DocuSign Users: Getting to Know Dean Ouellette

Q: Please share with us who you are, and what “Commitment. Service. Results.” means to you. How did you come up with that?
A: One of the reasons I had decided to get into real estate was because of my experience with agents I had dealt with in the past. My former career was as a political consultant, and if you did not return a call in that profession or follow up you were going to hear about it.

I noticed in my dealings with real estate agents that the commitment to service was missing and I could bring that to my business. So I decided the things I really wanted to excel at were COMMITMENT to my clients, providing the best possible SERVICE, and getting RESULTS. 

Q: What other tools, technology or otherwise, do you consider essential to your business and why?

A: I am somewhat of a techno geek. My laptop and BlackBerry are never away from my side. With those I always have access to the Internet and can usually get questions answered in a matter of minutes rather than having to look it up later.

I also use Twitter and Facebook extensively to not only stay in contact with customers, but to also build relationships and keep track of the industry.
Q: How did you discover DocuSign and do you know others who use technology tools like DocuSign in your area?

A: I hated printing out contracts and was looking for a way to get away from so much paper. But it wasn’t until one day when I had a customer in Utah who wanted to purchase a house in Arizona and they had no printer or fax that worked so I needed to come with a way quick to get them a contract to sign.

I sent out a message on Twitter for peoples’ thoughts on electronic signatures, a few friends who I trust in the business recommended DocuSign so I figured I would give it a try. I made a mistake setting up my account and again turned to Twitter to ask if anyone knew how to fix it, within minutes I had both @DocuSign and @tgonser, the founder, contact me and help me with the problem I was sold.  With service like that I couldn’t not use it.
Q: People use DocuSign in many different ways, like using the consistent, personalized branding, bulk sending or multiple signers functionality or using the API to integrate with existing programs like Salesforce. How do you get the most out of DocuSign and what has been your most extraordinary DocuSign moment?
A: I use it for every contract I do now. In real estate we like to sign a lot of contracts and the ease in which this can be done with DocuSign not only saves me hours of time a week, it also keeps me a lot more organized without a lot of paper copies or needed to scan copies to save after they have been signed.

My biggest wow moment with DocuSign besides the first time I used it was recently when an out of state investor wanted to place an offer in on nine properties. The time it would have taken to fax or scan that many pages would have been to much. I sent him the contracts and had them all back and signed in my email box in less than an hour.
I also spent the day with another agent just yesterday and he had to get four contracts signed in person. It took him twice as long to get those four signed as it took me to get my nine signed. It really hit me how much time I was saving and sure enough today he is sitting down with me so I can show him how to use it. 

Q: What is one fun fact about yourself you haven’t already shared or a thought you would like to offer?
A: Everyone who knows me knows what a techno geek I have turned into, I couldn’t imagine not having my BlackBerry for even a few hours. Well, I still remember in 1990 when my parents got their first computer. I told my father what a waste of money that was. I would never in my life own a computer. Fast forward to today and it is amazing how my philosophy has changed.