This isn't legal advice.
What's the difference between suggesting and agreeing?
| suggesting | agreeing | |
|---|---|---|
| sounds like | our usual payment terms are thirty days | thirty days is agreed for you |
| needs | terms written down, with an owner | the power to commit your company |
| who does it | the agent, inside what the terms allow | a person, every time |
Most companies guard the signature, and leave the conversation before it wide open. By the time a contract reaches someone who can sign it, the agent has already told the buyer what to expect. So the rules that matter most are about what the agent says before then.
What should an agent never say?
- That someone at your company approved something, unless that approval is written down. Our deal desk has signed off is a sentence your legal team will want proof of.
- That it gives its word. It has no word to give.
It also shouldn't offer up where your limits are. Say the agent writes that's beyond what I'm allowed to agree, I'd need the deal desk. Now the buyer knows exactly how hard to push. If a buyer asks straight out, the agent tells the truth. If they don't ask, the agent says it will confirm, and passes the question to a person.
What should I set up?
- Write your standard terms down, one fact for each term, with an owner.
- Let the agent repeat those terms, and say what any change would depend on.
- Send everything else to a person, quickly, and keep track of it until someone answers.
How Reynforce helps
Your terms live in Facts. Rules say what each agent may say on its own, and what it has to ask about first. When it asks, the request reaches the right person by email, Slack or text. Meanwhile the agent tells the buyer it is checking. Every step shows up in Activity.
When Reynforce is the wrong choice
- You need a tool to manage contracts or collect e-signatures. Reynforce doesn't write, store or sign contracts.
- Your agents never talk about terms. Then this isn't a risk for you yet.
What it costs
£99 per agent a month for your first 10 agents. After that it's £79 for each agent, up to 49. If you pay for a year at once, you get two months free. If you'd like us to do the setup and sign-off with you, that starts at £2,500, paid once, and the price depends on the agent's job. Pricing has the rest.