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A “yes” from a customer feels like a win, but that's only part of the story. Only the conversion of this agreement into a signed contract really seals the deal. And when the contract process is slow or disorganized, even the best opportunities can lose momentum.
According to research by World Commerce & Contracting Inefficient procurement can cost up to 9% of a company's annual turnover — a costly risk for something that is so important for growth.
A well-managed contract process is not just about efficiency. It's a competitive advantage that helps sales teams move faster, build trust, and keep businesses on track when every moment counts.
Understanding contract bottlenecks
The Contract process involves many stages, from initial application to final signature, and each step involves the risk of delaying a transaction. Even when everything seems okay, small hiccups in the process can quickly become major obstacles.
This is where bottlenecks occur most frequently:
- Rely on the legal team every step of the way
When sales teams depend on the legal department to draft, review, and approve every contract, the process can stall. When the legal department is overloaded, critical business can stall or be lost altogether. - Edit documents manually
Despite technological progress, many contracts are still passed on via email, with versions being tracked in Word and signatures being manually followed up. This outdated way of working easily leads to contracts being forgotten in the inbox or getting tangled up in version control. - Slow internal approvals
The internal approval of contracts often takes longer than expected. When multiple departments get involved, days can turn into weeks, meaning that deals can be delayed or derailed. - Customer delays
Even when a contract reaches the customer, it doesn't always go smoothly. Waiting for the customer to sign without a simple signing process can result in transactions going beyond important deadlines, such as quarterly targets.
Key strategies to optimize the contract process
To avoid delays and ensure smoother contract processes, the best sales teams use two key strategies to avoid potential bottlenecks before they arise. The aim is to be proactive and well-structured right from the start.
Use pre-checked templates: Create a library of standardized, legally validated templates for your most common business types. Instead of starting from scratch, salespeople simply fill out the most important fields and go straight to execution. This upfront investment from the legal department, which creates balanced templates and clause libraries, means that routine contracts can take care of themselves without repeated reviews. The result? Faster deals, less back-and-forth processing, and more time for the legal department, which can take care of complex, important transactions.
Early but selective involvement of the legal department: Instead of seeing the legal department as a last resort, you should involve them the first time you scoping the deal. For large or unusual deals, you should involve the legal department to point out non-standard conditions before you create the offer. Ask potential customers about their approval processes and specific legal requirements, and then arm yourself with a series of pre-approved fallback clauses for frequently negotiated items (such as compensation or payment terms). This strategic orientation prevents last-minute surprises and transforms the legal department into an enabler and not an obstacle.
Create a negotiation playbook: Document common customer objections and compare each with a series of pre-approved answers. If a potential customer rejects a clause, sales can immediately choose an alternative solution without having to seek customer approval. Over time, this playbook is developed through real customer feedback, which continuously speeds up negotiations and reduces legal bottlenecks.
The role of automation
Even with great templates and early coordination, managing contracts can slow down a business. This is where automation comes into play.
Modern contract lifecycle management (CLM) software and CRM-integrated tools eliminate tedious manual work and ensure faster and smoother contract processes. Because many contracts are still processed manually, the introduction of automation offers a huge opportunity to process deals faster, reduce risks, and scale operations without hiring additional staff.
Here's how automation is changing the contract process:
- Self-service contract creation:
Sales representatives can create rule-compliant contracts themselves by answering a few questions. Instead of sending an email to the legal department for each draft, the system searches for the correct template and automatically fills out the required information. This is how a task that used to take hours or days becomes a matter of minutes. - Smart approvals and routing:
Contracts are automatically forwarded to the right parties, depending on business size, region or risk level. Approvers receive instant notifications and reminders so contracts don't get stuck in their inbox. If someone isn't available, preconfigured rules can reassign the task without human intervention. - Real-time tracking and visibility:
All parties involved can see exactly where the contract is in the process. You no longer have to guess who needs to check or sign next. The system provides live status updates and helps teams identify and fix bottlenecks early on. - Fewer errors, higher compliance:
By retrieving business data directly from your CRM and applying predefined rules, automation reduces errors when entering data manually. The generated contract always complies with corporate standards and pre-approved clauses, which minimizes legal risks. - Centralized storage and audit trails:
Every version, comment, approval, and signature is captured in a secure, searchable system. This not only helps with audits, but also makes future renewals and changes easier.
