Tips for avoiding contract disputes with your suppliers

Establishing and maintaining good supplier relationships is essential for doing business. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, contract disputes can occur.

It is in everyone’s best interest to resolve any contract dispute quickly and avoid legal intervention, which takes a lot of time and money. While this is true, there are a few tips that will help you avoid contract disputes from occurring.

Get to know your suppliers’ objectives

When creating a contract, both parties want to feel like they are coming out “on top.” However, during negotiations, you can’t have the singular focus on what’s in it for you. Be sure to find out what your suppliers’ goals are for the business relationship and make concessions to ensure they get some “wins,” as well. Creating a mutually beneficial contract will help eliminate quite a few contract disputes from occurring.

Build a strong relationship with your suppliers

The success of your contract depends on having a strong relationship with your suppliers. While this can take effort, be sure you are focused on creating a long-term plan that provides benefits for all parties. Creating a strong relationship requires you to know and understand what your suppliers want from the partnership and deliver on this as much as possible.

Maintain communication records

Keep records of all written communication between you and your suppliers. This includes emails or texts. If a contract dispute occurs, you can use this to support your side of the argument.

Working to avoid contract disputes

Sometimes, contract disputes are inevitable, no matter how hard you work to prevent them. While this is true, you can take steps to avoid mistakes that cost your business time and money by creating a legally binding contract from the beginning of your relationship. We help businesses struggling with contract disputes, contact us for a consultation.