Your PSA Software – The Importance of Contracts

Your business is doing well, your PSA software helps you to keep track of everything and your clients love you. But if you don't have a contract with those clients, problems can crop up and you have no way to control them. But how can you make that transition without jeopardizing the relationship or the business?

Regardless of how long you have been in business or what size your company is, it is important that you have contracts with your customers. Your PSA software can help you to navigate the shaky waters of this new relationship with ease by creating a simple template for invoicing based on your contract parameters.

Yes, a handshake deal is often the start of a business relationship, and this is fine when you are still negotiating what that relationship will look like. But if you want to have a company that is solid and whose income is dependable, a contract is the best approach for both you and your customers.

Mutual Security
While you may now have a handshake relationship with your current clients, creating a contract that spells out what both of you expect from the relationship benefits both parties. When you use your PSA software to outline the obligations and trusts of the relationship, both you and your customers will know just what to expect. This helps both businesses to plan for success.

Clarifying Expectations
One of the biggest gains when moving from a handshake deal to a contract is that both you and your client know in black and white just what to expect in the business relationship. This means that if a misunderstanding should crop up somewhere down the road, you both have this document to clarify expectations, services or product deliveries and help to resolve it easily. With a contract as a guide, everyone knows what was expected at the beginning and can find a solution when a misconception comes up.

Controlling Scope Creep
Many small businesses cannot afford unexpected costs to crop up in a project. Often this will happen when a project runs into a roadblock or a client sees a need they weren't aware of when the project began. The intention may not be to reduce the profitability of the project, but when the scope of the job suddenly changes, that can be the end result. With a contract, all expectations and costs are laid out in clear terms, with usually a mechanism in place to allow for unexpected costs to be covered in a way that is mutually agreeable. The scope of the project is clearly defined from the start. It is always easier to negotiate these things before the project begins then in the middle of it.

Keeping Relationships
Many small business owners worry that if they use their PSA software to create an invoice flow based on a contract, the relationship they have with that client will suffer. But just the opposite is true. When you work with your client to define the shape of that contract, you also find a clear path to defining everyone's expectations. This makes the personal relationship easier to maintain, because it is never called in to help define the business relationship. Your personal relationship with your client can continue as before, while the professional relationship is clearly defined so there are no misunderstandings.

PSA Software and Contracts
Not sure where to start? You can look at some examples of various contracts for small businesses on the FindLaw site. Once you have defined the details of your contract, it is easy to use your PSA software to create the billing mechanism that follows your contract outline. This is called a Managed Services Agreement in EzPSA and makes implementing the terms of your agreement easy. We have a step by step process that can walk you through the agreement form.

In fact, to make it easier we have created a video that shows you just which section of your EzPSA software you can use to set up your own agreement. Using your PSA software to set up your own Managed Services Agreement will give you the ability to work on projects knowing just what to expect for both you and your client.

You can control the scope of the project; keep costs to what you have agreed upon at the beginning and keep those all important relationships happy. Just follow the video below to set up your Managed Service Agreement today. 

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