The challenge
Benetrends Financial’s legacy CRM and workflow management systems were inefficient and clunky, creating bottlenecks in their contract processes. They needed a user-friendly document management solution that would integrate seamlessly with HubSpot to streamline operations and empower sales consultants (SCs) to close deals faster.
The solution
Using PandaDoc’s robust HubSpot integration, Benetrends Financial now enables sales consultants to generate and send agreements directly from HubSpot deal pages. With automated workflows and real-time document analytics, they’ve dramatically improved visibility into client interactions and accelerated their sales cycle.
By leveraging PandaDoc, Benetrends Financial has reduced administrative time by 20% and empowered sales consultants to independently manage their client agreements, significantly improving overall efficiency.
Seeking to transform financial consulting with streamlined operations
Benetrends Financial is a dynamic consulting firm that helps individuals in their 30s, 40s, and 50s leverage their 401(k) and IRA savings to start their own businesses. With over 40,000 customers served in the past 30 years, Benetrends Financial offers a funding solution called rollover as business startups (ROBS) that allows aspiring entrepreneurs to use their retirement funds to finance their ventures.
As Benetrends Financial’s IT director, Bhavin Contractor recognized the need to modernize their technology stack to support the company’s growth and improve operational efficiency. Their existing systems were outdated and cumbersome, and hindered the sales team’s ability to quickly respond to client needs and close deals.
“We were using our own proprietary CRM,” Contractor explained. “Every time we brought a client for a signature portion, we would go to a third-party platform, put in their email, address, contact number, and write down all the requirements. It was too much of a hassle and not really user-friendly.”
CEO Rocco Fiorentino gave Contractor a challenge: “‘Without having a single SC putting in a single extra hour in the day, how can I get 20% more deals closed with technology?’ And that is the goal that HubSpot with PandaDoc has helped us achieve,” Contractor said.
Integrating seamlessly with HubSpot to power efficiency
Benetrends Financial chose PandaDoc for its robust HubSpot integration and user-friendly interface. The seamless connection between the two platforms revolutionized their sales process.
“PandaDoc is extremely user-friendly and cost effective for us compared to what we were spending. It has an extremely great user interface, user experience, and, more importantly, built-in HubSpot integration. That to me made it a game-changer, no-brainer solution,” Contractor said.
PandaDoc’s integration allows Benetrends Financial’s sales consultants to initiate and send documents directly from HubSpot deal properties pages. This eliminates the need to switch between platforms, saving valuable time and reducing errors.
“The number one selling point was you can initiate PandaDoc from the HubSpot deal property page,” Contractor said. “My sales consulting team does not have to log into a separate platform. The seamless integration and the efficiency that helped me generate — that was a game changer. And more importantly, it was extremely user friendly.”
The easy-to-use interface also contributed to rapid adoption across the team. Contractor noted: “It took me 30 minutes with the entire sales team to do a one-time training and it was easy.”
Empowering sales with real-time PandaDoc analytics
PandaDoc’s document analytics have given Benetrends Financial’s sales team unprecedented visibility into client interactions. Sales consultants can now see when clients open documents, how long they spend reviewing each section, and where they might be hesitating.
“SCs never had visibility,” Contractor said. “The biggest positive is that they have their own visibility into when their clients are actually clicking on the link, when they are leaving it, and how many seconds they’ve spent on each and every page. They know exactly what their clients are thinking.”
This real-time insight allows sales consultants to follow up more effectively, address concerns proactively, and guide deals to closure more efficiently.
Saving time and eliminating bottlenecks
Implementing PandaDoc has positively impacted processes for Benetrends Financial. By empowering sales consultants to manage their own document workflows, the company has eliminated a major bottleneck.
“We have roughly 20-plus sales consultants on staff. One person was sending agreements on behalf of all 20 SCs,” Contractor revealed. “An agreement could only go out at the time and the date she was available to send it. With this available at the SCs’ fingertips, they immediately became more empowered and in control of their own business.”
The ability to send their own documents has allowed sales consultants to respond more quickly to client needs, close deals faster, and save time. Contractor estimates that one consultant has saved 8–12 hours a week since the organization began to use PandaDoc.
Streamlining client onboarding
Benetrends Financial has also leveraged PandaDoc to improve their client onboarding process. By combining their engagement agreement and intake form into a single PandaDoc workflow, they’ve created a smoother experience for clients and now capture critical information more efficiently.
“We can send out the engagement agreement and intake form to the client at the same time, we have one click for the client to fill, then it’s a better client experience, and we also get information about everything in one step,” Contractor explained. This functionality has solved a long-standing issue of collecting client addresses without requiring sales consultants to explicitly ask for them — or for any other client information.
Choosing PandaDoc over DocuSign
Benetrends Financial evaluated several document management solutions before deciding on PandaDoc, including DocuSign and HubSpot’s native offering. While DocuSign is established in several industries, PandaDoc’s seamless HubSpot integration made it the best choice for the organization’s specific needs in financial consulting.
“We evaluated DocuSign as well against PandaDoc, and for what we were looking for? PandaDoc was the clear winner,” Contractor explained. “Pricing was not the only reason. There are so many great things PandaDoc does, including e-signature, document management, and integration with HubSpot.”
The ability to initiate document workflows directly from HubSpot deal pages was key for Benetrends Financial. This deep integration, along with PandaDoc’s user-friendly interface, comprehensive feature set, and cost-effectiveness, aligned perfectly with Contractor’s goal to streamline operations and empower the sales team. The exceptional support during the trial period further solidified the decision, making PandaDoc the ideal choice for the organization’s document management needs.
Looking ahead: Continued innovation and growth
With PandaDoc and HubSpot as cornerstones of their technology stack, Benetrends Financial is well-positioned for future growth and innovation. The success of this implementation has created a positive outlook on technology adoption throughout the organization.
“The biggest impact we got? The team is no longer afraid of change.” Contractor and his team are now exploring additional PandaDoc features, such as forms and the contract repository, to further streamline their operations and find new efficiencies.
Ready to streamline your contract management and empower your sales team? Book a demo with PandaDoc today and discover how our HubSpot integration can drive efficiency in your organization.
"PandaDoc has helped us tremendously in the last six months. It’s helped us overall with IT, me as head of IT, and, more importantly, with bringing a lot of efficiency and stability and ease for our sales consulting team. The thing you find in a goldmine, that’s what we found in PandaDoc."