The overall impact:
- Tasks that used to take 10 days are now completed in 1 to 2 days.
- Internal teams spend less time managing documents and more time closing deals.
- Risk is reduced through better controls, transparency, and consistency.
- The company can process more orders without needing more staff.
Speeding up contracts with e-signatures
Switching from traditional ink and paper signing to electronic signatures is one of the fastest ways to speed up the contract process. For sales teams, this simple change can eliminate many of the delays associated with signing manually.
On the benefits of electronic signature include:
- Faster completion: 80% of contracts signed electronically are concluded in less than a day, 44% even in less than 15 minutes. This means you no longer have to wait for physical signatures and delays are avoided.
- Convenience for customers: Customers can sign contracts instantly from their phone or laptop without the need to make appointments or send documents. This keeps sales momentum going.
- Failure prevention: E-signature platforms help prevent errors such as missing signatures or incomplete fields. The software guides signers to ensure that all required fields are completed.
- Seamless integration into workflows: eSignatures can be integrated with your CRM or CLM system. As soon as a contract is signed, the system can automatically mark the deal as closed, save the contract and initiate the next steps, such as sending a welcome email or starting the fulfillment process.
- Immediate revenue recording: You no longer have to wait for physical papers to be scanned. Revenue is recorded as soon as the digital signature has been made, allowing teams to achieve their goals faster.
- Improved buyer experience: Electronic signatures make the signing process quick, convenient, and hassle-free, which improves the overall customer experience.
Metrics and KPIs to monitor success
You can't improve what you don't measure, and that's especially true for contract processes. Leading sales teams track key performance indicators (KPIs) to find out where contracts are stuck and take action to address these problem areas.
Here's how tracking KPIs can make a difference:
- Monitoring the duration of the contract
Keep track of how long it takes from contract creation to final signature. A breakdown by phase (e.g. legal review, negotiation, signing by the customer) shows exactly where delays occur. - Set standards
Set clear goals, such as “standard deals should be completed within X days,” and monitor how contracts are performing compared to those goals. - Identify phase-specific bottlenecks
When contracts are reviewed by the legal department for too long or wait for the customer to sign, you can use the data to identify where you need to make improvements, such as streamlining approvals or using electronic signatures. - Track other critical metrics
Useful KPIs include:- Number of contract revisions
- Percentage of deals closed by the end of the quarter
- Proportion of contracts that comply with standard templates
- fall-off rates (transactions that fail during the contract phase)
- Use tools that automate tracking
Modern CLM systems can automatically record key figures such as the time required for individual steps and the number of document versions, thus eliminating manual work.
Best practices for continuous improvement
Regular review is important for contract processes to function smoothly. Die sales teams should regularly evaluate contract processes to ensure that they remain effective and can be adapted to business changes.
- Obtaining feedback: Gather regular input from key stakeholders, including salespeople, legal, and operations teams. This helps identify pain points and inefficiencies in the process.
- Listen to gain practical experience: Understanding the challenges faced by team members ensures that the changes are practical and effective.
Clear ownership of the contract process is critical to maintaining consistency and momentum.
- Defined responsibility: Identify a team member or role who is responsible for monitoring contract improvements and ensuring that changes are properly documented and communicated.
- Consistent review: Regular reviews and adjustments based on team feedback and performance data help ensure that the process remains efficient and in line with corporate goals.
By applying these best practices, sales teams can achieve continuous improvements that result in faster deals and smoother workflows.
