Initials Business Contract Made Easy

Initials business contract

Hi, RJ Watters here with National Trash Valet training and education. So what I want to talk about today on this video is a valet trash contract template. Kind of why you need it, the benefits of it, some alternatives you can use along the way. So let's go ahead and dive into it. So once again, in this video, we're going to be talking about how to create a valet trash contract template for your business. A lot can go into your business and just really kind of creating systems and processes upfront really help you, not only handle certain business situations quicker and more efficiently, but it's kind of going to give you just more ammunition when you go into sales meetings, because you'll know your contract like the back of your hand, so let's get into it. So first off, the benefits of having a valet trash contract. So the benefits, obviously, it's going to help you avoid misunderstandings and disputes, protects both you and your client. And it's obviously considered a professional must. With any service in this state, you almost need that signed guarantee on both ends of, "This is what I'm going to give you. This is what I'm going to get in return." Because at the bottom there all terms are there in black and white. So right away, everything is spelled out. If there's ever a question, they can always reference their contract when you're not there, or you can even reference, "Hey, it's section two." Whatever it might be for what they're specifically looking for. So really usually the benefits of having a contract in place, especially since the service can go on for a multiyear contract and you just want to make sure that everything is buttoned up before you get in there to actually service the facility or the complex. So, why do you need a contract template, essentially? So it's an efficient tool to help your business run easier. I touched on this a little bit earlier when we started the video, you get the basic document ready to go. So if you have the template in order, your three, four, five, six, seven page contract, however long your contract is going to be, it's already ready to go, pre written, certain addendums and things that are in there that need to be in there that can just kind of be tweaked later. You can plug in all the specific areas that you need, whether it be a price point or the name of the apartment complex that you'll be offering the valet trash service at. But really having a Valet Trash contract template in order is just going to help you run more efficiently. So you'll know everything in the contract by heart, like I said, the more you use the contract and the more you study it and it's in place, if you're using the same one for six months a year before you do a little revision on it, all those terms are already in place. So you're going to be going through it over and over every time you sign on a new apartment complex for valet trash service. So it's going to really allow you to answer any additional question that might come up in a sales meeting. Because sometimes you get the usual one, two, three, four questions that you respond to pretty easily. And then someone's going to you something about terms or length or payment or a cancellation policy, whatever that might be. And the more that you just know and understand your own contract template, the better off you're going to be when you go into a sales meeting. So what exactly is included in a contract? So obviously up front, you want the duration or the term. Like I said, these can be multi-year contracts. So if it's a three year term contract, you need to have it clearly state that term. It will be three years or if it's month to month or 10 years, whatever, you might be able to negotiate with that complex. The starting date and ending date plus monthly, yearly, or multi annual terms are the usual options. Annual or multi annual options are great because you have a secured income and you don't need to worry about losing your client. So once again, this contract that you create, we look for a multi-year contract because there's expenses on your end that you have to cover up front, but at the same time, you want to make sure that the service is in place and can be run more efficiently on your end with the apartment complex as you go through each month of the service contract. Price and payment terms, extremely important that you need to specify the amount that will be paid by your client. So, each month, we have this huge spreadsheet that kind of goes through what your cost per month is, what they're going to benefit from it. And you kind of will be showcasing that because each and every apartment complex and a property management company that you work with will want to really have a full understanding of the costs. How much they're paying out to you, how much they're going to be receiving in the end, and then being able to pass on to their ownership group. Because most apartment complexes are owned ... some are owned individually. The property management company is usually there if they do have a property management company that is owned by a larger investment group overall. So really at the end of the day, they're looking for the bottom dollar. And you want to make sure that your payment terms are super clear, that there's essentially no wiggle room or that there's no questionable sentence in there that, that might throw them off as they're going to read through the contract before they sign. If the contract is a multi-year, then it should clearly state if there's annual increases in your price point. So if you think about it, each year, inflation happens. Inflation on average is 3%, are you increasing fees 3% each year, or are you just going to lock them in at one price point? Once again, whatever you come down and negotiate to get into that apartment complex is going to be really beneficial to have this all laid out in the contract. Because once again, if at some point, if you sign them also your deal, if you sign a multiyear contract next thin you know, they could sell a complex, and you just want to make sure those terms are stated very clearly. The benefits, so stating what you will be offering your client in detail, the service, what they'll be getting, is recycling included? It is preferable to include specific dates and estimated timings as well. So the start date, once again, it comes back to timing and start date would be on this day, ending contract would be on this, potential integration process along the way. It gives the image once again, of professionalism and reliability because the contract is going to be the binding terms between you and the other property management company. Logistics, so explain exactly how the trash will be picked up. Start time, days being serviced, is it Monday through Friday, are you doing seven days a week? Are you only doing Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Explaining kind of once again, the service overall in detail of what will be received for the payment that there'll be giving out. As an example, door to door, are you doing valet trash, just door to door? Have you added on additional services that