The subject of terms and conditions traditionally for most businesses is a necessary part of doing business however for Creatives its usually the last issue on their mind.  It’s also common for Creatives to acquire someone else’s terms and conditions or writes their own contracts.  Unfortunately the credibility of these contracts is only tested in times of dispute; so contracts drafted in bullet points or acquired from an unreliable source generally don’t contain the correct enforceable clauses to assist the business to resolve issues that arise.

Similarly, many companies choose to do business on a handshake, as honourable as this may sound, the frailty of the contract is exposed when a dispute arises, as there is no details or fall back position to resolve disputes.  Writing down the details of how you’d like to do business is a simple idea and best captured in a contract that is tailored to the relevant business sector and business type.

There seems to be a natural resistance to formality and detail, yet during times of disagreement it’s often the detail that will protect a business. 

Terms and conditions can be for many Creative businesses a way for outlining ‘how they want their customer to engage’ with their services, from quotation to completion of the work.

This also means, outlining your payment terms, the IP ownership and managing the clients cooperation, for example ‘sign off’.   All these issues are central to ensuring you get the work done on time and in-line with your Creative business strategy while getting paid.

Its also common for potential clients to request Terms and Conditions,  if you don’t have a relevant set of Ts and Cs, then you’ll simply accept the terms offered by the client or in some cases the business runs the risk of signing up to a contract unaware of the real consequences or meaning of the contract.

Having a relevant, sector focused contract,  in-line with your Creative business is one way of avoiding unnecessary disputes and allows the Creative business owner to concentrate on doing the work they enjoy doing.

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The project will provide invaluable insight into the possibilities of extending Create Ts and Cs services.

Trading for over three years and based in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Create Ts and Cs has successfully built a reputation for providing small businesses with bespoke terms and conditions.  Our unique approach to providing commercially focused bespoke contracts has allowed us to build a company that’s focused on our client’s contract needs.

Dale McFadzean, Academic Director Law Wise Law Clinic, said “we are delighted to be working with an innovative business such as Create and we hope the research findings lead to future expansion and collaboration”. Create Ts and Cs, Managing Director, David Reilly said “This is a great opportunity of us to work with a progressive University, who shares a similar ethos to us”

David continues, “Our goal is to simply assist small businesses avoid unnecessary business disputes”.  “We provide our customers with contracts relevant to their business sector, sales processes and operations.

Our customers require contracts that enable them to protect their business, act professionally and enter into business agreements that allows them to managing their client’s expectations and build healthy business relationships”.

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What are your experiences?

According to Earl Nightingale, famous author and broadcaster “You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together”. He continues, “Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable”.

In many cases, especially with smaller business, (start-up or SME) negotiating with larger organisations, there lives both an opportunity and danger. There is of course an ‘inequality’ in bargaining power. This equality is generally apparent during negotiations. Most large organisations have legal departments and it’s not uncommon for a small company to be pitched into a negotiation involving a corporate legal department.

It’s during these situations that larger organisations may question or request your Terms and Conditions and subsequently changes to your contract or certain clauses omitted. In certain circumstances company contracts are compared and each clause examined individually; this is commonly known as the ‘battle of forms’. Experienced businesses use Terms and Conditions to position themselves professionally with potential clients and outline how they want to do business; for example getting paid, liability, protecting their IP etc. A well drafted contract will also help the business manage risk and ultimately save money by avoiding unnecessary disputes.

The following 5 points are worth remembering before you enter into negotiations;

1/ If you don’t have a set of Terms and Condition, then its leads to the smaller company inevitably following the only contract available, that’s the contract of the larger organisation.

2/ Smaller businesses can readdress the balance when negotiating with a larger player; its how you ask that counts and having Terms and Conditions gives the SME an advantage.

3/ Such negotiations can be tense and feel overwhelming, a company with a niche product or service can be in a powerful bargaining position and not realise it, distracted by events or potential size of the opportunity.

4/ Don’t feel flattered; you will end up working harder for less and obtain less appreciation for doing so, vanity costs money!

5/ Be confident, it’s ok to feel pressured by a larger company’s demands. However the same rules apply when doing business with smaller businesses, if you have the capability to deliver services, it’s profitable for you and the risk and scope can be managed then its worth negotiating or perhaps in certain cases worth walking away.

Ends.

The problem with verbal agreements as per the famous quote by Sam Goldwyn (film boss from 1930′s)” is that they are not worth the paper they are written on”.

Of course it’s legal in certain circumstances, (depending on the type of law) also a budget to argue the issue will help, without money to contest the issue in court, how else can you prove the contract exists?

As demonstrated by the England bid to host the world cup in 2018, verbal contracts when they go wrong, generally lead to post event denial, bad feeling and an overall shambolic situation.   Listening to the commentary you would think the parties were describing two different situations rather than the same event.

