An average business has anywhere between 20,000 and 40,000 contracts. With such huge volumes of information, it’s easy to miss out on important dates related to contract renewals and terminations.
These misses can result in huge losses for a business. A survey by KPMG highlighted the “value leakage” emerging from deficient document governance, leading to contracts losing anywhere between 17%-40% of their original value.
Fortunately, a simple fix is using a contract reminder software that can track important dates, details, and deadlines and notify you when a contract is reaching its expiry.
Besides saving time and structuring workflows, a good contract reminder software offers the following advantages:
Organize work better
- Planning your daily tasks becomes much more manageable with the help of a contract reminder software. Let’s say four contracts are due for renewal in two weeks, and three of them need approvals from external folks. Simply setting up a reminder three weeks ahead will help you prioritize which contracts to get started on that day, which ones should go for approval the next day, and so on
- You get increased visibility into the task pipeline, making it easier to identify potential bottlenecks, such as an expected delay in approvals because the stakeholders are not available
Plug revenue leaks
- For many types of contracts, such as purchase orders, SaaS contracts, etc., missing a deadline or a renewal date comes with a very heavy price tag. A contract reminder software will ensure you never miss a deadline
- Renewals are also the perfect opportunities for organizations to reset prices, negotiate services or upsell products. Simply by setting a reminder for renewals, you can allow yourself plenty of time to prepare for such negotiations
Avoid contract errors
- With notifications ahead of time, you will not be rushing reviews or working under tight timelines to prepare contracts. You will have more time to do multiple reviews if needed and minimize chances of missed details or errors in the contract.
The Types of Contract Reminder Software
Contract reminder software can be broadly classified into two categories—general purpose and purpose-built.
General Purpose Contract Reminder Software
#1 Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are super versatile, so it isn’t surprising that they can be used effectively to manage your contracts as well. In fact, we have created a free template to help you manage your contract lifecycle end-to-end. You can download it right here.
As an added bonus, on MS Excel, you can add reminders to important dates or key details. There is a simple 4-minute tutorial on YouTube.
It gets even better with Google Sheets, as you can send reminders directly to your email. Check out this super easy tutorial from Trevor Beck for this here.
#2 Kanban Boards
Kanban boards are predominantly used to track tasks, but a nifty feature is that they can also notify you on both status changes and due dates for tasks.
There are many (free) Kanban board tools that you can try out for setting up contract reminders—Asana, Trello, Notion, etc.
Example, on Notion, you can see the column that says ‘Due for renewal.’ These are the contracts that need to be reviewed/negotiated on quickly.
If you notice here, there’s a ‘Renewal Date’ property, for which you can set custom reminders.
You can play around with Kanban boards and customize them the way you want, which is honestly the best thing about them!
#3 Calendars and Calendar Plug-Ins
Probably the most time-consuming of the lot to set up, calendars still might work as a replacement for contract reminder software.
Here’s what it looks like to set up a reminder on Google Calendar.
Note: ‘Reminder’ on Google Calendar does NOT send you an email notification. You will only receive a push notification on your mobile device. If you want email notifications to be configured, then I suggest setting up an upcoming renewal as an event instead.
You can try this with whatever calendar app you use as well.
Some other Chrome plugins you can use for the same effect are Remind Me, Pi Reminder, etc.
#4 Email Add-Ons
Email add-ons, such as Boomerang and Streak CRM, can bring up the entire email thread up to the top of your inbox as a reminder. This will add context on top of the reminder, which can help you prepare better.
Purpose-Built Contract Reminder Software
The second kind of contract reminder software are platforms such as SpotDraft that specialize in end-to-end contract management. These purpose-built tools have custom-made features to remind you about your contract deadlines.
Here’s what an email reminder looks like on SpotDraft:
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SpotDraft will also give you reminders on the dashboard about an upcoming renewal date.
SpotDraft allows you to track various important dates, details, and deadlines automatically.
Reminders are proactively sent to the relevant stakeholders to notify them whenever a contract is expiring or due for renewal.
You can also templatize your highest volume contracts, including a client renewal agreement.
When a client contract is up for renewal, you can fill in the questionnaire associated with the renewal template and send it out to the client for review and signature.
Also Read: Contract Renewal Process: Strategy + Best Practices
Track Renewals, Reminders, & Approvals With SpotDraft
With your teams rapidly scaling and contracts firmly growing, keeping track of contract renewals may become more challenging than ever. You may benefit from automated renewal reminders to avoid hiccups and surprises and build healthy customer relationships.
SpotDraft offers teams a separate negotiation window before the actual renewal. It gives your team extra time to ensure the deal provides a competitive advantage. Try out a demo.