would be in the contract as well? Is there a garbage shoot or a trash compactor? So if you look at the trash compactor, you might negotiate with them that you don't run, you just fill it. And the next day their maintenance crew will go out and just push the button if you want liability issues on that side. Otherwise, the garbage chute as well, are you just taking the garbage in a high rise, floor-to-floor to the garbage shoot? Or do they have specifics that they want done with that trash, they want you taking it down straight to the dumpster itself? Recycling, so this one is huge. So we suggest now recycling is onsite. So they have their own canisters or their own bins and you service the recycling and bring it down to the recycling bins on site. So if this is an option stated in the contract, because some people want recycling, but they don't have bins on site. And at this point there might be additional fees or licensing or insurances that you'll need, because now you're taking trash offsite. You want to try and keep it as most onsite as possible. So then that way it reduces liability for yourself and also for your Valets that will be onsite. Establish what is an acceptable recycling material. So that'll be in your contract, we use that as an addendum of what you can throw out, what you can't throw out. What's acceptable for recyclables, which that you need to check with your own municipality, because some vary. Some might only accept boxes and some plastic, some might accept aluminum. Whatever that might be, you just need to really find out for your specific area and include those in the contract details. And preference on this is to have them use blue bags or clear bags, and then just white bags for actual regular trash. That way as your valet is going through, boxes can be condensed and put behind the trash bin and you can easily pick those up. But otherwise, if they use a blue bag or a clear bag, they can automatically register with your valet that it is recyclable material. And most recyclables, they want it loose within the bins so that they can just push it and sort it out along the line. So in that case, we just recommend that you just open the bag when you dump the recyclables into their bin. Renewal terms, so this entails how the renewal process will be processed. If it's something where it would be you're coming back into negotiate the next upcoming contract, or if you're trying to do something like, "Hey, we have a multiyear deal or we have a month, a month deal, and every 30 days, it just re-ups until you give us 30 or 45 days notice that you don't want the service anymore." So you just need to focus on what your renewal terms possibly could be. If it's multi-year deal, you're more in a process where you could start within six or eight months, starting to have contact about the renewal process with them and make sure they're still a positive and happy client and want to continue the service. Entail what terms your client, if they can opt out. So once again, if you did a shorter term and you said, "Hey, after this month or after this year, it's just going to kind of re-up each month until you give us your opt out or your cancellation letter." Liabilities, these need to have a clear indication of the responsibilities of each of the parties. So this is where you would work with your attorney just to make sure what's covered, because at the end of the day businesses business, and if someone tripped and fell or something broke, the last thing you want to do is be involved with a lawsuit over something that would have been covered in your liabilities section. Cancellation terms. So these need to clearly state any occurrence that will render the contract void. So if there's issues on your end or issues on even the client, what could void out that contract. So just once it can be very careful when you think about this and what those cancellation terms could be. You're protecting your interest and income plus the client's. Because at the end of the day, sometimes if you're putting in a lot of work upfront or you're putting in a lot of the money for the trash containers or things upfront, you want to make sure that if there is cancellations, that you can recoup some of that money that you've essentially lost out on, on with integrating or the expense of the trash cans. So also this just makes the client feel safe and protected because not only do they understand that if they want to cancel, these are the terms of cancellation, but once again, it's kind of going back to it's there in black and white it's right there. They can go ahead and review it as much as they want. And then if it came to a point where they needed to cancel with you, it's all described right there and you would then pick up your trash containers and would fulfill the contract or whatever value that they would be paying you to cancel. So alternative solutions to your contract template. So with this, we have a couple of different solutions. You can definitely write your own. Some people, if you're skilled enough, you can easily purchase a template offline from a rocket lawyer or a law firm online that kind of offers those. And you can kind of tweak it to what you need, it might not be specifically what you need because the trash industry is specific, especially for valet trash, it's a very unique niche service. You can hire an attorney. So with this, you can consult a lawyer and describe what you need. They will quote you a price to complete one. So with an attorney, you usually will get your free consultation. You'll describe what you need, and they'll tell you right up front, "Hey, I think we can do this price. I charge 200 an hour or 300 an hour, whatever it might be, and I can knock it out in four hours for you." Or some attorneys already do have like a general business contract in place, and all you need to do is just add the certain addendums or sections that you need that would fulfill the valet trash service. Because once again, describing what you do for them is a little different because of Valet Trash service is just different than going onsite with a truck and dumping the dumpster and getting out of there. And then also us. So we are National Trash Valet. Included in our master training program, we have our own valet trash contracts that we've used with properties before that include pricing sheets, and addendums, and all those things that can then be tweaked for once again each and everyone's own city or municipality. Because once again, laws in each state are different and we totally understand that. So that's why we suggest having an attorney review the contract for any state specific details that wouldn't apply to you or apply to us, because you might be in a different area that requires recycling, or that requires a certain liability section filled out. So once again, we have tools for you at National Trash Valet to learn more about contracts and contract templates and what you can do to proceed going forward with your own valet trash business. Thanks for watching this video from National Trash Valet. If you enjoyed what you saw, go ahead and subscribe and like our channel and stay tuned for more. Have a great one.