You're Invited: Learning About our Contract Process

All of your planning and hard work have paid off! It’s time to get a contract signed and throw your party! You nurtured your prospect, had conversations with them, and now it’s time to close that deal. You send over the contract and wait for it to get signed. And you wait, and wait, and wait… Everyone has been there. You have a great meeting, and your service is everything your lead is wanting and more. So why don’t they sign the contract and get it back right away? In this last blog of our series, we’re going to talk about how you can skip the waiting and go right to a signed contract.

The first thing you need to know when you’re ready to send a contract is who is involved in the decision-making process. Yes, you most likely talked to a manager or C-level exec that has decision-making power. However, sometimes they have to run decisions by a board of directors, other members of the management team, or other executives. This is something you need to find out in your conversation phase with them. Knowing who all needs to review the contract can take a lot of the waiting game off of the table. As you find out who will be in on the decision-making process, you can start having conversations with them as well. When you send the contract or set up the meeting to review the contract, try to have all of the decision-makers in that meeting or email group. A bottleneck can happen if there are too many people that have to forward the contract for approval. Get it to everyone that needs to see it to help save you time and get your deal signed faster.

Another good way to get your party started is to create a sense of urgency. Once you send the contract to your lead, offer them a little bonus or extra perk if they sign within a few days, or let them know that the price in the contract is only good for a specific time period. Or, you can also just tell them that you want it back quickly by sending a note or call to action. “We can’t wait to start working with you. The sooner the contract is signed, the sooner you’ll start seeing results!” People don’t like missing out, and FOMO (fear of missing out) can impact how quickly someone will sign a contract. Think about if you’re looking to buy something for your home. You found the perfect table for your living room, but there are only two left in the store. You’re more likely to spend your money when there are only two left compared to the store having 50 in stock. Make the same thing happen with your contract.

Following up with your lead is important as well. Go back to conversation mode, and when you follow up, make it personalized and friendly. Don’t be too pushy, as that can make them change their mind altogether. Remind them of the problems that you’ll solve for them once the contract is signed. If email isn’t working, try calling them after a few days and see how you can help, or if they have any questions.

Most importantly, you need to ensure your contract is exactly what you talked about with your lead. Don’t try to throw some hidden fine print or verbiage that contradicts what you talked about. Transparency is something that a lot of people, especially businesses, value. You worked hard to build trust with them. If they get the contract and it’s not what they expected, trust goes out the window, and they might not sign the deal. If there is wording in your contract that could be confusing for your lead, make sure you review it with them. Answer all of their questions, and don’t give them any reasons to doubt their decision. Also, in the day and age of virtual meetings, make sure you have a digital option. If they can’t sign a contract digitally, that could also cause them to either take a long time to sign or back out of the deal altogether. Email has always been an important part of business, but now with software and technology giving us more and more options to do things digitally, that’s what a lot of businesses prefer.

Boundless Media is here to help you in any part of your sales, lead gen, or marketing process. We understand you want to sit back and run your business. Remember, we’re your party planners. We can do all of the hard work, and you can show up and enjoy the party. Our strategic messaging, content creation and new lead-gen opportunities can help you take your business to new levels.