Sales teams at businesses have an incentive to close deals quickly, and they typically need assistance from in-house legal teams to finalize contracts.
But Michael Ross, chief product officer at contract management provider LexCheck, said he often hears from clients that Sales and Legal are not working together effectively.
Instead, lawyers are frequently presented contracts from sales to negotiate with the counterparty’s legal team without the context needed to efficiently complete their work.
“Typically there is no conversation about the terms of a deal; it’s simply a transaction to the sales team,” Ross told Legal Dive. “They want it turned around fast, with the fewest redlines.”
This lack of communication can significantly slow deal cycles, which frustrates sales teams and hurts the broader business.
As a result, Ross said it would be beneficial to both sales and legal teams to improve their communications and relationships with one another.
Efforts along these lines could include the sales team sharing with the legal department how turning around contracts expeditiously helps them meet key performance metrics.
Meanwhile, Ross said in-house legal professionals could detail to sales team members the type of contracting context they need to be able to efficiently negotiate contracts.
Additionally, legal teams would be wise to explain the approaches they take to risk allocation and mitigation in the contracting realm to sales units.
“They’re not speaking each other’s languages, but if they can align, understand and bridge that gap, I think deals will be accelerated as a result,” Ross said.
