How Innovative Language sends hundreds of contractor contracts without chasing signatures

We work with a lot of contractors. Content creators, teachers, people in front of the camera. Different kinds of small projects. We're not a huge company, but at times we deal with hundreds of contracts that need to go out more or less at the same time.

Before Portant, that was very manual. We had scripts that sent PDFs automatically. We prepared contracts in Google Docs. Contractors received the PDF by email. They had to print it, sign it, take a picture, send it back. Then we had to update everything and follow up. Very time consuming for everyone. We couldn't always get our contracts back. Freelancers know how to invoice, and as long as they get paid they're happy. But on the administrative side, it's nice to know we have a contract, a deal, properly agreed and signed beforehand.

I needed templates I could still edit at the last moment

When I was looking for a tool to make the process quicker and easier for everyone, I really needed two things.

First: the ability to work from templates but still customise the contract at the last moment. We work with very different people. Sometimes we need to add or remove a line or write something totally different. Most solutions I found work from PDF. You create a PDF template and they add boxes you fill in. To me, that's not pleasant to the eye. I wanted the ability to work on a Google Doc until the very last moment. So the human in the loop review is important.

Second: I wanted to work from Google Sheets. To tell Portant which template to use. What information to populate with tags. And on the same sheet, to see status. Has the contract been sent? Is it signed? That's how I use Portant.

Two seasons: bulk renewals and case by case

We have two main ways we use it. One is the renewal period. We often give contractors a six month contract. Every six months we renew. We send hundreds of contracts at the same time. For that, I send one contract that I check very carefully. Then I remove the human in the loop part because nothing needs to be customised at the last minute. I can send hundreds of contracts in a few clicks.

For the other season, when it's a new contractor or a new project that doesn't fit the renewal, we send contracts one by one. For those I keep the human in the loop so I can make sure everything is fair before sending.

Manually, preparing and sending one document could take about a minute and a half per contract. With Portant, if I do it manually to the very end, it's down to 30 seconds. If I do it in batches, it's basically no time.

The team knows what's signed without asking me

The other big change is visibility. I use one Google Sheet for all my Portant workflows. With filters and conditional formatting. If Portant has put the signed version in, the line turns green. Yellow means sent but still unsigned. White means I'm late or haven't sent it. The team can look at the sheet and know the status without asking me.

Before Portant, we probably had way more unsigned, undocumented contracts. We didn't follow up. We didn't have time. We didn't really know. Now with Portant we have no excuses not to be compliant.

You do need to spend some time to set it up. But when it works, it's set it up and forget about it.

If your team sends a lot of contracts and you want to save time and stay compliant without the manual chase, start for free at portant.co.