productivity? Contact us at AMST Legal for tailored advice on how to do this in a simple way.
Tip 4: Make an Inventory of Your Contract Templates
Introduction
Earlier, we provided tips on how legal should not be afraid to involve other departments. You can access that article through this link: https://amstlegal.com/tip-3-legal-involves-other-departments/. Moving on, we are going to dive into the next tip in the series on How to Improve Contract Templates. This tip 4 concerns making an inventory of all contract templates.
Make an inventory of your contract templates
A must when using contract templates, which we at AMST Legal highly advocate for, is to
- Regularly make a list of all contract templates that your company is using day to day.
- Make sure you know how many specific/different contract templates the company has for its products & services, countries, languages and departments.
Best is not to only ask the legal department, but to especially ask the business (e.g. Sales, Partnerships, Procurement, HR) which template contracts they are using day-to-day. Just to make sure, also ask them to send you the exact template they are using and check if they are using the right templates.
After making the list, you might be amazed how many different templates are currently in use by the company and where they are all stored. Having this list will give you a better idea which next steps you should take to improve your contract templates.
Conclusion
Organizing your contract templates, reviewing how many you have, and sorting them can be a life saver in stressful times. Oftentimes you might not even need all of the templates that you have currently. So make sure to regularly check up on the status of your contract templates.
How many contract templates do you have in your company?
If you want to become even more structure, and streamline your contracting process – contact us at AMST Legal for tailored advice. Let’s take your contracting to the next level!