A customer asks for a small change to the delivery date. Another wants a longer payment period. A third assumes that support is included. Each request is reasonable alone. After a year, however, you have twenty customers on twenty slightly different terms, and nobody can say what was promised to whom.
Standard terms of sale solve this. They are a short, plain document that says what you sell, on what conditions and what happens when something changes. For a small company they do not need to be long. One page that people actually read is worth more than twelve pages that nobody opens.
What belongs on the page
Seven points cover most small deals. Write each in two or three sentences, in the language your customers use.
- Scope. What is included and what is not. If you sell services, name the main deliverables. A one-page proposal is the natural place for the details; the terms only say that the proposal defines the scope.
- Price. Whether prices include taxes, how long a quote is valid, and what is charged on top, such as travel or extra work.
- Payment. Invoice date, due date and what happens when the invoice is late. The choices are described in payment terms and payment methods, so here you only point to your standard option.
- Delivery. How and when you deliver, and what the customer must provide on time, such as access, materials or a decision.
- Changes. How a change is requested, who approves it and that it may change price and date. See change requests after launch for a simple intake rule.
- Responsibility. What you stand behind, how a complaint is made and within what time, and the limit of your liability. This is the point where a lawyer's opinion is most useful.
- Ending the deal. How either side can cancel, what is paid for work already done, and what happens to deposits. Compare with cancellations and deposits.
Add a line with the company name, contact for questions, and the version date. Without a version date you will not know later which terms the customer saw.
What to leave out
Do not copy a long template from a large company. Clauses you do not understand are a risk, because you must follow them too. Leave out anything you would not be able to explain to a customer in a phone call. If your business needs special rules, for example for personal data or for software licences, handle them in a separate document and refer to it.
Also leave out promises that belong to a single deal, such as a specific discount. These go on the order, not in the standard terms.
A short example
Imagine a six-person agency that sells monthly web maintenance. Its page says: maintenance covers updates and small fixes up to five hours a month; extra work is quoted first; invoices are due in 14 days; a change request goes to the account manager, who confirms price and date in writing; complaints must be made within 10 days of delivery; either side may end the contract with 30 days' notice. That is seven sentences, and a new colleague can explain them to a customer on the first day.
Show the terms before the customer says yes
Terms are only useful if the customer has seen them. Put the link or the attachment in every quote, and mention them in the confirmation of the order. Keep one current version in a shared place and name one person who owns it. If you change the terms, apply the new version to new quotes only, and keep the old ones for running deals.
When to deviate
Some deviations are healthy. A large customer may ask for a longer payment period, or a long-term partner may get a simpler change process. The aim is not to refuse every request, but to make exceptions deliberate.
Agree three things in advance:
- Who may deviate. For example, the salesperson may extend payment by 15 days, anything beyond that goes to the owner.
- Which points are fixed. Many firms keep responsibility and ending the deal fixed unless a lawyer has looked at the change.
- Where the exception is written. On the order or in the quote, in one line, so that operations and finance see it. A good handoff from sales to operations includes a field for it.
If the same exception is requested three times, change the standard terms instead of repeating the exception.
Get a lawyer to read it once
You do not need a lawyer to write the page, but you should have one read it. Rules on consumer protection, liability limits and data differ by country and by type of customer, and a small mistake can make a clause unenforceable. Ask the lawyer two questions: what is missing, and which sentences would not hold. Take the answers to your page, and keep it short.
Review the terms once a year, and after any dispute that surprised you. A dispute is information about what the page does not say. If you also keep a returns and refunds rule, make sure the two documents agree.
What to do this week
- Collect the last five quotes or contracts and note where the conditions differ.
- Write the seven points in two or three sentences each, on one page.
- Decide who may deviate, in which points and how far.
- Add the terms to your quote template, with a version date.
- Book a short review with a lawyer and name the person who owns the page.