There are many facets to business growth with most of us naturally focusing on the key areas that grow revenue such as marketing, client acquisition, generating sales, and other methods for expanding profit margins.
But an area that’s been a key instrument in our business over the years has been to ensure that along with these channels, that we also focus on the foundations of our business. This includes having solid agreements in place to guide our projects and services.
This supported our business by defining our quality of service to clients and helping towards protecting our revenue streams, which were critical to the core of business growth.
It took many years with a lot of impact on our business to identify what better and well-defined agreements could do for us.
Our revenue stream was affected by projects where clients didn’t pay due to misaligned expectations or where the agreement didn’t support us during a dispute for payment.
This results in a lack of additional funds to allocate to key growth areas like marketing, growing our team, expanding into additional markets, and the resources to improve our agency.
How business growth comes from better agreements
So what can you do better to establish an agreement and contract that serves you and also protects your revenue to ensure you can fund business growth?
While every contract and agreement is unique, there are key principals that can help you on the road to establishing an agreement that works for you no matter the size or complexity of the projects or task at hand.
Ensure your arrangements are in writing
First and foremost, a verbal contract can be difficult to prove as they reply on good faith from both parties when trying to prove a contract existed if issues or disputes arise.
If you’re just won a new client, agreed to partner with a new vendor or supplying goods and services over the phone or on a video call, follow up in an email that covers what you’ve verbally agreed on and then put those deliverables into a written (using our a platform, Agreemi can help you achieve this) agreement or contract.
It seems like a simple one to start off on, but it can be overlooked especially those new to being a business owner or are industries where verbal contracts are widely accepted and are the general norm.
Spell out all the details
Every agreement and contract should outline in detail the agreed work or the result that’s expected to be achieved.
This is a point to note especially if you’ve done similar work with the same client, vendor or contractor in the past as it helps to minimise assumptions and confusion later down the road.
Spelling out the description of services or the results expected in detail allows each party to have a full breakdown of outcomes and enables you to refer to it at any time.
This is particularly helpful if the scope of the project changes during the delivery of services and amendments are needed to ensure the project continues to progress to help ensure a positive outcome.
Don’t over complicate it
Having an agreement or contract that is simple and easy to understand with clear and precise language, allows both parties and the people involved to have a full understanding of what the agreement details and most importantly, understand the risks involved.
Complicated language, long sentences and paragraphs and poor formatting can make it difficult for the key people involved who are required to implement deliverables and manage the relationship to easily understand what has been agreed to.
And the same is true for the clients who are on the other end of the agreement or contract. It’s important to ensure the client fully understands all areas of the contract to avoid confusion, assumptions and misalignment throughout the life of the contract, and a simple and easy to read contract will help with this.
Make it simple for all involved by keeping the contract or agreement short whilst still covering all important elements of a contract can help to ensure both parties understand what’s expected and ensure a successful project and outcome for all.
Final Thoughts
So, it’s important to start at the bottom when looking to supercharge your business growth. Don’t overlook the foundations of your business that support it’s upwards growth.
By having an agreement or contract that serves and protects you and your business is important in giving you the capacity to dedicate resources and capital to drive client acquisition and sales.
