Typical Assessment Questions

SALES CONTRACTS MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

  1. SYSTEM
    • do you consult?
    • do you provide services?
    • have you mapped the flow of information/actions/documents during a typical sales cycle: [rfp / quote / negotiations / award / performance / delivery /closeout]?
    • do you have an attorney. do you consult your attorney for business / contractual matters?
    • do you have a standard sales agreement?
    • do you usually sign the client’s proposed agreement?
    • who reviews the sales agreement to determine if it is acceptable?
    • who can sign a contract?
    • what is your signature authority policy, are there dollar limits, are there rules regarding the types of agreements that can be signed?
    • do you write a new contract each time you do work for an existing client?
    • do you do “handshake deals”?
    • do you have remote [national / regional] sales persons?
    • do you have standards regarding acceptable / non-acceptable terms & conditions?
    • are your sales people aware of the standards?
    • are your sales people aware of “deal breaker” terms or conditions?
    • do your sales people know which terms are important and what the limits of flexibility are?
    • how do you deal with a “non-negotiatable” contract. do you have accept/reject criteria for this situation? Is your staff aware that the criteria exists? do they know where to find it?
    • do your standards and processes empower your staff by allowing decisions to be made at lower levels?
    • is there an established method to effectively communicate exceptions to executive management and quickly answer back?
    • do you have a process for handling confidential information [your own] [customer’s] [vendor’s]?
    • will your system “scale” as your company grows?
  2. RFP / QUOTE / NEGOTATIONS
    • do you set a validity period for your quotation (i.e. valid for 30 days)?
    • does your quotation make it simple for your customer to say "yes!"?
    • do you have a letter contract to allow a quick start?
    • do you have a “pro-forma” sow [work description]?
    • who reviews the sow before the client sees it?
    • is your sow designed to be integrated into your proposal? If appropriate, are there performance/payment milestones?
    • do you have “work around” responses to customer objections to your terms & conditions?
    • is there an established method to effectively communicate client exceptions from sales to executive management and quickly answer back?
  3. AWARD / PERFORMANCE / DELIVERY / CLOSE-OUT
    • after award is there a process for entering customer requirements into your system and effectively communicating the requirements to appropriate staff?
    • have you determined who should be the point of contact between your company and your customer. is this information readily available. is the requirement for single (or designated) point(s) of contact enforced?
    • do you have a standard established to define completion of work for payment purposes? For contract close out?