The most frustrating part of the sales process is often waiting for the contract to get signed. Sometimes you wait for days or even weeks for your client to respond. Sometimes, the prospect is rethinking the contract. Other times they may be delayed because the process is too complicated. Perhaps the potential customer may be comparing prices with a competitor, or they may not have time to review your sales contract.

None of this means you must pace back and forth or wait wringing your hands, waiting for contracts to come back. Instead, there are some ways you can take back control of the process and get their sales contracts signed faster. You need to find ways of overcoming obstacles in closing sales.

You need to be sure to meet all the right stakeholders. You may need to speak to the finance leaders, procurement leaders, and legal counsel. This is because more than one person typically signs off on contracts. It is a smart strategy to be asking to be introduced to the people handling contract changes so you can work with them directly in the interest of time. This accelerates the process by eliminating middlemen. Also, by including more stakeholders in your communication, you are more likely to get a response sooner because you are building a relationship with the decision-makers and you’ll have more eyes on your deal.

You must define expectations and set a firm deadline. If you do not set clear expectations from the beginning, your prospects may think they have time to deliberate and take their time to sign. This can be a deal-killer. When you provide a clear timeline and a sense of urgency around the contract, it creates a sense of urgency to implement your solution for your client. Just be sure to frame the deadline in a customer-centric way so you do not come across as overly aggressive. You could say something like, “As discussed, once we agree to terms the week of November 20, I’ll make the introduction to our onboarding team, and we can get you up and running by December 1.”

It is always important to provide a contract overview. This helps everyone understand the terms and conditions the same way, which helps make the process as easy as possible for your prospects. You may want to consider highlighting the terms in the contract that matter most to your prospects and indicating any clauses they should understand. This can be done in a relatively short email with summary bullets or with a video.

Take advantage of technology. All the back and forth between negotiating and editing can slow or kill your deal. That is why you need to create a seamless experience by looking into tools that can automate the tedious back-and-forth communication. Many contract lifecycle management tools centralize activities in a single, digital platform, allowing you to track progress, make changes, and address issues quickly.

Getting to “yes” is the essential first step to closing a deal, but it does not stop there. You need your customers to sign on the bottom line in addition to a verbal commitment. You can help influence the contract process and get your contracts signed faster by meeting with the right people, indicating an exact deadline, detailing, explaining the contract, and using helpful technology. By implementing the ideas above, you can reduce delays and implement your solutions faster. This is overcoming obstacles in closing sales. And this will help you thrive.