Negotiate the Things Parties Care About Most
This post uses terms like “ Most Popular, “Most Negotiated,” “Most Risk Bearing,” “Most Added” and “Most Revised”. What we mean by this is:
Our AI has reviewed tens of thousands of SaaS agreements and unearthed some interesting facts. Many SaaS agreements invite negotiation due to off-standard legal positions. Further, legal risk can be reduced by standardizing specific legal issues. Below are a few of our findings:
This data identifies a real opportunity to shorten negotiations and close deals faster. We’re focused on the wrong things!
Logically, you might expect that negotiations would focus on the terms deemed most likely to undermine results and most important to resolve in the initial negotiation. But this is not what is happening. Instead, the data shows that priority is given to discussing “what if”. We spend more time talking about the consequences of risk than we do trying to prevent it.
If you want to close deals faster and reduce the risk of losing a deal and shorten negotiations, focus on getting the parties to agree on the things they care about most.