Verbal agreements represent an unnecessary business risk and create ambiguity from the beginning of the client or supplier meeting.  Clear communication with clients is a difficult thing to achieve at the best of times, so omitting a written contract and relying on what everyone remembers to be the truth appears ludicrous.

The physiology of a verbal contract seems to suggest a keenness to be flexibility as a service provider or accommodating as a client.   An immediate willingness to trust without knowledge of the people involved or the full extent of the circumstances is an interesting way of exposing your business to uncertainty and all to avoid some paperwork or explore the client or supplier’s service offering or business intentions.   This isn’t to say doing business with friends is a walk in the park, sometimes familiarity can lead to you being last to be paid or expected to deliver a lot more because of the friendship.   So, arguably formality tests the strength of commitment.   Trust is a very important part of business and perhaps should be earned over time.

It only takes two minutes to type “problem with verbal contracts” into Google to find out how problematic it is to embark on a non-written agreement.  Perhaps a written contract is our way as humans, to get to know each other under the banner of legal protection, so post contract we can demonstrate those charming traits of over delivery and flexible customer service.  Impressing a company under contract is more likely to lead to both parties being satisfied rather than one disgruntled party.

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by EasyEditor Newswire

Firms have been warned to make sure their terms and conditions are clearly defined after the Office of Fair Trading announced a crackdown on contracts which are detrimental to customers or breach consumer protection laws.

Currently around 70 per cent of enforcement cases handled by the OFT relate to terms and conditions with at least a fifth of consumers claiming to have had a problem with the small print in contracts over the last 12 months.

Research carried out by the OFT found many contracts contained small print terms that altered the deal consumers believed it to be, or had made it difficult to understand by hiding unfair terms in plain view. At least 80 per cent of cases investigated found people who had experienced a problem said that they had been caught out by a surprise.

Examples of unfair conditions were a football club selling season tickets without guaranteeing seats, extended warranties offering limited cover and an increasing number of sale and rentback deals where the tenancy offered was much less secure than many people realised.

The OFT has also raised concerns about complex, deferred or contingent charges that exceed costs such as businesses which include small print charges that don’t correspond to any service provided or which include obstructions to consumer switching such as imposing onerous cancellation terms.

“The recent economic difficulties have resulted in a lot of companies trying to tighten up on their terms and conditions but great care needs to be taken that any small print cannot be deemed unfair to customers,”

said David Reilly, Commercial Director of Create Ts and Cs, a company specialising in creating tailor made terms and conditions. “A set of Terms and Conditions drafted in plain English, can help a company to differentiate themselves by communicating clearly and openly with their client in mind”

“The OFT will take a dim view of any firm which deliberately or not tries to tie down consumers to unfair contracts.

“Every business needs to review their contracts to make sure their customers are treated properly. Creating fair and transparent terms and conditions is good business sense as it not only offers protection for both parties but builds trust with customers and encourages repeat business.”

However, the use of small print clauses are not automatically unlawful as it depends on the specifics of each contract and a number of other factors.

“On the one hand, we all know that people don’t read the small print of contracts. On the other, small print is a necessary fact of life and consumer law isn’t there to protect the careless or the over-hasty,”

said Heather Clayton, Senior Director of the OFT’s Consumer Group which is calling for the need for small print to be reconciled with the real life behaviour of consumers.

“Consumers should be free to focus on the main elements of the deal, confident that there will be no unwelcome surprises in the small print.”

ENDS

In a desperate attempt to get employers hiring again the UK Government is preparing to shake up the employment tribunal system with a raft of radical measures.
Controversial moves such as increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from one to two years, scrapping the payment of expenses in hearings and introducing a fee to lodge a claim are being considered.
The raft of actions are designed to curb the number of tribunal claims which rose to a record 236,000 last year, a rise of 56 per cent on 2009.
The Government proposals come after businesses raised concerns that the current system has become too costly. Takes too much time, places unnecessary strains on small businesses and that it is too easy to make unmerited or vexatious claims.
Last year actions cost firms an average of £4,000 each to defend leading an Commercial Contract expert to argue that hiring a freelance is the best way to get the work done and avoid being stung.
“Whether the government makes the qualifying period for claims one or two years makes little difference, getting the right person, reducing cost and managing risk are what matters,” said David Reilly, commercial director of Create Ts and Cs, a company specialising in creating tailor made business contracts.
“A ‘contract for service’ is the answer, and with over four million people now self employed, why not share the risk and hire a skilled person on a contract basis?
“An effective contract for services can also include performance related mile stones, review periods, notice periods for both parties and protection for your customer database, outline customer ownership and where possible anti-competitive clauses.”
With top lawyers warning that employers who treat the qualifying period extension as a ‘licence to sack’ could unwittingly sow the seeds of future costly and complicated discrimination claims it’s never been more important to look at the fine print.
“Getting the right person on a contract basis will save money both in the short and long term,” said Mr Reilly.   “We can help by drafting bespoke contract for services in line with your business and client requirements.”

