However, this is only one aspect of success. Each new contract also requires a series of operational activities: data verification, document review, compliance checks for contract terms, and preparation of information for further processing. Therefore, increasing sales almost immediately translates into a greater workload for the teams responsible for verifying and concluding contracts. If the contracting process is not well-organized, a positive sales impulse can quickly reveal bottlenecks, extend processing time, and increase the number of cases requiring verification.

It is during the contracting stage that problems that previously went unnoticed often emerge: missing data, outdated documents, discrepancies between the offer and the contract, or incomplete authorizations. With a few new contracts, these can be corrected manually. With dozens or hundreds, such irregularities begin to slow down the entire sales process.

A stable market translates into a greater willingness of customers to switch suppliers and enter into new contracts

According to the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) No. 29/2026, the average selling price of electricity on the competitive market in the first quarter of 2026 was PLN 486.14/MWh. This was less than 2% higher than in the previous quarter and almost 2.5% higher than in the same period in 2025. Therefore, prices can be considered relatively stable during this period.

Price data alone, of course, does not determine the number of contracts concluded. However, they do show that after a period of very high volatility, the market is operating in conditions in which retail energy suppliers can once again focus more on developing their offerings, expanding their product portfolio, commercial activity, and customer acquisition.

During such periods, the ability of an organization to efficiently and en masse guide customers through the process of entering into a new contract, from accepting the offer to reporting a change of supplier, becomes particularly important.

The customer’s signature does not end the sales process

From the salesperson’s perspective, the most important moment in a sale is the signing of the contract. From the perspective of the entire organization, however, this is only the beginning of the operational part of the process.

Before a new contract is submitted for execution, the back office team must, among other things:

  • check the completeness of customer and energy consumption point data,
  • verify the compliance of the contract with the product presented to the customer,
  • review registration documents and powers of attorney,
  • confirm compliance with internal acceptance rules for the customer’s creditworthiness,
  • prepare the data necessary to conduct the supplier switching process,
  • clarify any errors and omissions with the salesperson.

Each of these steps can occur during the processing of a new contract submitted by the salesperson. Unfortunately, in practice, the information needed to verify and process the new contract and/or new customer is often located in several places: email correspondence, excel spreadsheets, network folders, the CRM system, and separate applications used by individual departments, and sometimes also in paper form obtained by the salesperson from the customer.

In such a situation, the back office employee isn’t solely responsible for substantive contract verification. They spend a significant amount of time searching for documents, comparing versions, contacting the sales representative to complete the required information, and determining who should correct the request.

The challenge: Information chaos

Many organizations assume that the growing number of contracts requires, above all, increased headcount. This isn’t always a solution that guarantees addressing the challenges that arise.

The bottleneck can lie in the very process of transferring issues and information between sales and the back office. If a salesperson submits an incomplete request for a new contract, the deficiencies will only be detected after the review begins. The case will then be returned to the salesperson for further review, and after completion, it will be placed in a queue awaiting review.

Each such reversal means additional communication and an increase in the time required to process the contract. At larger scales, individual delays begin to accumulate.

This leads to questions:

  • What stage is a specific contract at?
  • Who should take the next action?
  • What data or documents are missing?
  • Why was the case held up?
  • What are the most common recurring issues?
  • How long does it take from a salesperson signing a contract to its processing by the organization?

If responses require reviewing messages or contacting multiple people, the organization does not have full control over the contracting process.

How to streamline the processing of new contracts?

A streamlined process should begin before the contract is submitted to the back office. The salesperson should know what information and documents are required for a given customer type, product, and energy deliver point.

A contract support system can guide the salesperson through the steps and verify the completeness of the application before submitting it. It does not replace the employee’s substantive assessment. However, it reduces the number of contracts submitted for review with obvious deficiencies.

In a well-designed process:

  1. The salesperson registers the new contract in a single environment,
  2. The system indicates the required data and documents,
  3. The application is verified for completeness before submitting the contract for review,
  4. The back office conducts the appropriate review,
  5. Comments and corrections are recorded directly with the contract,
  6. Change history remains available to authorized users,
  7. Approved data is forwarded to subsequent processes and systems.

This approach reduces the number of unnecessary messages, phone calls, and manual reports and allows for substantive review of concluded contracts. It also allows for clear definition of responsibility for individual stages.

Customer Care as a tool to support contract processing

Customer Care in the utilities sector doesn’t have to mean just a system for recording customer requests. It can also encompass internal processes related to customer service, sales, contracts, and service start.

An example is UseCC – ConnectPoint’s solution supporting customer service processes in energy companies and other utilities. In this approach, Customer Care is part of a broader environment that can combine customer data, information about consumption points, documents, tasks, activity history, and integration with existing business systems.

In the area of ​​acquiring new contracts, the solution can support, among other things:

  • collecting data and documents required for a new contract,
  • checking the completeness of the request,
  • managing reconciliations between the sales department and the back office,
  • recording comments, corrections, and subsequent versions of data,
  • monitoring the status of each case,
  • identifying the reasons for process interruptions,
  • preparing data for the supplier switching process,
  • transferring approved information to subsequent systems.

The scope of the solution should be determined by the organization’s actual needs. The process will be different for an individual customer than for a company with several hundred delivery points. The process of acquiring new contracts also requires different data depending on the energy product, such as electricity sales contracts and natural gas sales contracts.

The most important thing is to maintain a single, consistent service path and the ability to retrace the entire case history.

The value of the back office

The goal of automation isn’t to eliminate experts from the process. In the energy sector, many contracts require individual assessment, especially for business clients, unusual commercial terms, or complex collection point structures.

The application is designed to relieve employees primarily of repetitive tasks: checking for basic completeness, transcribing data, comparing documents, and sending subsequent requests for the same information.

This allows the back office to focus on areas where its expertise brings the greatest value:

  • substantive contract verification,
  • exception handling,
  • risk control,
  • deadline management,
  • preparing correct data for further processes,
  • efficient contract processing.

Sales also benefits. Salespeople receive information about deficiencies more quickly, see the current status of the contract being processed, and don’t have to confirm via email who is currently handling the matter.

From increased sales to a scalable process

A period of increased sales opportunities is a good test of an organization’s operational maturity. It reveals whether processes are prepared for higher volumes or operate efficiently only with a small number of contracts.

It’s worth analyzing not only the number of contracts signed, but also:

  • the percentage of requests returned for completion,
  • the most common deficiencies,
  • the average contract verification time,
  • the time required to make corrections,
  • the number of manual actions performed per contract,
  • the causes of delays in contract processing.

Only such data allows us to assess the actual bottlenecks and which elements should be streamlined or automated.

A larger number of acquired customers should not lead to a proportional increase in manual operations or headcount. A scalable contracting process helps us capitalize on sales opportunities without compromising data quality, increasing the risk of errors, and overloading operational teams.

Therefore, it is worth asking ourselves one question: what does the path from the client’s acceptance of the offer to the verification and processing of their contract currently look like in our organization?