Sales Follow-Up Tools: Document Approval Services

of course you want to get deals signed as quickly as possible. Companies can't afford to let the contract-signing process slow the flow of business. Offering customers a way to sign contracts electronically may even increase your close rate because less time passes between when they agree to buy and when they're asked to sign.

Tools such as Echosign, RightSignature and E-Signature allow you to sign and get counter-signatures electronically.

Echosign

If your business uses electronic signatures on digital documents you'll need a way to store, search, and access the document in a central location. Echosign specifically provides this capability. Its pricing starts at $99 per month for five users.

RightSignature

Sales reps send estimates, contracts, and proposals via RightSignature's online dashboard and customers simply sign online using their mouse.

Using their Web-based user interface, reps upload a document and enter recipient information in less than a minute. Recipients may sign online, on a faxable signature page or on an iPhone. Digital signing makes it much easier for the client as well. Instead of signing a paper document and returning it right away by fax, scan or mail, recipients often will put it down on their desk to deal with later. They know it will take time from their day, so, with good intentions, they simply put it in their "to-do" pile. You can avoid this happening to your contracts when signing is done in seconds with a few clicks. RightSignature charges $14 per user per month.

E-Signature

E-Signature is different from the others mentioned. Its service is intended more for documents you need to sign. For a one-time fee of $44.95, they'll create a signature font that looks like the signature you send to them. From then on, any document that requires your signature or initials can be inserted with a few keystrokes. Use your font to insert signatures in letters as well. According to E-Signature, your signatures cannot be copied by recipients.

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Nancy Nardin founded Smart Selling Tools after a prestigious career in high-tech and IT market research sales. She is considered the leading expert on sales productivity tools.