The End

Firms and organisations across the UK have been warned to prepare for year of discontent after senior union leaders predicted a surge in strike action on a scale not seen since the campaign to abolish the poll tax.
In a joint message to more than 3.5million workers across both the public and private sectors officials from the GMB, Unison and Unite unions, the biggest in the UK, have called upon members to resist government spending cuts.
“Strikes are inevitable. The more of us that stand together against the cuts, the more problems we can create. The Government has to see we are serious,” said Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union.
The unions have vowed to work together throughout 2011 to pursue a sound economic alternative even if it means calling for widespread industrial action and manning picket lines.
“It’s clear that the Government is ideologically driven to massacre public services and bring the misery of unemployment and poverty to millions. This is a recipe for social turmoil on a scale not seen since the 80′s. A whole generation of young people betrayed, facing a bleak future,” said Dave Prentis General Secretary of UNISON.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, has predicted widespread dissent and resistance on a level not seen since the anti-poll tax campaign which saw riots in the streets of London and other cities.
“We can expect to see workers in both public and private sectors out on the picket lines fighting for jobs and against savage attacks on pensions and standards of living. There is no reason for working people to pay the price for a crisis we didn’t create and which is wholly down to the banks, speculators and politicians,” he said.
However, any industrial action which impacts upon postal services, communications or transport is likely to have a major impact on small and medium sized businesses across the country. During the last postal strike the Federation of Small Businesses calculated that SME’s lost a minimum of between £500 and £5,000 each.
“Any industrial action that involves disruption to transport or postal services is going to have a major impact on business productivity and services,” said David Reilly, commercial director of Create Ts and Cs, which specialises in tailor made terms and conditions for SMEs.
“Some firms may be able to let staff access their system remotely so they can work from home but other companies can’t do that. At the very least businesses should consider having something in their terms and conditions which protects them penalties incurred by late deliveries or problems caused by events outwith their control.”
Wherever possible firms should consider drawing up contingency plans to cope with any disruptions.
“Technology is such that many firms can carry out meetings with clients by telephone or over the internet. At Create Ts and Cs we have regularly have conference calls with clients which cut down on the need for face-to-face meetings and unnecessary travel,” said David Reilly. “We at Create Ts and Cs have devised an operational process for satisfying clients who require virtual services; our bespoke well rehearsed service offering delivered over Skype or by conference call is proving time efficient and cost effective”
“If things get as bad as predicted, with strike action and demonstrations disrupting normal working patterns, businesses will have to prepare some sort of continuity plan or risk suffering potentially major consequences.”

ENDS

by EasyEditor Newswire                                                                                                                                                             16/12/2010

Web designers across the UK are routinely over servicing and under charging clients in a bid to keep the e-commerce revolution on track, claim experts.
While 72% of website designers have seen a rise in expectations from their SME clients the majority are struggling to maintain increasingly sophisticated sites on lower budgets and against cut-price competitors.
According to web hosting provider Fasthosts at least a third of web professionals have provided clients with out-of-hours overtime and half have performed work free of charge in a bid to demonstrate the benefits of a properly designed and maintained website.
In the last two years at least 60% of web design firms have been forced to slash their hourly rates while 56% admit to losing clients to cut-price competitors. Many have also had to deal with projects being changed half-way through or work added because client’s under-estimate the maintenance required for a good website.
“For many small firms, using external web professionals is a very sensible and rewarding option,” said Steve Holford, marketing director of Fasthosts Internet Ltd which conducted the research and found low technical understanding from clients was hindering the success of many web projects.
“It’s clear that in recent years, web designers have worked hard to adapt to the needs of clients and demonstrate the value they can deliver. With the right approach from both small businesses and the web design community, online revenues can be successfully built and so help the UK economy in its return to growth.”
However, with many web design firms feeling the pinch as a result of over servicing and under payment leading business experts have urged a review of how client expectations are managed at the outset.
“Having a bespoke set of Terms and Conditions can help manage customer expectations and encourage smooth client cooperation to ensure projects stay on track and web companies to manage cashflow,” said David Reilly, Managing Director of Create Ts &Cs. “A lack of relevant terms and conditions often leads to longer projects, lack of payment and scope creep resulting in the client taking advantage and in some cases retrospective price discounting.
“A set of properly written terms and conditions places the supplier in a position of strength allowing negotiations to start from a sensible position and reach a conclusion both parties can be happy with.
“E-commerce is now big business, worth billions of pounds a year to the UK economy. If British businesses are to compete on the world wide web they have to be prepared to invest in the technology to attract consumers. For their part, web designers have to set out the value and benefits of what they can do in unambiguous terms.”

ends