Decision night: 3 tips for selecting the best CLM for your business

Is your company caught in the whirlwind of CLM vendor promises? With over 240 vendors competing for your vote—85 of them entering the race since 2017 alone—the CLM market is more crowded than ever. And with the constant news of vendors being acquired or shutting down operations, how do you cast a vote for a solution that will actually deliver on its promises? 

Legal tech experts Jason Smith, Sr. Principal, Strategy & Transformation at Conga, and An Trotter, Sr. Director of Legal Operations at Hearst, share their insights on navigating the selection of a CLM tool as if it were a political campaign. Much like voters fact-check campaign promises and compare information from different sources, businesses need to be strategic about how they choose the right CLM platform for their needs.  

Let’s break down the election playbook: 

• Fact-check the campaign promises vendors make. 

• Diversify your sources and know when to take them with a grain of salt. 

• Handle those single-issue voters within your organization. 

• Align on a path to success and victory for your business. 

Campaign promises: can your vendor deliver?

Much like political candidates, CLM vendors love to make sweeping promises about their features and functionality. They’ll tell you they can do everything you need—and more. While it’s true many vendors offer similar capabilities, the devil is in the details. How do you separate the real deal from mere campaign rhetoric? 

The best way to fact-check these promises is through a well-structured RFP process. Once you’ve narrowed down your top candidates, request a sample RFP template from each vendor and compare them against your specific business needs. Today’s generative AI (GenAI) tools make this easier than ever, allowing you to analyze RFPs and identify key differences between vendors. 

For example, if a vendor avoids highlighting a particular functionality in their RFP, that could be a red flag. You want transparency on their strengths—and their weaknesses. Jason recommends using that  RFP template as your fact-checking toolkit to dig deeper into the vendor’s real capabilities. 

Finally, be wary of hype. Big marketing campaigns can make certain features sound groundbreaking, but unless you’ve seen these features in action with a use case relevant to your business, don’t get swept up in the excitement. Make sure any promises are backed by real-world performance, not just a polished demo. And remember: a vendor that says yes to everything may be setting you up for hidden costs or under-delivering later on. Ask tough follow-up questions to uncover risks. 

Sources: who can you trust?

In any election, voters rely on a variety of sources to make informed decisions. The same should apply when selecting your CLM vendor. Your sources might include analysts, consultants, peers, and professional associations. Just like diversifying your media diet during a political campaign, it’s wise to diversify where you get your information about CLM tools. 

Leveraging multiple sources helps give you a broader view of the vendor landscape. Analysts can provide expert insights; consultants offer detailed knowledge across industries, and your network of peers may have direct experience with specific platforms. However, just like in an election, not all sources are without bias. 

Be cautious of sources with close ties to vendors—such as those with reseller agreements or consulting partnerships that might have a vested interest in steering you toward a specific tool. Cross-reference opinions across multiple platforms and see if they align consistently.  When reviewing analyst reports, compare and understand their scoring methodologies as some may have non-transparent “pay-for-play" priorities where vendors may receive favorable ratings as long as they’re spending enough buying the analysts’ services.  Inconsistency across analyst reports could be a result of issues unrelated to the vendor’s capabilities, market presence or customer success. 

Single-issue voters: don’t let one detail derail the process

We’ve all encountered them: those stakeholders who latch onto one specific feature or issue and refuse to move past it. In a political campaign, this is the equivalent of a single-issue voter. In a CLM selection, it can bog down the entire progress if not handled carefully. 

Here’s how to keep your project moving forward if you have a single-issue voter on your team: 

1. Earn executive commitment to selecting the best overall solution that fits within budget and project scope, not just the one that checks a specific box. 

2. Form a diverse RFP committee that represents all key stakeholder interests. Make sure committee members check in with their teams throughout the process to prevent tunnel vision. 

3. Engage a broader group in the demo process by sharing demo recordings and collecting feedback through surveys. This allows you to get input from more stakeholders without the risk of live disruptions. 

By putting these steps in place, you can ensure that no single stakeholder’s issue overwhelms the overall goal—choosing the best CLM solution for your business. 

Aligning on your path to victory

Finally, Jason and An leave us with three key principles to ensure your team achieves victory in the CLM selection process: 

1. Put process before technology: "Tech projects are always process improvement projects in disguise," An reminds us. Make sure your process is solid before implementing new tools. 

2. Educate your stakeholders: Jason advises, "Make sure your team understands what they’re voting for before they cast their vote." A well-informed team will make better decisions. 

3. Choose the right services partners: Jason recommends hiring external consultants to provide focused expertise, while An suggests using the vendor’s professional services team to reduce reliance on outside consultants. The right approach depends on your organization’s specific needs and goals, as well as resources and budget. 

By following these principles, you can set your business on the path to a successful CLM implementation.  

We’re honored that An chose to join us and share her insights as a trusted veteran in legal operations. We highly recommend checking out her blog, Ops Spot, for more tips on optimizing your legal operations. 

Ready to cast your vote for the right CLM vendor? Start exploring Conga CLM and request our RFP template to get started!

This blog was co-authored by Jason Smith, Sr. Principal, Strategy & Transformation at Conga, and An Trotter, Sr. Director of Legal Operations at Hearst.