The Silent Culprit That Kills “Done” Deals

When a “done” deal falls through, there’s often a lot of blame to go around. Dropped balls, slow response times, missing documents — the list goes on. But there’s a silent deal killer out there that is often overlooked: the process itself.

In a world of declining close rates, the final sales stretch can make or break the deal. But all too often, it’s full of complicated processes, too many documents to chase down, and a lot of back-and-forth. Among all the faxing, filing, printing, scanning, emailing, and regular mailing that goes on, there are huge opportunities to drop the ball.

Plus, if you’re spending time fixing errors or tracking down clients or lost documents, you’re not only causing frustration, you’re opening a window that gives clients time to get cold feet and back out.

With paper processes, the stakes are high and the pitfalls many.

When you’re ready to close a deal, the last thing you want is a long, drawn-out process. Yet 75 percent of companies say their quote-to-close process takes more than a week. And 30 percent report it’s a month or more. Furthermore, 36 percent of business leaders say they receive contracts that have been signed by the wrong person or are missing signatures or dates. Every time you run into one of these mishaps, it adds hours or days to the process — and the potential to lose the sale.

Manual processes heighten the risk of these pitfalls. That’s why it makes sense to simplify and streamline the process, automating everything you can. Ideally, you’d be able to keep a close eye on contracts in progress, track who has signed them, and close deals from anywhere — in hours or days, not weeks. This makes the process as easy as possible for your customers, and just as importantly, it helps ensure everything is accurate — so your deals don’t unravel.

Shorten the time from quote to close.

Cloud-based electronic signature platforms do all this and more. They give your sales team access to the latest versions of documents wherever they are, allow them to link to CRM data to accurately auto-fill contracts, and allow them to send those contracts out to multiple people at once for signatures. You can even track who has reviewed them and who has signed them. Gone are the days of wondering where things stand. With e-signatures, you can see exactly who has done what.

When you simplify the process for both you and your customers, you’ll see much faster returns. Contracts close faster. And you get paid faster. Some companies have reduced the entire quote-to-close process to just minutes. Others have saved countless hours on the road by implementing e-signatures.

It’s time to put away your paper processes and go digital. We’ve just published an article detailing the advantages of e-signatures in the sales world and the potential downfalls of trying do everything manually. Check it out and see how to get started with an e-signature platform and discover three things you can do now to facilitate the transition.

Learn more. Download “Become a Sales Champion. How e-signature technology helps assure sales victories.”