How ApproveThis + Contractbook Cuts Approval Delays (Without the Headaches)

Let’s cut to the chase: contracts are where business gets real. But between drafting, approvals, and signatures, most companies lose days (or weeks) playing email tag with legal, finance, and external partners. That’s why pairing ApproveThis with Contractbook isn’t just a tech integration – it’s a straight shot to getting deals done faster without drowning in follow-ups.

Why This Combo Works for Teams That Move Fast

Contractbook handles the legal heavy lifting – creating templates, collecting signatures, and keeping your contracts organized. ApproveThis does one thing really well: making sure the right people sign off on stuff before it hits the legal stage. Together, they automate the boring parts of approvals so your team can focus on work that actually matters.

What You’re Fixing Here

Ever had a sales contract stuck in limbo because the CFO was on vacation? Or wasted hours chasing down department heads for a simple PO approval? This integration kills those bottlenecks by:

• Auto-creating approval chains when contracts are drafted
• Instantly generating contracts once approvals are greenlit
• Letting external partners approve without needing Contractbook logins

Real-World Use Cases (No Fluff)

1. Sales Teams: Close Deals Before Competitors Wake Up

Scenario: Your AE closes a $120K deal. Normally, they’d email the contract to legal, wait 3 days for review, then ping the VP of Sales for approval. By connecting Contractbook to ApproveThis:

- Contractbook auto-triggers an approval workflow in ApproveThis when the AE drafts the agreement
- Legal gets instant email alerts to review terms (they can approve/reject from their inbox)
- Once legal OKs it, the VP gets a Slack alert to approve the discount
- Approved? Contractbook automatically sends the finalized doc to the client for signing

Who This Works For: SaaS companies, agencies, anyone with complex sales cycles where legal and finance approvals slow down revenue.

2. Procurement: Stop Playing Tag With Suppliers

Problem: Your warehouse manager needs to order $50K in materials. Vendor sends a contract, but your procurement team needs three internal approvals before signing. The old way? Forwarding emails and hoping someone notices.

With the integration:
- Vendor sends contract via Contractbook
- ApproveThis instantly routes it to procurement lead > finance manager > ops director
- Each approver gets deadline reminders (with auto-escalation if someone’s OOO)
- Once all approve, Contractbook notifies the vendor to sign without your team lifting a finger

Who Needs This: Manufacturing, construction, any biz where supplier contracts need multiple internal eyes but external vendors shouldn’t see your internal approval chaos.

3. Legal Teams: Actually Get Ahead of Requests

Here’s the dirty secret: Legal hates being the bottleneck. But when every department sends “URGENT!!!” contract requests at 4 PM on Friday, chaos ensues. This setup lets legal teams:

- Set approval thresholds (auto-approve NDAs under $50K, escalate anything over $1M)
- Require risk assessments from other depts before contracts reach their inbox
- Track all pending approvals in one dashboard instead of 17 email threads

Cool Feature Alert: ApproveThis’ calculated fields can auto-flag contracts that exceed standard liability terms, so legal only reviews the risky ones.

How This Beats Manual Approvals

We’re not talking about shaving a few minutes off your process. For a 500-person company, this combo typically cuts contract approval times by 60-80%. Here’s why:

No License Headaches: Contractbook users stay in Contractbook. Approvers only need email access – crucial when dealing with clients or suppliers who won’t pay for your software stack.

Zero Blind Spots: ApproveThis shows you exactly where each contract is stuck – is it waiting on legal? Has the CFO even opened the request? No more “I thought you handled it!” meetings.

Automatic Paper Trails: Every approval/rejection is logged with timestamps and reasons. If auditors come knocking, you’ve got proof that the $2M contract was reviewed by the right people.

Setting This Up Without IT Involvement

If you can use Zapier, you can connect these two in under 20 minutes. Here’s the gist:

1. Connect Contractbook to Zapier: Use their pre-built integration (no coding).
2. Pick Your Triggers: Like “New Contract Drafted” or “Contract Signed”.
3. Link to ApproveThis: Set rules like “Send all sales contracts over $50K to these approvers”.
4. Test With a Real Contract: Start small with a low-risk agreement to tweak your workflow.

Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis’ conditional logic to handle edge cases. For example, contracts with non-standard payment terms can route to your CFO first, while NDAs go straight to legal.

Why This Isn’t Just Another Integration

Most approval tools just shuffle paperwork faster. What makes this combo different:

Two-Way Automation: Contracts trigger approvals, approvals trigger contract actions. It’s not just a one-way notification system.

External-Friendly: Clients/vendors approve via email without needing accounts in either system. (Yes, this works even if they’re still faxing documents.)

Scalable Without Complexity: Add new approval rules as you grow without overhauling workflows. Hitting 1000 employees? Just add another approver group in ApproveThis – no need to bug IT.

Who Should Actually Care About This

Mid-Market Companies (50-5000 Employees): You’re big enough that contracts need real oversight, but small enough that “enterprise” solutions feel clunky. This combo grows with you without the bloat.

Industries With Complex Compliance: Healthcare, finance, government contracting – where audit trails and approval chains aren’t optional.

Teams Using Contractbook (Duh): If you’re already creating/signing contracts there, adding approvals is a no-brainer efficiency play.

Ready to Stop Chasing Approvals?

Look, we know you’re not signing up for software because it’s “cool.” You need contracts moving faster without errors or compliance risks. Here’s how to start:

Free Trial Route: Get an ApproveThis account, connect it to your Contractbook via Zapier, and test with a single contract type. Takes 15 minutes.

See It Live: Book a 20-minute demo and we’ll show how other companies in your industry are using this setup.

Either way, you’ll see why companies using both tools average 9.2/10 on approval process satisfaction (yeah, we asked).