Illustrative example. The request, the preferences below, and the positions are invented. Every company routes work differently.
How I work across teams
I work with cross-functional stakeholders as each deal requires, and I meet them where they prefer to work. If a team prefers a Salesforce work item, I create one or have Sales create one. If a team prefers email for escalations, I escalate by email.
| Team | How I reach them (an illustrative preference) | What I bring |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | A Salesforce work item | The request, the proposed commercial position, and the reason |
| Finance | An email escalation | The numbers, the timing, and the question I need answered |
| Product | A question in their intake channel | Which product or usage details the deal depends on, and what the customer is asking for |
| Partner or channel team | A message to the partner owner | The route to market, and what changes in pricing or paper because of it |
Where it gets interesting: grey areas between teams
In deal strategy, some topics sit between teams. Price protection is one. How list prices can change at renewal might be a commercial position that I own, but the same language can also live in the terms of service, which Legal typically owns.
Example: a 3% renewal cap
Sales tells me a customer wants a 3% renewal cap written into the MSA. My proposed commercial position is narrower: offer the cap on the order form only, for the first renewal only, and not as an evergreen term.
Before the customer’s counsel and Sales negotiate this in parallel with Legal, I raise it with Legal myself:
Hi Legal team, a customer is asking for a 3% renewal cap and wants it written into the MSA. Here’s the request from Sales, the position I’m proposing, and why. We are pushing back on the MSA: we would only offer it on the order form, it would apply to the first renewal only, and it would not be an evergreen term. I’m raising it now because the customer may ask for the same concession while negotiating the master agreement with you, and I’d like us to be aligned. Could you confirm how the order form and the MSA should interact here, and review the wording?
Legal decides how the order form and the MSA interact and what the wording should be. I don’t assume an order form overrides the MSA. My job is to make sure Legal hears the request, the scope, and the reason early, so two teams don’t end up making conflicting commitments.
Where Product and partner teams come in
If the renewal cap touches usage-based items, I ask Product which parts of the order it would apply to. If the deal comes through a marketplace or reseller, I ask the partner team whether the cap can be honored through that route. Each question is specific and comes with the position I’m proposing.
The habit behind it
I go to each team with a specific question and a proposed answer, in the way that team prefers to receive it.