Send a proposal and get it signed

A proposal is how a client agrees to work with you. You draft it like a report, price it with the same fields as a contract, and send it with your terms. The client accepts the proposal and signs your terms on one page. When both are done, the contract starts by itself.

Before you start

• Publish a version of your terms in Settings, Sales, Terms. See Write your agency's terms.
• Know who signs for the client: their name and work email.

Draft the proposal

1. Open the client and go to Reports.
2. Choose New order form. For a brand in a portfolio, you can choose Order form for the portfolio instead. See Send a proposal for a portfolio.
3. Write the proposal's pages in the editor, as you would a report.
4. In the side panel, under Terms, choose the published version to send with it.
5. Under Contract, set Starts (a 1st), Months, Retainer a month, Commission %, Onboarding fee and the Currency.
6. Under Client's signer, enter their Name and Email, then choose Save.
7. Check Price: it is worked out by the same rules that will invoice the contract, so the client sees what they will pay.

If the signer's email is not on the client company's domain (as recorded in your CRM), the client cannot sign until someone who can approve contracts chooses Confirm their authority and says how it was confirmed. Do it before or after sending.

Send it

1. Under Send, accept and sign, choose Send to the signer. This sends the proposal and Schedule 1 with your terms together, and signs your terms for the agency in your name.
2. Choose whether to Track opens and clicks for this email (only when tracking is on for your agency).
3. The panel lists What the client has to do: accept the proposal, and sign Schedule 1 and the terms.

While you wait, Send a reminder or Send the link again. Each sends a new link, and the old one stops working. Withdraw takes the proposal back.

When the client is done

When the client has accepted the proposal and signed the terms, the contract starts. You do not need to do anything:

• The client becomes an active client, and the contract appears under Contracts.
• Everyone who signed is emailed a sealed copy of both documents.
• After signing lists the next steps: the account team, the accounting customer, the onboarding invoice, invitations, the Drive folder and the Slack channel.

If the contract could not start, the proposal says so, and your owners are emailed the reason. Fix it, then choose Start the contract.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing in the terms list: publish a version of your terms first.
• The client cannot sign: their email is not on their company's domain. Confirm their authority, with how it was confirmed.
• The client says the link does not work: it was replaced by a reminder, or the proposal expired. Send the link again, or send a new proposal.