Idea 2: For ongoing relationships, forge a master agreement

Aside from contracts that cover specific customer engagements, you should also consider using master agreements that outline general business expectations separately – especially if you're working with a given partner regularly or expect to do so in the future.

Among the sorts of things that these documents should cover are payment terms, hiring restrictions, indemnification and liability limitations, confidentiality terms and whether or not either company can talk about the project as part of its marketing activities.

Another item that should not be overlooked in this age of channel mergers and buyouts: language that outlines what will happen to existing projects if one of the partners is acquired. "You obviously want to have all your business terms clearly defined," DiSano said.

Generally speaking, GreenPages updates its strategic master agreements with regular partners on an annual basis – or when one of the partners' business changes dramatically.

Idea 3: Name your terms

The reality of contracts related to vendor relationships is that most of the terms will be "all about them," but that doesn't mean there's no room for negotiation, said Glen Jodoin, vice president of marketing and operations for GreenPages. This is particularly true for memorandums of understanding (aka MOUs), which cover programs that lie outside the scope of a traditional reseller relationship.

GreenPages' MOUs often run for four quarters and usually cover some sort of special risk that a solution provider is willing to take – such as training more technical staff on an emerging technology, helping penetrate an attractive vertical niche, or opening its client base to a vendor partner – usually in exchange for market development funds (MDFs). They are common among vendors of size, but not as widely used by emerging companies with less mature channel policies, Jodoin said.

At any given moment, GreenPages usually has at least one MOU under way with strategic vendors -- it actually had four running when Jodoin spoke with ITbestofbreed.com for this article.

Usually, MOU terms are proposed first by the solution provider, and they involve very specific goals on either side. But tread carefully, especially if your team doesn't feel confident about its ability to deliver – there are goals attached, and reputations could be bruised. "You can go to the well a million times, but as soon as you fail, it gets very difficult to go back," Jodoin said.