"Our corporate attorney seems to be chairman of the 'Sales Reduction Committee'. My question is how do I deal with my attorney who is more concerned with being smarter than the other attorneys versus trying to win the business." - Jimmy Hoffa.
I could start with an attorney joke, however, attorneys do play a valuable role in business and in winning complex sales. Their value is in protecting both the vendor and the client. In public companies, they help with being Sarbanes-Oxley compliant and making sure companies can declare revenue and get paid, so you the sales person can ulitmately get paid your commissions. Plus in large complex sales there is no way around deal attorneys.
My first question is, do you have documented cases where you lost the business because of your attorney or is the attorney slowing down the sales process? Sometimes because attorneys (on both sides) lengethen the sales process the reality and perception may not meet. If you are losing deals because of your attorney, get your sales manager involved to get the attorney some training or have him removed from sales contract negotiations.
Assuming you are stuck with the attorney, below are serveral recommendations:
I could start with an attorney joke, however, attorneys do play a valuable role in business and in winning complex sales. Their value is in protecting both the vendor and the client. In public companies, they help with being Sarbanes-Oxley compliant and making sure companies can declare revenue and get paid, so you the sales person can ulitmately get paid your commissions. Plus in large complex sales there is no way around deal attorneys.
My first question is, do you have documented cases where you lost the business because of your attorney or is the attorney slowing down the sales process? Sometimes because attorneys (on both sides) lengethen the sales process the reality and perception may not meet. If you are losing deals because of your attorney, get your sales manager involved to get the attorney some training or have him removed from sales contract negotiations.
Assuming you are stuck with the attorney, below are serveral recommendations:
- Seperate the business and legal issues. If your attorney tells you they are one in the same, you can try to negotiate the business terms in advance.
- Get a list of legal issues from the prospect and try to be the intermedia and minimize your attorney's interaction with the other attorney
- Have an internal meeting with your attorney to get an understanding of his / her negotiation style and which items are non-negotiatable. Get an understanding of which they are non-negotiable (example declaring company revenue and company liability) will help you prepare the prospect and you may have a better understanding of why the attorney does not budge on certain issues.
Good selling and congratulations on getting deals through the sales funnel to contract negotiations.
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