What Happens After the Signature
As soon as the signer clicks Confirm and sign, SalesControl does on its own what used to be done by hand: it creates the client, generates the instalments, marks the lead converted and, if the contract was for a client already running, renews the contract. The signer waits a few seconds and receives the PDF.
This feature is available on the Professional plan and above. If you don’t see it in the app, check your plan in Subscription Plans.
Five paths, decided by who the signer is
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Contract sent to a client (from their record or from Renewals) with a start date | Renewal: the previous contract goes into the client’s history, the client row is updated with the new terms, the instalments not yet collected are closed and regenerated from the new date, and any planned restart is marked confirmed. This also applies when the contract carries a different service, if the previous contract has already ended by the start date: the client moves to the new service. If the previous contract is still running, the one with the different service is added as a second contract of the same client (no new client, no “New client” notification; the service’s welcome message arrives in the chat the client already has), and the previous one is left untouched. |
| A new signer (a lead, or a contact who is not a client yet) | The client is created with the contract’s service, the instalments are generated and the lead becomes converted, bringing its history along. The New Client notification goes out. |
| An existing client marked “to complete” | The record is completed with the contract data and the instalments are generated. |
| The signer is already a client, but the contract carries no start date | Nothing is touched: the Client to complete notice arrives and you decide what to do. |
| The agency plan is at its client limit | The client is not created: the signature stays valid and the event waits. Free a slot (or upgrade) and pick it up with Retry effects. |
At the end of every path, even when something fails, the Contract signed notice still goes out: the signature really arrived, and whoever follows the contract must know.
A contract sent to a lead never renews anything, not even if the signer has the same name or email as a client in progress. A namesake would restart somebody else’s contract, and a renewal cannot be undone. In that case the “Client to complete” notice arrives and you decide.
The instalments
Instalments come from the terms frozen on the contract: value, duration and payment type as they were when it was sent, or the option the signer chose if the template had the «Payment choice» box — instalments means N monthly payments, upfront a single one.
If the contract declares a trial period, the client starts in trial and the first instalment moves 30 days later. A renewal always clears the trial: whoever renews has already passed it, and reopening it would put bonuses and commissions already earned back in question.
What stays on record
The contact’s Timeline records, in order, Contract sent for signature, one Contract opened by the client entry for every opening of the link — from the second one on with the number (“opening no. 2”), then the location and the reading time (see the opening history) — and Contract signed (plus Contract sending cancelled if you cancelled it). On a renewal Contract renewed is added, and the previous contract stays in the client record’s history. Sending and cancelling carry the name of who did them; opening and signing do not: those are done by the signer, who is not a user of the app.
A client born from a signature on screen does not receive the “Your support chat” email: the link already reaches them on the post-signature page and in the email with the contract (see The Post-Signature Page and Email). That email remains for clients created by hand, for those moved to Active from “To complete”, and for those arriving from your management system.
If the effects fail
The Contracts card on the record shows “Effects did not go through” with a code, and next to it the Retry effects button (admins only). Pressing it repeats only what was not done: the signed PDF and the signature stay valid either way.
- “Retry is not safe: the effects were only partly applied” — a renewal stopped halfway and repeating it would do damage (archiving twice, for instance). It must be fixed by hand: the code next to it says where it stopped.
- “A retry is already running” — someone else just pressed it. Wait and reload.
- “There is nothing left to redo” — the effects are already in place.
Outbound webhooks wait for the effects too: they fire once the client really exists, in the background, and the signer does not wait for them. If the effects had failed, they go out when you pick them up with Retry effects.
“Contract signed” announces the signature, not the effects: repeating it would tell the setter and the closer that the client signed yesterday’s contract a second time. “New Client” and “Client to complete” do go out again, because they never went out on the failed run.
One detail about contracts that start in the future
A contract can have a start date in the future: the renewal is recorded straight away and the contract is in place with that date. A contract sent from the Expired tab with a future date does not create a planned restart: the pending document is the record already. If you need to see the “potential” spread across the months, plan the restart first and send the contract from that row.