Paper Process & Decision Criteria Checklist

Most reps run a clean Metrics-Champion-Pain conversation and then get blindsided in the final two weeks by legal, security, or procurement steps nobody mapped. Run this checklist by the middle of your sales cycle — not the week you expect to close.

Legal

• Confirmed whether the prospect requires their own MSA/paper, or will sign yours
• Identified who reviews contracts — in-house counsel or an outside firm — and their typical turnaround time
• Asked whether redlines are standard practice for this buyer or rare
• Confirmed data processing agreement (DPA) / GDPR (or equivalent regional) addendum requirements, if applicable
• Asked: "Last time you signed with a vendor our size, how long did legal review actually take?"

Security / InfoSec

• Asked whether a security questionnaire or vendor risk assessment is required
• Confirmed whether SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / equivalent certification will be requested, and whether you have it ready to send
• Identified the security review owner by name and their typical SLA
• Asked whether security review runs in parallel with legal, or only starts after commercial terms are agreed
• Asked: "Is there a security review for every vendor, or only above a certain contract size?"

Procurement

• Confirmed whether procurement is involved at all, and at what dollar threshold they get pulled in
• Identified the procurement contact and their process — competitive bid, RFP, or sole-source justification
• Asked whether a signed PO is required before invoicing or kickoff
• Confirmed vendor onboarding requirements: W9/tax forms, banking details, certificates of insurance
• Asked: "Once we agree on terms, what does procurement need from us before a PO gets cut?"

Signature & Budget Authority

• Identified who has actual signature authority at this deal's dollar threshold (not just who's been in the room)
• Confirmed whether multi-year or above-threshold deals require additional sign-off (board, finance committee)
• Asked whether e-signature (DocuSign or equivalent) is accepted, or wet-signature/notarization is required
• Asked: "At this contract value, whose signature actually finalizes it?"

Timeline

• Mapped every paper-process step above onto a calendar, working backward from the target close date
• Confirmed with the buyer or champion who owns each step, and what happens if a step slips
• Built the paper process into your mutual close plan as named line items — not a single "contracting" bucket at the end

When to run this

Run the full checklist the moment Decision Criteria and Economic Buyer are confirmed — do not wait until you're asking for a signature. If your champion can't answer more than half of these questions, that's a sign you need a direct conversation with someone in legal, security, or procurement before you forecast this deal to close.