You know that legal contracts protect you, your business, and your clients.
And yet, even once you have them, they can be a challenge to consistently use, because, let’s face it: they aren’t super fun.
While there might not be any way to really jazz up the process of editing and executing contracts, there is a way to simplify all of your contract stuff so that it at least takes less of your time and feels less stressful.
Here, I’ve got three simple steps you can take to streamline the process and incentivize yourself to get a contract signed with every single client.
Step One: Create your templates
- Create one place where all of your contracts live that is easily accessible to your necessary team members
- Name each contract in an obvious and descriptive way. This will make it easy to find and access when you need it. These don’t have to be names your clients see, so if it helps to call it “One-on-one 10K 6 Month Package” then do it.
Pro tip: Stay consistent here and follow and naming convention that is easily understandable. Consider including the last edit date in the file name so you know when the last substantial change was without having to dig or call on your memory.
Step Two: Organize and name
- Start by creating a base template for your top services or programs.
- Whether you’ve gotten these contracts from an attorney or purchased a premade template, there may still be fields to fill out. Go through the contract and make any changes you need to and get them as close to deliverable as possible.
- If you only offer package services, you may be able to get your contract 99% finished in this step.
- If you have some customization in your services, fill out the most you can and see if it makes sense create a Version A and Version B for your most common packages.
- Once you have solid templates that are as prepared as possible, you can move on to step two.
Step Three: Use!
- Once you have the proper templates well-named and organized, establish a consistent way to prep and deliver.
- A simple way to preserve your originals is to always create a copy before doing any editing. This will be a huge step towards maintaining the integrity of your documents.
- When it comes to delivering your contracts, using an online digital signature service has a number of benefits. It provides an easy, secure way for you to deliver and for your clients to sign.
- And as an added bonus, many services include built-in reminders to help you get them signed.
- My favorite is Hello Sign, which is a tad on the pricey side depending on the features you need. Sign Easy gets the job done for far less, but it is a tad more cumbersome to use.
Happy signing!
