My Confidentiality Promise
Everything you tell me, whether by phone, by email or in person, is 100% confidential unless I have your written authority or instructions to the contrary. Even the fact that we have spoken is confidential.
The dangers of information reaching the wrong ears is well known. Simply conducting online research on the "company selling process" can reveal your identity and selling intent to "lead generators" and business brokers (read one of my articles about this).
I am paranoid about privacy and believe there's good reason to be. For some free consultation on how to maintain your privacy through the early stage research that most business owners undertake before putting their business up for sale, arrange a call with me. There's no obligation; there'll be no sales pitch.
The Promise In Full (of which I am happy to send you a signed copy on request)
In this Undertaking: @"You" and "your" means [Your name / Company Name here]
"I" "me" and "my" means Clinton Lee.
The business”refers to your business: [Business Name]
"Confidential Information" means information (in whatever format and medium and whether written or oral) directly or indirectly concerning your business together with any other information which you designate or identify as being confidential.
In consideration of you disclosing or agreeing to disclose to me Confidential Information, I undertake that I:
1.Shall treat the Confidential Information as being strictly private and confidential and shall maintain its status as such
2. Shall use the Confidential Information solely for the purposes of providing Services in relation to the sale of your Business or Business assets (the "Permitted Purpose"), and not for any other purpose (including but without limitation to procure any commercial advantage over you or your business);
3. Shall provide you with all information and co-operation to monitor my observance of this Undertaking;
4. Shall not at any time disclose or otherwise make available to any person any of the Confidential Information other than to:
4.1 Your named professional advisors such as Accountants or Lawyers;
4.2 Any other person or organisation approved in advance by you;
4.3 Any person so authorised and ordered by a UK Court or regulatory authority.
5. Shall maintain a list of individuals or entities to whom any Confidential Information is disclosed and make such list available to you upon request;
6. Shall whenever requested by you, return immediately all matter in tangible form which constitutes the Confidential Information, and will destroy any analyses, compilations, studies, reports and other documents or materials prepared by me or on my behalf which reflect or are prepared from any of the Confidential Information;
7. Confirm that I will not make use of the Confidential Information to make contact or approaches of any kind to your employees, customers, suppliers or partners nor with any other person connected with your business without your prior knowledge and consent;
8. Shall not seek to entice away from your business any current employees, customers, suppliers or partners or otherwise seek to interfere with your business;
9. Shall notify you promptly upon becoming aware of any unauthorised disclosure, copying, use or loss of all or any part of the Confidential Information.
10. Shall upon request confirm to you by statutory declaration or in writing my compliance with the provisions of this Undertaking.
11. You are not responsible for nor make any representation or warranty, express or implied, with respect to the completeness of the Confidential Information supplied to me.
12. You shall not hold me in any way responsible for any disclosure of this material by any party or parties covered under 4.1 - 4.3 above.
13. None of your proprietary rights in the Confidential Information or in any of their intellectual property is transferred or licensed to me by virtue of this agreement.
14. No right or licence is granted to me in relation to the Confidential Information except as set out above.
15. Nothing contained in this Undertaking shall compel you to provide me with information relating to you or your business which I request and you shall be entitled at your discretion to decline to supply me with all or any information.
16. Nothing contained in this Undertaking shall in any way restrict my right to use, disclose or otherwise deal with any of the Confidential Information if and to the extent that at the time it was imparted to me it was in the public domain or it subsequently becomes so available, other than as a result of a breach of this Undertaking by me.
17. Any failure by you at any time to enforce or exercise any of your rights under this Undertaking will not be construed as a waiver of your right to enforce or exercise that right in future or other rights under this Undertaking at any time.
18. This Undertaking is governed by and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.
Even more important to me than contractual agreements like the above is personal integrity. Hundreds of business owners have shared business information with me in private, with or without an NDA, and not one has ever had reason to regret it.