eSignature for agencies and consultants: signed proposals, steady retainers

How agency work is won and kept

An agency relationship usually has three documents. A proposal wins the work: goals, channels, pricing. A retainer keeps it: monthly fees for a set amount of time and a reporting rhythm. And around campaigns, smaller documents appear: releases for the people in the photos, sponsorship deals for events, NDAs for briefs that are not yet public. Each one is a moment where an unsigned document can stall a campaign.

Proposals clients can accept on the spot

The marketing proposal template starts from the client's business goal and turns it into three measurable targets, then names the channels and creative, and separates your retainer from the ad budget and one-off set-up costs. That separation is what keeps trust when the first invoice arrives. The proposal ends with an acceptance block, already placed for the client, so a yes is a signature on their phone.

Consultants pitching advisory work can use the consulting proposal instead, which frames the key question, the approach and a fixed fee with its assumptions.

Retainers without awkward conversations

The retainer agreement states the included hours, whether unused hours roll over, the rate for extra work and the notice either side gives. Writing down the edges is what avoids the conversations agencies dread: the client who expects unlimited changes, or the month nobody used the hours.

Campaign paperwork

When a campaign features real people, a photo release form records their consent to specific uses for a fixed period. Event-led campaigns often involve a sponsorship agreement listing exactly what the sponsor receives. Sensitive launches start with a one-way NDA before the brief is shared with freelancers.

Getting paid on time

Set-up fees and first months paid upfront protect an agency's cash flow. On the Business plan, Sign & Pay takes the payment at the moment the client signs, by card through Stripe or by card and mobile money through Paystack.

Freelancers inside the agency

Most agencies lean on freelancers for overflow: designers, copywriters, editors. Each one should work under a freelance contract that settles revisions, deadlines and, above all, ownership of what they make, because the agency has promised that ownership to its client. Brief them only after a one-way NDA is signed. Both can go out from a phone in the time it takes to write the brief, which keeps the paperwork from becoming the reason a deadline slips.

Running it day to day

Save your standard proposal and retainer as your own templates with your agency's terms in place, and a new client is a matter of typing their name, goals and fee. The documents list shows what is waiting for a signature, and reminders follow up automatically, so account managers spend their time on the work, not on chasing paper.