E-signatures for consultants

What does a consultant sign with clients?

Consulting engagements usually start with an NDA so the client can share figures before you scope the work. Then come a letter of intent or proposal acceptance, and a consulting agreement that covers liability caps, confidentiality, ownership of deliverables and how day rates are invoiced.

Longer engagements are often run phase by phase, each with its own statement of work. When the client widens the brief midway, a short change order keeps the fee in step with the work.

• Mutual NDA
• Letter of intent or proposal acceptance
• Consulting agreement
• Statement of work for each phase
• Change order

What makes consulting paperwork slow

Larger clients often insist on signing on their own paper, so you may receive a 30-page supplier agreement as a Word file rather than sending your own. You need to sign it without retyping it.

Sign-off also tends to run through several people. The director who hired you agrees the scope, then legal reviews it, then a procurement officer issues a purchase order. If the director signs last, everyone else waits; if first, they can see a document with their approval already on it.

How a consultant runs an engagement through Sign PDF

One way to set it up for a new client:

• Send your NDA from a template; both parties sign at once.
• When the scope is agreed, upload the consulting agreement and SOW. Sign PDF places boxes for Consultant and Client.
• Type 'client sponsor signs, then client legal, then consultant' to set the signing order.
• If the client sends their own Word supplier agreement, upload it, sign it yourself and send it back to their signatory.
• Keep each phase's SOW as its own sealed document so each one has its own certificate.

Which plan a consultant needs

An independent consultant who starts one new engagement a month might send an NDA and an agreement, which fits Light at $5 a month for 2 documents.

If you run several clients with phased SOWs and change orders, Full at $10 a month gives unlimited documents, templates, signing order and reminders. One SOW signed by three people at the client still counts once.

When another tool may suit a consultant better

We do not produce proposal pages, track when a client reads a proposal, or take payment. Consultants who sell through a designed proposal with options and pricing may prefer a proposal tool with signing built in.

Some large clients will insist you sign through their own e-signature account, and some will require a supplier security review that asks for SOC 2 or ISO 27001. We hold neither certification. There are no team seats either, so a firm with several partners each sending engagements will need separate accounts.