Member Article

40% salespeople use e-signatures on the go

Adobe has released new research into the behaviour of UK salespeople, to determine the most popular approaches used to close deals and complete contracts. The research showed an upward trend of sales deals being closed outside the office (up by 30% over the last two years), as workers become more and more mobile.

Traditional methods are becoming less popular due to the unreliability of these methods. Obstacles, such as waiting for the post, can slow down the progress of deals or even result in their documents being lost altogether. Four in five (81%) salespeople surveyed said the average contract turnaround is between 0-15 days, and of these just 10% would be complete within a day. Additionally, one in five salespeople lost out on a deal due to contracts lost in the post, followed by almost a fifth (18%) respondents because they had no pen. Over 40% never received the signed contract back from a deal they had agreed verbally.

Contracts form a crucial part of any sales workflow and technology is an increasingly important factor within the sales process, improving the efficiency and visibility of the sales cycle, with 40% of salespeople stating they have used e-signatures to close deals on the move. File hosting services such as Dropbox are also popular tools used by salespeople to close deals, with over 40% respondents stating they use them. This was met by web conferencing (40%) and closely followed by apps (36%).

Tamara Santiago, senior marketing manager at Adobe says: “The rise of electronic signatures and associated technologies are changing the industry landscape, and increasingly, we’re seeing customers become more comfortable conducting business via these tools. We’ve seen take-up of new technologies jump amongst sales teams in particular, owing to the huge benefits such tools can have on sales workflows. In fast-paced, target-driven sales environments, embracing such technology greatly eases the sales process and frees up time to chase new deals and revenue”.

The use of technology varied hugely by region, with tech-savvy London being exposed to newer forms of technology in the workplace. Nearly half (49%) of salespeople in London said they used file hosting services to close deals, compared to just 4% in Yorkshire and the Humber. Further to this, 38% in London said they used apps to close deals, whereas none of the respondents from the North East said they used apps. The research also found it was the younger generation adopting newer forms of technology; 62% of those aged 55+ stated they didn’t use any technologies to close deals, whereas only 9% 25-34 year olds said they didn’t use any forms of technology

While technology is enabling salespeople in get out and about more, the office is still the most popular place to close a deal, with around half (52%) of deals taking place here. Restaurants (33%), bars (32%) and even spas (13%) and golf courses (12%) are also popular locations.

Replacing the traditional, manual steps of getting contracts signed, e-signatures combine the security of a paper-based process with the advantages of working on the web – speed, efficiency, flexibility and instant global access.

*In December 2014, Adobe commissioned One Poll to compile research into the behaviour of UK salespeople, to determine the most popular approaches used to close deals and complete contracts. The study surveyed 500 senior sales managers from across the UK, with the findings detailing specific region, age and gender*

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adobe .