Salesforce CPQ + DocuSign CLM: A Better Way to Manage your Contracts
Streamline the entire quote-to-contract process with DocuSign and understand the differences between DocuSign DocGen and CLM
Implementing a CPQ solution is only the first step to streamlining your sales cycle.
Quoting is an internal motion, but selling is an external motion.
Your sales contracts are more than just pricing on paper; they’re legally binding documents between businesses. Each product or service you sell most likely comes with specific terms and conditions, and after signature, the contract lives on as an artifact of B2B commerce. The deal is closed on paper, not in Salesforce.
In reality, sales reps often create manual shortcuts or skip steps to get opportunities across the finish line. Ever find a contract stored in the wrong spot? Or have you accidentally sent one out without the proper approvals captured?
Sale cycles without contract lifecycle management open the door for clerical errors, revenue leakage, rogue business processes… and ultimately, a very pricey headache! If you’re experiencing this, your business is dealing with a significant process gap.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is it hard to track down the status of your contracts?
- Are your users manually keying data into contract templates they've already added in Salesforce?
- Do you contract using third-party paper?
- Are your contracts ever negotiated before signature?
- How much is contract storage in Salesforce costing you?
- Is revenue leakage happening during redlining without your sales team realizing it?
If you checked yes to any of the above questions, it’s important to keep reading.
What is DocuSign Gen?
About a year ago, Salesforce and DocuSign released DocuSign Gen. It generates contracts using DocuSign’s tried and true generation technology, stores the generated file in Salesforce and is even included for free with CPQ+.
But that’s just it. It generates documents, nothing more, which works great for quotes, invoices, work orders, etc. Additionally, if the documents aren’t too impactful, they can be purged yearly to reduce Salesforce storage costs.
But most businesses don’t work with that model. Gen does not work for the back-and-forth processes surrounding a contract document and is not a repository. Anytime you have contract that requires a negotiated cycle (think Order Forms, Master Service Agreements or Statements of Work) or that needs to be stored long-term, you need DocuSign Contract Lifecycle Management to have a successful quote-to-cash process for your business.
Why is DocuSign CLM a more innovative next step for your Salesforce CPQ investment?
Does CLM also generate beautiful contracts? Yes, even more so, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Let’s look at some of the features that make DocuSign CLM the winning option:
Enhanced User Interface:
The CLM user experience seamlessly integrates with the Salesforce user experience. Kicking off a contract is a customizable, branded experience, and contract status updates are live throughout the deal cycle. The document is visible on the record but stored in CLM. Don’t worry about permissions in two systems; Salesforce waterfalls permissions into CLM based on each user's access level.
File Repository:
While documents are visible on the record in Salesforce, they’re stored in DocuSign CLM, a complete file repository with folders, attributes, security, OCR, and even AI capability. By utilizing an actual repository to store documents, you can literally save millions in storage costs.
Workflow:
The bread and butter of DocuSign CLM is the ability to move contracts through predefined business processes. That means less administration and more selling. Set rules as to when documents require which set of approvals. Create signing matrices based on what products are being sold. Quickly swap out clauses during negotiation. Confidently send the latest version of the document every time. Limit the number of contracts passing through the legal queue.
Not sold yet? Let’s dive deeper into the cost savings!
Storage Cost Savings with DocuSign CLM
When choosing Docusign Gen, Salesforce is your contract storage solution. Storage from Salesforce will run you about $125/month for 500MB of data or $5 a month for just 1GB of file storage.
1 TB = 1000 GB
1 GB = 1000 MB
Let’s break it down!
1 TB of file storage in Salesforce is $5,000.
1 TB of general data in Salesforce is $250,000.
On the other hand:
Every TB of storage, regardless of type, in DocuSign is around $2,000. We see companies save millions of dollars in storage costs quickly before even considering the gains in contract automation.
Sales Cycle Cost Savings with DocuSign CLM
According to a recent DocuSign whitepaper, businesses that invest in CLM “experience an ROI of 356% with significant savings from reducing contract process time and cost, risk of exposure, reliance on outside legal or consulting services and agreement error rate.”
Now, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you want to reduce contract processing time by up to 83%?
- Do you want to reduce contract completion time by up to 50%?
- Do you want to reduce contract drafting time by up to 80%?
Yes!
Long Story Short
If you are buying Salesforce CPQ and need a contract solution, 9 out of 10 times, the answer is DocuSign CLM.
The NeuraFlash Advantage
At NeuraFlash, we are a proud DocuSign Partner! Our partnership allows us to work with customers from point-of-sale to point-of-service. Customers can leverage DocuSign CLM with Salesforce for a unified digital journey. Contact us today if you want to learn more or are interested in our quick start packages, where you can see an immediate 20% reduction in costs.
