If you’ve ever created a proposal from scratch, you know exactly how time consuming and complicated it can be. Between fighting with formatting issues, getting bottlenecked by inefficient workflows, and triple-checking if the information you’re using is right, you might start to wonder if there’s a better way.
There is. And it’s called proposal management software.
With the right tool on your side, you can bypass all of the proposal creation roadblocks and streamline your proposal process. From proposal templates that jump start your proposals to a library of pre-approved content to pull from, it helps your team create proposals that will get prospects excited about working together.
Over the past few years, we’ve received hundreds, if not, thousands of questions about proposal management software. But over time, we realized that there were a handful that popped up a lot more often than others. We figured that if our clients and prospects were asking us, there are probably many others who are looking for answers.
Without further adieu, here are the top questions about proposal management software:
What is proposal management software?
Proposal management software is exactly what it sounds like – it’s an application that helps you create, manage, send, and track proposals. It bring together all aspects of the proposal process under one roof, to make sending proposals and responding to RFPs easier and more effective than ever.
Who uses proposal management software?
Anyone who regularly sends business proposals or responds to RFPs (requests for proposals). From accounting to UX design and everything in between, proposal management software can be used in a number of industries, and Proposify even has a number of proposal templates to help you get started.
What are the benefits of proposal management software?
Where do we even start? Without proposal management software, creating proposals can be time-consuming, error-prone, and oftentimes, boring. If you want to stand out from your competition, you need to create and send proposals that are appealing, accurate, and ahead of your competitors.
Proposal management software does just that. It allows you to create beautiful proposals that match your brand and ensure that all information inside them is accurate and up-to-date, all in a fraction of the time it takes to create a proposal from scratch. It streamlines the proposal process to help you avoid roadblocks and improve collaboration, and gives you the power to track proposals after they’re sent, so that you always know what’s happening with each of your deals at every stage of the sales process.
Do we need a separate eSignature application to capture customer signatures?
No! Most proposal management software has built in electronic signature functionality to make it even easier to capture your customers’ signature and get them on board.
Can proposal management software be used to respond to RFPs?
Absolutely. Whether you’re sending solicited or unsolicited proposals, proposal management software can help you create, manage, and send proposals that stand out from your competition. You can start with a premade proposal template or create your own, then tailor it according to each project and client.
What is the best proposal software?
Not to toot our own horn, but we think Proposify is pretty great. But not all proposal management software is created the same. The best proposal management software is the one that best aligns with the needs of your business. To help you get started, we’ve put together a guide on how to choose the best proposal management software. But if you’re just starting your search, you might want to explore some of the best free versions to see if any of those options sound like a good fit.
Do other applications integrate with proposal management software?
Absolutely. Proposify has a long list of integration partners that can allow you to add video to your documents, enable payment processing within your proposals, sync deliverables with your project management software, and more. Proposal management software can help you connect your tech stack and drive deal automation to take your sales process to the next level.
How long does it take to get proposal management software up and running?
It depends on your existing processes and the size of your business, but it typically takes between four and six weeks. With Proposify, the majority of that time is spent custom designing your brand new template. But if you already love the look of yours, you can be up and running in about three weeks.
Will we have a customer success manager or is it self-serve?
It depends. For larger sales teams, a CSM is often assigned to take you through the initial stages of setup and onboarding. But in most cases, smaller teams can typically get themselves up and running!
Is it possible to track deals after sending a proposal?
Absolutely! With proposal management software, your reps will gain x-ray vision into all pipeline activity. They’ll no longer be left in the dark once proposals are sent, or guessing when they should follow up with their prospects. Instead, they’ll receive alerts each time someone opens the proposal, be able to see which sections the client is looking at, and get notifications telling them the best times to follow up.
These metrics have proven to help reps prioritize the deals most likely to close, nudge slow prospects if they're not opening the proposal, and revive dormant deals if the prospect opens the proposal months down the line.
Who needs to be involved in setting up proposal management software?
Typically, sales, ops, and marketing. Sales leadership to walk the customer success team through the proposal workflow and deal approval process, marketing leadership to own the content, and operations to streamline the integrations and operational workflow.
Is there a way to tell which content or sections prospects care about most?
Of course! Each time they send a proposal, your reps will get individual proposal data that shows how long the prospect spent on each page and section, but as account owner, you also have the ability to review data for the whole account.
You can filter through all of the metrics to find out which content or sections are viewed the most across different proposal types, reveal which sections are viewed most on won deals vs. lost, and more. With the help of this sales tracking software you can improve the sections that you need to and cut out the ones that are not as important as you thought!
How do we get started with proposal management software?
Switching to proposal management software can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. At Proposify, we take your team through a thorough onboarding process that starts with building a custom template according to your needs. We’ll then set up your integrations and configure your different account access levels. Once that's done, we’ll do a test training call with a couple of your salespeople, and top it all off with training for your entire team. And the support doesn’t end there. You’ll have access to our priority support queue for all your user licenses! If your team ever needs help, we’ll be there.
We want to keep sellers in Salesforce, can our team build proposals right from an opportunity?
Yes! With the Salesforce integration, proposals will auto populate with opportunity, contact and account details. Proposal activity (like views, for example) will log as activity on the deal, and you can click into a snapshot to get an overview of the proposal.
Can you automatically attach proposals to deals in a CRM?
Yes, absolutely. When you integrate proposal management software with your CRM, keeping track of your proposals and deals becomes a whole lot easier. Once a deal is signed or marked as won, the finalized proposal will push through to the opportunity as a PDF.
Is it possible to control who can make changes to templates and proposals?
Of course! As multiple and managers work on your proposal templates and proposals, they can begin to morph into something completely different. In order to keep your docs consistent, your CSM will work with you during onboarding to configure your roles and permissions. For example, you could give your reps access to building and customizing proposals from your templates, but not the ability to edit them.
You can even get granular within your templates by setting permissions that determine which sections can be edited by which roles. For example, you could allow your technical pre-sales team to update the Scope of Work but prevent salespeople from editing it.
Final thoughts
Proposal management software is undoubtedly the easiest way to level up your proposal process and win more sales. But before you leave your current proposal in the dust, you’ve probably got some questions. We hope this article delivered the answers you were looking for, but if you’re still curious, feel free to check out our knowledge base, book a demo, or chat with our sales team to see what all the buzz is about.
