Valpak gains productivity and flexibility by transforming contracts with Adobe Acrobat Sign integrated with Salesforce

From its start in a garage in Clearwater, Florida, Valpak has grown into a premier nationwide direct mail marketing company. The company’s network of 138 offices work with local businesses to develop advertising strategies that drive consumer engagement. Unlike other marketing companies, Valpak has always focused on invigorating the local economy. Its Blue Envelope of savings connects people with deals from small businesses right in their backyards. While Valpak has a digital division, acting as a full-service marketing agency for its small business customers, direct mail remains an important advertising avenue.

“Our research shows that even as digital grows, people still appreciate getting Valpak coupons delivered to their mailbox,” says Jessica Waldon, director of ITSS at Valpak. “We’ve found that 9 out of 10 households will take a look at the coupon offers from Valpak. Even millennials love receiving direct mail — 75 percent say that the mail they receive is valuable.”

One reason that Valpak continues to thrive has been its commitment to innovation and growth. Valpak solution architect Tim Haig started his career as a manufacturing engineer, but his passion turned to IT and he has helped the company’s manufacturing center upgrade with next-generation automation.

“Valpak is all about taking advantage of the latest technology to drive productivity and make us more competitive,” says Haig. “But we’re not just implementing technology to be on the bleeding edge. It’s about finding solutions that are more secure, that work, and that bring our end-users value.”

Waldon agrees that it’s when business and technology work together that positive change occurs. That’s why when Valpak turned its attention to digital transformation and automation in its offices, it focused on ways to streamline processes, including those that were still primarily paper-based, for all departments. In particular, Valpak was interested in how it could improve the experience for customers working with sales representatives.

“We started to think about what e-signatures could do for our customers in terms of security, speed, and flexibility,” says Haig. “We chose Adobe Acrobat Sign for its strong capabilities both as a standalone solution and integration with Salesforce, which brings big benefits across Valpak teams.”

Flexibility to reach customers anywhere, anytime

Sales representatives previously spent most of their days in the field, driving to meet with businesses wanting to advertise through Valpak. Many of these businesses are small or local businesses, and it wasn’t unusual to sign contracts on the hood of a truck or on a busy pizza parlor counter. Once contracts were signed and completed, sales representatives needed to return them to an office manager who would enter the contract into Salesforce.

Using Acrobat Sign integrated with Salesforce, sales representatives are now completely in charge of the contract process. They can create contracts from the Salesforce interface and send it for e-signature with just a few clicks. They can check on the progress of contracts through Salesforce, giving visibility into the signing process, and automatically send reminders if signatures are delayed. They can also send and track signatures from any device, whether they’re at their desk, on their phone, or working out of a shared workspace. Once signed, completed contracts are automatically pulled back into the customer’s Salesforce record where they are stored for easy future reference and reliable audits.

“Sales representatives use a lot of tools to do their jobs, but we try to use as many integrations as possible to limit the time that people spend logging into and out of different systems,” says Haig. “Having such a tight integration between Salesforce and Adobe Acrobat Sign means that sales representatives can manage contracts and e-signatures without logging into multiple solutions.”

Valpak averages around 3,000 contracts a month signed through Adobe Sign, with strong adoption rates around 70 percent. While some offices across the company had previously used e-signature solutions, standardizing on Acrobat Sign allows Valpak to maintain more consistency across all U.S. sales representatives. Dynamic templates automatically adjust the contract as needed, inserting a local franchise’s logo or adjusting the wording depending on the terms of the agreement.

“Adobe Acrobat Sign pulls all information for the contract directly from the Salesforce record, leading to more accurate contracts free of the typos and misprints that can occur in paper contracts,” says Waldon.

Supporting local businesses during the pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Valpak felt the weight of its mission stronger than ever. “Valpak isn’t about us — it’s about stimulating the economy and helping businesses thrive,” says Waldon. “A lot of our companies are small businesses and during the pandemic, they needed us more than ever to get the word out and tell people that they were still open and ready to serve customers.”

With Acrobat Sign and e-signatures, Valpak sales representative could continue working with companies to get their advertisements in the mail without requiring in-person meetings. Even as COVID-19 restrictions ease, Adobe Sign adoption remains strong.

“Not all companies have the time to meet with representatives face-to-face, so e-signatures will always be a good option for them,” says Waldon. “Adobe Acrobat Sign provides so many ways to sign contracts. We included an option to work with wet signatures if needed, or sales reps can use the sign-on-glass option with a tablet for customers who prefer to sign a digital contract in person.”

Growing digital document transformation

While the majority of Acrobat Sign transactions at Valpak come from sales representatives working through Salesforce, Acrobat Sign is also used as a standalone e-signature solution for departments across the company, such as human resources, national sales, and corporate offices. From employee handbooks to vendor agreements, Adobe Sign can accommodate any use case for any group.

Valpak currently has more than 600 active Acrobat Sign users company-wide and saves around 530 pages of paper daily with e-signatures. That’s the equivalent of more than 14,000 gallons of water and 5,000 pounds of wood saved annually.

“Valpak is always looking forward and evolving,” says Haig. “Adobe Acrobat Sign is just the latest step in our digital transformation. Whether used with Salesforce or alone, we help people work more productively and support our mission of helping people save, businesses grow, and neighborhoods thrive.”