Top 7 industries that have to sign documents online

Aug 6, 2018

Read. 4 min.

Top 7 industries that have to sign documents online
Sales organizations in these industries should sign documents online to close more deals in less time.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, speed equals competitive advantage. If your sales team still relies on paper documents — like quotes, proposals, and contracts — it can take weeks or even months to get from quote to close.

There are many reasons why you can sell more by using electronic signatures, but especially if you are in one of the below industries, you can significantly reduce the time spent getting your sales documents out the door, gain visibility into the status of your deal, and shorten your sales cycle.

1. Construction

In the construction industry, it’s critical to get sales documents signed quickly, and you don’t have time to go back and forth with customers via email since construction schedules are always very tight.

E-signature software gives you the ability to make comments directly on the document itself, and by e-signing them from your office or construction site, you can cut your average time for signatures from days to hours and keep your projects on schedule. Several construction project management software solutions offer integrated e-signing capabilities alongside comprehensive project management features.

Whether you’re a general contractor, a mid-sized home builder, or an international construction management firm, you securely sign and request signatures on purchase orders, proposals, RFPs, quotes, and more.

2. Real estate

Whether you are an independent, family-owned brokerage or part of an international chain, selling real estate has its complexities.

The broker, agent, and client must sign off on almost every document for compliance reasons. Using e-signatures can dramatically shorten this process, make your client happy, and give your agents more time to do what they do best — build relationships and sell homes.

3. Technology

Whether you are a technology startup or a small to medium technology business, most probably, you are in the B2B space, where you have a long sales cycle with many decision-makers involved.

Using an electronic signature solution can save time, accelerate your sales process, increase your close rate, and allow your sales reps to concentrate on selling, not chasing paperwork.

Moreover, it becomes contradictory when you sell technology but sign your contracts with good old pen and paper!

4. Insurance

In the insurance business, waiting for paper signatures can risk your revenue and reputation. With e-signatures, your agents can be accessible to their customers from anywhere at any time.

By getting your applications, policy endorsements, no-loss statements, and any other types of documents signed quickly and securely, your sales team will spend less time tracking down signatures and more time focusing on sales.

This is particularly powerful as an option for online car insurers, as major insurance providers in this market have stiff competition to contend with and must earn customer trust quickly.

The best way to achieve this is to ensure that the process of getting quotes, comparing policies, and purchasing cover are as straightforward as possible. In the past, needing to sign paper documents led to a more drawn-out affair. Today, online document signing services ensure that there are minimal barriers between insurers and new customers. This also helps with customer retention, as policyholders will stay on board if renewals are a breeze.

5. Life sciences

Healthcare and pharmaceutical sales are unlike any other industry.

Bringing a drug or medical device to market already takes long enough. And you’re often selling to time-strapped, highly intelligent buyers like hospital executives, where you cannot afford to waste critical time on inefficient processes like faxing and overnighting documents.

With electronic signatures, you can impress your customers with timely, professional, and secure sales documents they can access anywhere on any device.

6. Events & hospitality

Planning any event requires dozens of documents like proposals, catering agreements, and detailed banquet orders.

Sending, signing, and tracking these documents can be a real headache, especially when you’re up against a deadline. Using an electronic signature solution will remove time-consuming administrative burdens and free your sales staff to concentrate on getting new business, nurturing current customer relationships, and growing revenue.

7. Consulting service

Selling a consulting service is not an easy task. It typically is a long process, where you have to make changes in your proposal until you close the deal.

Most of your consultants spend a significant time visiting and working on-site with customers, and they should be able to draft, review, and edit documents wherever they are. You must make it easy to do business with your organization, where clients can approve and sign documents online with legal e-signatures.

We just listed the top industries here. There are many others, like financial services, telecom, manufacturing, and automotive, where integrating electronic signatures into your sales process will save you significant time and enable you to close more deals.

Start wowing buyers and hitting quotas now