The offer expired while the director was at a site visit
The comparison is ready and the client's finance manager agrees which offer to take. But the contract must be signed by a director. The director is at a site visit, then in meetings. The finance manager forwards the email. The director reads it in the evening, has a question, replies the next morning. By the time the answer goes back, the supplier's offer has expired.
The account manager asks the supplier for a refreshed price. It comes back different, the comparison has to be redone, and the conversation with the client starts again.
Why sign-off is slower than prices
Offers are valid for a limited time because wholesale prices move. Client approval processes were not designed around that.
- The person who agrees the choice is often not the person who can sign.
- Offers are sent as email attachments that get forwarded and lost.
- Nobody at the client can see how long the offer has left.
- Supplier contracts need signing in the supplier's own format, sometimes on paper.
- The account manager cannot see whether the offer has even been opened.
Refreshes, frustration and lost renewals
Each refresh means more work for your team, more requests to suppliers and, often, a different price to explain. Clients become frustrated with a process that seems to move the goalposts.
Repeated refreshes near a contract end date also leave less time before the client falls out of contract, and occasionally the renewal is lost to a competitor who happened to catch the director on the right day.
A sign-off flow built around the expiry
We build a sign-off flow into your tender process.
- When the comparison is ready, the account manager sets up sign-off: which offer is proposed, who at the client must approve, and who must sign.
- Each approver receives a link to a clear summary page on their phone or laptop, with the offer and a visible countdown to its expiry.
- Approvers can approve, ask a question or decline. Questions go straight to the account manager, and the answer appears on the same page.
- Once approval is complete, the supplier's contract is sent for e-signature where the supplier accepts it, or prepared for signing in the supplier's required way.
- The account manager sees who has opened, approved and signed, and gets an alert if the offer is close to expiry with steps outstanding.
- The signed contract, the approvals and their times are stored with the tender record.
| Step | Email and attachments | Sign-off flow |
|---|---|---|
| Offer sent | Attachment forwarded around | Link to a summary page |
| Expiry | In the small print | Countdown on the page |
| Questions | Email chains | Asked and answered on the page |
| Signing | Print, sign, scan | E-signature where accepted |
| Progress | Unknown | Opened, approved, signed shown |
The flow speeds up the client's own decision. Which offer to recommend, and whether to accept it, remain decisions for your consultancy and the client.
Decisions made while prices are live
The finance manager approves on the summary page. The director gets a notification on her phone, sees the countdown and the summary, asks a quick question and has the answer within the hour. She approves and signs electronically between meetings. The account manager sees each step as it happens and submits the contract before the offer expires.
Refreshes become the exception. Every signed contract has a record of who approved it and when, which is useful if questions arise later.
Are offers expiring before clients sign?
- Supplier offers expire while waiting for client sign-off.
- Offers are forwarded as attachments inside the client.
- Clients do not realise how short the offer window is.
- Signing involves printing and scanning.
- You cannot see whether the decision-maker has opened the offer.