Gartland saves 150 hours every month with PandaDoc SMS verification

The challenge

Gartland’s document management and eSignature solution became cost-prohibitive with the snowballing cost of adding envelopes. After unsuccessful renegotiations with the vendor, Gartland began searching for an alternative that had similar features and would enable them to go fully paperless without the worry of extra  costs every month.

The solution

PandaDoc helps Gartland seamlessly create, send, and manage complex commercial real estate agreements while adding an extra layer of security with PandaDoc Identity Verification. With the suite’s SMS verification, Gartland feels confident sending sensitive documents, such as bank account details for trust accounts.

Since adopting PandaDoc, Gartland has expanded its use throughout their organization, using the bulk send feature to quickly send standardized forms requiring staff signatures. The shift to PandaDoc allows them to manage documents more efficiently and securely than ever before — without compromising on features.

A solution to help Gartland scale

For over 25 years, Gartland has been a pillar in the Geelong real estate community, offering expert residential and commercial services.  As they grew, ensuring their efficiency without compromising quality became increasingly challenging. Managing complex real estate transactions demanded a document management solution that would scale with them as they took on more business.

Gartland found their previous document management solution challenging to work with due to the escalating costs associated with managing document envelopes, hindering their growth potential. Adam Boyce, Operations Manager and Partner at Gartland, sought alternatives that rivaled its functionality. He began his research for an eSignature solution that could handle the complexities of commercial real estate transactions and facilitate quick contract execution — without compromising security.

Gartland ultimately chose PandaDoc because it provided a cost-effective solution that aligned with their business needs without compromising on functionality. Using PandaDoc also gave them access to security features, like SMS verification, which added an extra layer of protection for sensitive documents. This was critical for Gartland, especially given the complexities of commercial real estate transactions. The combination of familiar features and improved security made PandaDoc the ideal choice for Gartland's continued growth and success.

Boosting efficiency with PandaDoc

Gartland significantly reduced the time spent on document management with PandaDoc, re-focusing real estate agents and staff on building relationships with clients.

Some key features that enabled this shift include:

• Templates that get documents signed fast. Although the majority of real estate documents are standardized, there were several documents Gartland was uploading and sending via their previous tool that they recreated as a PandaDoc template. Now, instead of uploading the document each time it needs to be sent, Gartner can quickly build these documents with just a few clicks. They use this feature for a range of documents, such as their "Welcome to Gartland" commercial pack, sent to new landlords to gather information about maintenance instructions, payment terms, etc. Having a pre-built template live inside of PandaDoc saves their team time and ensures brand consistency across every commercial pack they send.

• Document analytics for tracking. Gartland has harnessed the power of PandaDoc's Document Analytics to get real-time insights into document status, allowing the team to monitor when a document is opened, viewed, or completed. With this level of transparency, staff can quickly identify and address any pending actions, ensuring that all documents are processed in a timely manner.

• Bulk sending: The bulk send feature helps eliminate time-consuming, manual, repetitive work by allowing Gartland to prepare a document in one step, personalize each document to its recipient at scale, and send to all recipients at once. For example, they use the bulk send functionality for distributing parking declarations to all their employees annually.

Strengthening security with SMS verification

Handling substantial financial sums in real estate demands extra attention to privacy. PandaDoc's SMS verification ensures that critical details are verified, minimizing the risk of sensitive information getting into the wrong hands.  This is particularly vital when transacting large sums on behalf of others. "When selling property through Gartland, purchasers pay a 10% deposit that we hold in trust." Adam said. "Once the sale closes, the bank sends the majority of the purchase price, from which the deposit commissions are deducted, and the remaining funds are transferred to the seller."

With banking fraud on the rise, safeguarding people's banking details is crucial. ”Now, when sending financial information, we tell clients ‘You will receive a secure document from PandaDoc via SMS, please send your account details.’” Adam shared. This involves sending a document via email with SMS verification as a requirement before the document can be viewed or signed.

This additional layer of privacy with SMS verification is crucial for HR documents as well, particularly when dealing with sensitive information like payroll changes. Employee emails are often shared with assistants, and SMS verification ensures only the intended recipient can access the document.

Transformative time savings with PandaDoc

Since adopting PandaDoc, Gartland has experienced significant time savings when creating, sending, and managing documents.  "Whenever we send out documents, everyone involved can see their status, which means swift actions and almost immediate results. Before, we'd be stuck waiting, sometimes needing to call clients directly, but now PandaDoc has removed hours of downtime from our workflow." Adam shared. “For confidential documents sent with SMS verification, I can confidently say that I receive responses in less than 30 minutes.”

With PandaDoc, time previously spent chasing document signatures and confirmations has been dramatically reduced, with Gartland reclaiming valuable hours, streamlining their operations, and ensuring all transactions proceed with confidence.

In real estate, the stakes are high and ensuring the secure exchange of information is crucial to maintain our clients' trust. The SMS feature gives us a layer of security that reassures us that our client's data is protected. It has significantly reduced the risks associated with potential fraud or unauthorized access. PandaDoc truly offers a solution tailored for our industry’s unique challenges.

Adam Boyce

Operations Manager and Partner at Gartland