How to get a contract signed faster

Where the days go

1. Sign before you leave

The fastest signature is the one you get while you're still in the room. Interest peaks at the end of a good conversation, and every hour after it gives the customer time to get busy, get another quote or get cold feet. If they're ready, prepare the contract on your phone and hand it over with in-person signing: the device guides them through each field, then you take it back and countersign. They don't need an account or an app; you only need their email address for their copy.

Offer it, don't push it: "If you're happy with it, we can sign now and I'll get you on the schedule, or I'll send it so you can read it tonight." Plenty of people take the first option, and the ones who don't will trust you more for asking.

2. Send it the same hour

If they want to think it over, send the contract before you're back in the truck, not after dinner. A template makes that realistic: your standard contract with the fields already placed and blanks for the price, scope and dates, filled in on your phone. In the iPhone and iPad app you can start an envelope from a template, a file or a fresh scan. If the job came from an estimate, attach it, so they're signing exactly what they saw.

3. Make it easy to sign on a phone

• One link, not a pile of attachments. Put the contract, estimate and any disclosures in one envelope so there's one signing session.
• A real PDF, not a photo of paper. If all you have is paper, scan it so the text is sharp and the pages are straight.
• Never ask them to print, sign and scan. It turns a few minutes into a few days.
• Their language, if it helps. The signing page, emails and consent come in 6 languages, and signers can switch on the page. The contract stays in the language you wrote it in.

4. Ask for less

• Fill in what you already know: name, address, price, start date, scope. Every blank you leave is a reason to do it later.
• Only ask for what you'll use. If you'll never act on a field, delete it.
• Initials where they matter, beside the payment terms or a cancellation notice, not on every page out of habit.
• Make choices quick to answer with a checkbox, dropdown or radio button instead of a blank line to write on.

5. Give it a real deadline

A sign-by date gives the customer a reason to act this week instead of someday. It works best when it's true: the start date you're holding, the date your supplier's price runs out, the last install slot before the season ends. In SignMaster the signer sees the date at the top of the signing page, and reminders switch to due-soon wording as it gets close. The link keeps working after the date, so a late signature isn't lost.

If the price truly expires, add an expiry as a hard stop after the sign-by date. Don't invent urgency; customers notice when a deadline quietly moves.

6. Follow up on a schedule

Most of the chasing can run itself. Turn on automatic reminders every three days, then add your own touch at the moments that count:

• They've opened it but not signed. The envelope shows when a signer has viewed it, and that's when a short call or message helps most.
• The inbox is the problem. Use Copy link and text their private signing link yourself. SignMaster sends requests by email; texting the link is up to you.
• You know they're at their desk. The Remind button sends a fresh email right now.

Follow-up messages you can copy

• Same day: "Thanks for your time today, Pat. The agreement we went over is in your email. It only takes a few minutes on your phone. Call me with any questions."
• Opened, not signed: "Hi Pat, I saw you had a look at the agreement. Is there anything you'd like me to explain or change before you sign?"
• Before the deadline: "Quick heads-up: I'm holding the 14th for your install until Friday. If you sign by then, it's yours."
• After a no: "Thanks for letting me know. If it was the price, I'm happy to look at the scope again. Either way, I appreciate you considering us."

7. Clear up questions inside the document

A customer with one small question will often do nothing rather than call. On the SignMaster signing page they can comment on the document or a single field, request changes, or decline with a reason. A comment gets answered without closing anything, and a decline tells you what to fix instead of leaving you to guess. Either beats a contract that just sits there.

8. Line up every signer at the start

• Add both spouses, both business partners, or the owner and the property manager up front, not after the first one signs and mentions the other.
• Set a signing order so the customer signs first and you countersign last; SignMaster tells you when it's your turn.
• Use a signer group when any one of several people can sign for a slot, like whichever office manager gets to it first.
• Mix in person and remote. One homeowner signs on your iPad, the other from a link at work, in the same envelope.

Mistakes that slow signing down

• Sending a draft with errors. The customer waits for the corrected version, then the one after. Check it with Preview as signer before you send.
• Leaving the price blank for the customer to fill in, or to ask about.
• Burying the terms that matter. If the payment schedule surprises them on page six, they'll stop and call you anyway. Put it on page one.
• Reminding too often. Daily reminders on a contract with a month to go feel like nagging; every three days or weekly is plenty.