Greetings!
When renewing your legal research contract, your vendor’s willingness to be transparent is a particularly important part of ensuring you get the best deal for your firm. However, it’s not always easy to determine whether or not you’re getting the clear facts needed to make the best decision. From purchasing a car to an insurance plan, we can all point to at least one deal where a little more transparency from the other party would have made a difference in cost or overall value. Even when we’ve done our due diligence, we can feel like we left money on the table and wonder if we truly knew all the facts before signing. Why is transparency so difficult for vendors? Sometimes, it’s just business.
Common Reasons Your Legal Research Vendor Is Not Being Transparent
- The vendor is in business to make money — complete transparency can cut into a fair return for their work.
- The vendor is restricted from revealing certain information because of internal contractual obligations.
- The vendor’s sales rep is obligated to reach a certain quota, upsell certain items, or push specific packages.
Reflecting on the reasons above, you can probably see some similarities to your side of the negotiation process. After all, you’re not going to volunteer that you have a huge budget for legal research services or give away the information that they’re the preferred provider of a service you desperately need. That harms your leverage, right? While negotiation doesn’t need to be adversarial, it’s important to remember that even though some vendors try to create a client/partner relationship, the reality is that it’s a customer/provider relationship. Remembering that fact is important, especially when the reasons for a lack of transparency go beyond basic negotiation practices.
Other Reasons Transparency Is Lacking
- The “rules of the game” can seem like a moving target.
- The vendor wants to keep you locked into services by renewing early.
- Email marketing campaigns to “trick” you into buying more product.
- Reps skirting proper channels by reaching out directly to the attorneys in the office.
Transparency can be a slippery slope to navigate for both sides of contract renewal and negotiation. While everyone has a right to protect their individual interests, the vendor owes it to their customers to be more forthcoming. If they choose not to do that, there are some ways to probe for the clarity you need.
How to Push for Transparency
- Ask the tough questions. Don’t be intimidated by aggressive sales tactics or appeased by your rep’s friendly demeanor when asking about your contract.
- Press on pricing. It is not in the rep’s best interest to reduce your cost.
- Get outside help. Enlist someone with more knowledge than you to help ensure transparency.
The importance of reasonable transparency cannot be understated when it comes to negotiating your next legal research contract. Understanding your vendor’s motivations can help you ask the right questions and make the best decision for your firm.
Legal Counsel Consulting has the resources to evaluate contracts to assure competitive pricing.
If there is any way I can help or if you would like to schedule a brief conversation, please feel free to contact me.
Best regards,
George
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