Salesforce Contract Management: A Critical Tool For Businesses

Content

• What is Salesforce CRM? 
• How does Salesforce contract management work?
• Why do businesses require Salesforce contract management?
• Who benefits from Salesforce CLM?
• Conclusion

Contracts are an integral part of every business operation. Every department, including marketing, sales, finance, and HR, requests legal agreements to perform its day-to-day operations. For instance, salespeople require terms of service, SLA, warranties, etc. to onboard customers. Even so, there is a disconnect between the parties seeking these documents and the legal teams responsible for generating them. You might be wondering why.

First off, separate departments oversee the sales and legal lifecycles. Secondly, they operate on distinct platforms. Consequently, a communication and information gap can prevent your business from operating at full capacity. The best way to overcome these shortcomings is to centralize all your processes in a single place. Is there a one-stop solution to handle all that goes into keeping your company afloat? Probably not! So, here’s what you can do.

What is Salesforce CRM? 

Salesforce CRM is a go-to customer relationship management tool for businesses of all sizes to streamline their sales processes. This cloud-based platform can assist them in locating potential customers, closing transactions, improving customer support, and boosting marketing initiatives. 

They can automate repetitive tasks such as follow-ups, email communications, and reporting, allowing the sales team to focus on what they do best—selling. Businesses can have real-time insights into sales performance with customizable reports and real-time dashboards. They also maintain a comprehensive record of customer-related documents, preferences, and histories, ensuring accuracy throughout the process. 

How does Salesforce contract management work?

A seamless experience is essential for organizations to retain customers. From a sales perspective, long and complex processes are a disaster in and of themselves. Because the efficiency of contract management directly impacts the sales process. The client will appreciate the customer contract management's automated workflows and short lifecycle when it is time to sign the contract.  

That is why salespeople need to be more involved in the contracting process than the traditional approach has to offer. Integrating Salesforce with a contract management system, such as Dock 365, means a comprehensive overview of business operations. 

•  Centralize Sales Agreements

When an organization's operations are fragmented, salespeople remain uninformed of finer details and the progression of sales agreements. The legal departments generate contracts without necessary input from other departments. Salesforce contract management enables the sales team to access sales agreements and related documents. They can use this abundance of knowledge to enhance the sales process and provide better service to clients. Moreover, the salespeople would not have to contact the legal team for every tiny bit of information they require about the contractual agreements.   

• Data Consistency

Manual data entry is something every organization aspires to eliminate from contract drafting. When you have countless agreements to create, negotiate, approve, and execute, there is no time to spare for repetitive administrative tasks. Therefore, Salesforce is the answer to all our data entry issues in the contracting process. The integrated system allows users to import customer data from the CRM platform to generate sales agreements. They can auto-populate essential fields within minutes and remove the scope of human error.  

• Manage Contracts Within CRM 

When organizations depend upon traditional or disconnected processes to handle contract lifecycle, legal professionals take a long time to author sales agreements. The salespeople resort to emails or other means to send contract generation requests to the legal as they do not share platforms. CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) integration in Salesforce allows the salesperson to send a contract request directly to the legal team from within the CRM system. There is no unnecessary delay between request and generation, and it accelerates the entire contract lifecycle. Moreover, the customer details in Salesforce get automatically transferred into the contract management software and auto-populated in the sales agreement. 

• Self-serve Contracts 

It significantly slows down the entire sales process when the legal department is solely responsible for producing sales agreements. Thanks to Salesforce integrated contract management software, salespeople can self-serve contracts from within the CRM platform. They can utilize ready access to pre-approved templates and clause libraries through the integrated system to ensure the competency and legality of the agreements. It considerably lessens the burden on the legal team; also, the salespeople would not have to wait long to get the sales agreements to the customers.  

• Comprehensive Overview

For a smooth sales process, the salesperson must be able to track the current contract status and progress. A lot of the time, the sales team lacks the visibility and accessibility necessary to oversee contract management. Integrating Salesforce with contract management software empowers salespeople to manage the entire sales contract lifecycle from within the CRM platform. They can set up automated reminders to remain appraised about the real-time status of sales agreements. It lets them mitigate risks and act during unforeseen delays. 

• Cross-functional Collaboration

When the sales and legal teams do not have a centralized platform to collaborate on the contract management process, there is a high scope for miscommunication and conflicts. During the contract lifetime, the salespeople must resort to switching between various platforms to share information and coordinate. That is why organizations require Salesforce-integrated contract management software to establish open communication and transparency between the sales and legal departments at all stages of the sales contract lifecycle.  

