Want to Close Deals Faster? Add a CLM to Your Tech Stack
Manual contract processes slow your sales pipeline. Learn how integrating a CLM with Salesforce and CPQ helps reps close deals faster and cut errors.
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The moment sales reps wait all quarter for: The yes.
A firm handshake with the client and high-fives all around, right? But that initial yes doesn’t mean the deal is actually closed/won. Instead, it kicks off a potentially weeks-long process collecting approvals, negotiating the fine print, and finally, signing the contract.
This is one of the most overlooked reasons for a slower pipeline. You can have high call volume, strong call-to-demo conversion, or great closers and still whiff the finish line if your contracting process isn’t on point. That’s why we sat down with Patrick Won, Principal Director at Accenture, to learn more about how the missing piece in your pipeline might just be a CLM.
A traditional sales cycle is full of friction that slows your reps down
There are so many open questions for sales reps to chase down in a typical lead-to-cash process, especially as you get closer to closing. “It requires a lot of manual work on the rep’s part to track these orders and contracts and make sure they’re coming in,” says Won. “The problem that we see most often with our clients is that salespeople are already in Salesforce all day every day, filling out the account information. Then they have to fill it out again in their CPQ tool with products and pricing and all of those details. And then they have to do it a third time for the contracts. Is that really something you want your reps to be doing?”
The amount of time it takes to do this kind of tracking, especially on an enterprise level, is incredibly unwieldy. “They say ‘time kills all deals,’ and that’s the biggest cost of this manual work, is time,” he adds. “And the worst part is, because some of this is data that’s not quantifiable in Salesforce, you don’t even know what you’re missing.”
Not only does it take time, it means you may end up missing important details right where it matters most. “Without a CLM, you’re just getting a Word document contract from some folder on your company’s Sharepoint, and who knows if that’s the most up-to-date template?” says Won. “Now you’re introducing potential errors into the process, too. You lose a lot of credibility when you agreed to a $100 price but you accidentally typed in $1,000.”
With a CLM, you have an integrated solution with Salesforce that removes these friction points completely. Type in all the information once, and then you can start the order form with all of your quote and account information right away.
Because no sales person wants to actually do this data entry—and frankly, they have better uses of their skill sets and their time.
CLMs solve the 3 pillars of operational efficiency for sales
Adding a CLM into your sales process introduces a level of operational efficiency that makes it easier for sales reps to complete their main objective, which is to drive revenue for the business.
1. A CLM gives your sales team a consistent template to work with
It’s every legal team’s worst nightmare: Sales teams gone rogue.
Part of why every single deal takes longer without a CLM is that there’s a million different versions of “approved” MSAs or NDAs—contract types that shouldn’t need a ton of review—slowing the entire process down.
Instead, a CLM provides one single template for the entire team to use, with approved clauses and industry-specific terms already included. Or, if you’re using third-party paper, an AI-powered CLM can add automated redlining to highlight exactly what red-flag clauses may be included and swap out with preferred language for a member of the legal team to approve.
Says Won, “The consistency that you get from using one template, with approved language, accelerates the entire process. This is what closes deals faster.”
2. A CLM makes your contracts visible to the entire organization
Once you generate a contract and send it out for a signature…where does it go?
Does legal have it? Does sales? Are we still waiting for a signature from a key member of the buying committee? Without this kind of visibility, it’s extremely difficult for the sales rep to push the deal forward, whether it’s nudging their prospect or working with their internal legal teams.
“With more visibility, it gives the sales rep the ability to really make that last push,” says Won. “For example, if it’s been sitting at the client’s desk for weeks, they can offer a final discount, or whatever can really get the deal over the line.”
It also means they’re not pinging legal all day long looking for their contracts and wondering why the deal isn’t done yet. “With a CLM, you can see who has the contract instead of playing phone tag. This means you can quantify everything, making this part of your pipeline more visible so you can identify any issues and make changes. Now you have the data of how many contracts actually get signed and how long it takes to move through the process,” he adds.
Taken together, all of this creates a faster time-to-contract cycle that makes it easier for a deal to actually close instead of hanging out in legal limbo.
3. A CLM gives you proactive insights for higher-penetration accounts and stronger GTM strategy
Salesforce has long given sales teams plenty of data on their pipeline and activities. But the CLM closes the gap on post-signature reporting that allows sales teams to better understand where deals fall apart…or where there are additional opportunities for revenue optimization.
“Now, it’s not just deal points you can report on effectively, but understanding how quickly you’re getting from lead to deal to contract signed, which is incredibly powerful,” says Won. “Now you can see how many contracts are actually going through, which can tell you if you need to hire an additional ops person to manage that at the end of the quarter, or figure out if you’ve got a renewal cycle coming up and need to proactively reach out to those clients.”
This goes for both sides of the contracting equation. When a problem arises with your supply chain—or in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, when production for certain goods stopped completely—having visibility into these edge case scenarios can mean the difference between a business that survives a market shock and one that doesn’t. “If we go back to COVID, having an understanding of your force majeure clause, your termination rights, and so on was critical when supply chains basically shut down,” recalls Won. “Now, with all of the inflation we’re seeing in today’s market, if you have a COLA [cost of living adjustment] clause you can increase the price of your goods to ensure you’re still getting the value out of that contract, even if there are forces outside of your control.”
A CLM-enabled commercial pipeline that closes deals faster
What does adding a CLM into your pipeline look like in practice? It changes the entire post-signature playbook.
Won recalls a client that sold fiber optic cable bandwidth for a data center. As part of their sales contract, their customers committed to building the connection between the data center and the fiber optic cable. So when the customer called and asked why they were charged when the bandwidth wasn’t hooked up yet, the client could point to the contract and tell them, “Well, you were supposed to have this constructed and connected by this date.”
“It’s really about accountability,” he explains. “You can see exactly what’s in your contracts, and you can determine where you’re missing out on revenue, or what’s going to create an issue with a customer down the line.”
This is what makes adding a CLM so valuable beyond accelerating your deal cycles. With Ironclad, you’re able to create a seamless, end-to-end connected contracting process so the data syncs properly between the contract in their CLM, the opportunity in Salesforce, and the CPQ—so your sales team can get back to closing more deals and so you don’t miss a single dollar in revenue.
To learn more about integrating Ironclad with your CRM or CPQ tools, explore your options with Accenture or request an Ironclad demo today.
Ironclad is not a law firm, and this post does not constitute or contain legal advice. To evaluate the accuracy, sufficiency, or reliability of the ideas and guidance reflected here, or the applicability of these materials to your business, you should consult with a licensed attorney.