Why do businesses require Salesforce contract management?

For scaling organizations with expanding contract portfolios, depending on multiple platforms to manage contract lifecycles can cause friction among the departments. Salesforce contract management provides a centralized platform that makes it simple for the legal and sales teams to manage the contracting process. It enables the salespeople to self-serve contracts with legal counsel. Thus, integrating Salesforce CRM with contract management software is beneficial for both legal and sales departments, as well as the whole business operation.   

• Improve Contract Quality

Thanks to Salesforce contract management, the sales team can utilize the pre-approved templates and clause libraries to self-serve contracts. So even though the sales department creates the legal document, the legal division can set the language, tone, and terms of the contractual agreements.  

It ensures that all the contracts produced by the organization are effective and competent. The legal department will find it simpler to establish contract compliance and performance when the written agreement is foolproof. They can utilize the Salesforce dashboard to identify and analyze KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for the sales agreements.   

• Streamline Business Workflows

By integrating Salesforce with contract management software, organizations can create a seamless sales process that includes automated contract creation and signature collection, reducing the time it takes to close deals. They can utilize pre-approved templates and customer data to ensure only competent contracts get to the customers.   

Salesforce contract management provides greater visibility into the status of contracts, allowing the sales team to track contract stages, renewals, and expirations more easily. The salespeople can ensure the sales contracts get to the final stage without unnecessary roadblocks.  

Who benefits from Salesforce CLM?

Integrating Salesforce with contract management software offers several significant benefits to industries across the board. It reduces manual data entry and duplicate work. Sales and contract management teams can seamlessly move from lead generation and opportunity management in Salesforce to contract creation and management, improving overall efficiency. Here are the top five industries where Salesforce contract management software is popular:

• Technology

The technology sector widely adopts Salesforce CRM to manage sales pipelines, track customer interactions, and drive business growth. It helps technology companies, including software providers, hardware manufacturers, and IT service providers, streamline their sales processes, deliver personalized customer experiences, and monitor customer support cases.

Sales teams in the technology sector often deal with complex contracts for software licenses, maintenance agreements, and service-level agreements (SLAs). Access to the contract management process through the integrated system helps them understand product pricing, terms, and renewal dates. It can also enable tech companies to identify opportunities for upselling additional services or products.

• Financial Services  

• Healthcare

Healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers utilize Salesforce CRM to improve patient engagement, manage sales pipelines, and streamline healthcare operations. They require instant access to contracts to manage all these functions efficiently.

Moreover, Healthcare organizations deal with numerous contracts with vendors, insurers, and suppliers. Managing these contracts efficiently is essential for cost control, regulatory compliance, and patient care. Salesforce integrated contract management software can help healthcare providers track contracts with vendors, manage compliance requirements (e.g., HIPAA), and ensure timely renewals. It can also help in managing relationships with insurance companies and tracking reimbursement agreements. 

• Manufacturing  

Manufacturers adopt Salesforce CRM to manage customer relationships, sales opportunities, and order processing. Salesforce helps manufacturers optimize their sales processes, collaborate with distributors and suppliers, and monitor inventory levels effectively.

Manufacturers frequently engage in contracts with suppliers, distributors, and retailers. Efficient contract management can optimize the supply chain, reduce costs, and ensure product quality. Salesforce can be used to manage supplier agreements, monitor quality assurance contracts, and automate procurement processes. It can also assist in tracking warranties and maintenance contracts for equipment and machinery.

• Real Estate

The real estate industry commonly uses Salesforce CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to streamline operations, enhance customer relationships, and improve sales and marketing efforts. Real estate professionals deal with lease agreements, property contracts, and client agreements. Efficient contract management is essential for maximizing property value and tenant satisfaction. Salesforce integrated contract management can help real estate companies track lease agreements, manage property maintenance contracts, and streamline tenant interactions within the CRM platform. It can also assist in automating rent escalations and lease renewals.

Conclusion 

As contracts are the decisive point before closing the deal, an efficient contract management process is integral to a scaling business. The competency of a contract lifecycle is tied irrevocably to its sales and customer-retention strategies. Hence, the sales department has a high stake in contract management and needs to be involved more in the process.  

Integrating Salesforce with contract management software opens doors for the sales department to contribute to the contracting process. They can ensure that the sales agreement smoothly progresses through the system without unnecessary roadblocks. Moreover, salespeople can initiate requests and self-serve contracts to reduce legal dependency and delays.  In short, Salesforce contract management enables organizations to get sales agreements signed faster. 

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