Published Date: May 3, 2024
Last Updated Date: November 5, 2024
When you think of your team creating proposals, chances are, you're thinking of each component separately. They create the proposal, write it, design it, send it, the prospect reads it, that activity is tracked, and hopefully, the process ends with signing.
Compartmentalizing proposals that way may lead your team to use different solutions for each component. Word for the text. Canva for the design. Adobe for delivery. Docusign for, well, signing. Everything is in a different location, everyone is doing things differently, and your process and branding—and most painfully, your sales—are suffering for it.
At Proposify, we believe the solution isn't just a change in product, but a change in mindset, from simply creating proposals to implementing a full proposal management system. That's exactly what Proposify is—an end-to-end solution that centralizes and standardizes the entire process to increase efficiency at every stage of the sale.
Centralization and Standardization
It all starts in the content library where you create and store customized templates and ready-to-go content. Because it’s all pre-approved, your team only needs to pull what they need from the library without having to go through a slow creation and approval process. The materials are in one central location, and the process is standardized for consistency in branding and procedure.
Thanks to integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) tools such as Salesforce and HubSpot, reps can pull prospect information directly into sales documents (proposals, NDAs, etc.), and create them without ever leaving the software. Once a document is built, it can be sent to the prospect from Proposify, again without leaving the platform.
Then, our enhanced tracking will send notifications when the proposal is opened and indicate any areas where prospects spend more time, which may mean they have questions. This allows a rep to step in at just the right time, and preemptively resolve issues that might jeopardize the deal and without lengthy email chains
When the prospect is ready, our electronic signature capability allows them to give their approval right in the software—no printing or faxing, no paper or time wasted. The deal is completed right inside Proposify's proposal management system, giving you full control and visibility into the process from beginning to end.
We're going to delve into some of our case studies to illustrate how this centralized management can offer you the benefits you're seeking, but haven't received with disparate software selections.
Save and Reallocate Time and Resources
Graphic design and forensic animation company High Impact started as a two-person company in a garage. They started creating proposals with pen and paper, and used a calculator for pricing.
As the company grew to 60 employees, upgrading to Word helped a little—but not enough. The proposal creation process was still slow. Too slow. High Impact needed a solution that could keep pace with their in-demand services. They chose Proposify.
Micah Kohne, CMO and Visual Litigation Strategist, said:
Before Proposify It would have been very tough to write the quote and get it prepared in a format that could be sent out fast enough. I would say it’s cut the time in half at least. I don’t know how we compare to other companies concerning proposal quantity, but we’re pretty heavy regarding how many proposals we’re sending out. It’s roughly hundreds of proposals a month. We couldn’t do it without Proposify.
In addition to saving time, High Impact found a way that their proposals could stand in for sales reps—embedded testimonials. Says Micah, "In our templates we have a ‘Why work with us’ page, with a video of our testimonials. It’s great to have for new clients who haven’t worked with us before, or for existing clients to see our latest work."
By letting their proposals speak for them, High Impact reps are able to dedicate more time to other tasks.
Improve Consistency in Branding and Presentation
Lisa Morgan, Director of Marketing at 360clean, a janitorial service company, had a problem. Their 70+ franchises were all doing things differently—including creating proposals. The inconsistency was detrimental not only to service delivery, but to owner morale.
Lisa said, "Prior to Proposify, I had no control over what was being quoted and how. Not only that, the franchisees had no control so we had to go back to basics." For 360clean, going back to basics meant finding a standardized proposal solution that could be implemented from headquarters down to every single franchise location.
That solution was Proposify. Lisa said:
I was able to quickly and easily jump into Proposify and instantly see the value. Knowing I could set up all the pre-approved content and templates for owners meant we were back in control of the brand and franchisees were set up for success.
Now when franchisees create proposals, they use pre-approved documents in Proposify's content library, and every proposal is consistent with 360clean's branding. Instead of 70+ separate businesses, it's presented as one business with multiple locations.
Streamline Processes
Joseph Barnes, Director of Marketing for Yellowstone Landscape, told us their reps came to them and said that their proposals were effective, but they were difficult to create.
The problem was that while reps were using a template for proposal creation, they had to be manually customized to each rep, prospect and deal. This was difficult to do with the multiple tools they'd been using. Joseph told us:
I wish I had known earlier how limiting our previous processes were—that Word documents were handcuffing us not just from a file-sharing standpoint, but also that there’s just so much more you can do with a proposal if you get out of the mindset of PDFs and spreadsheets.
Now, Yellowstone Landscape uses Proposify for everything from creating proposals from a template, to sending them to prospects, to collecting electronic signatures when they close. Says Joseph, "So it's not just about copying what you have today and putting it online; it's about taking what you have today and bringing it to a new level."
And that new level is a complete proposal management system.
Facilitate Scalability and Adaptability
When Tara Thornton joined tech company Paradox to be their proposal manager, the company was in growth mode. This meant nearly doubling the team of account executives (AEs) responsible for proposal production.
Unfortunately, Tara said:
.. everyone was putting proposals together in a way that worked for them individually. It wasn’t scalable. There was one Google slide deck that an AE had put together, and many newcomers were using that. Others were taking marketing content and crafting their own proposals. Some of them were adding videos to Keynote files that resulted in a huge file size that was difficult to email.
She was tasked with updating Paradox's proposal processes. Tara said, "We were looking for easy templates, easy content updates, a Salesforce integration, and the ability to know exactly what was sent to clients without digging through long email chains."
They turned to Proposify.
With our Salesforce integration, drag-and-drop editor, customizable templates, and proposal tracking, the sales team at Paradox built an efficient proposal creation process and all got on the same page.
Now, the Paradox sales team is also set up for future growth. Every proposal that goes out is consistent and tracked in one location. New reps will be able to step into an established, centralized proposal management system and immediately be on par with the rest of their team. Scaling will be much easier.
Make Things Easier with Automation
Tech support company, Nucleus Networks, was using an archaic method to send documents from NDAs to formal proposals. Its four locations each had a different workflow, and they were all less than efficient.
Richard Kask, Director of Growth, said Word documents were inefficient, and their team was drafting and sending estimates via email, a time-consuming process.
They needed to automate those processes and reduce the likelihood of errors in so many individual documents. They chose Proposify. The reason, Richard said, was:
... the automation and centralization – enhancing the client experience and making our team more efficient. From sending a nice welcome package to getting a quick sign-off on NDAs, it was for more than just proposals. Proposify provided us with a platform to leverage all external-facing documents that have the Nucleus brand on it.
Now, with an automated proposal and document management system, Nucleus Networks has streamlined their processes through the use of features like pre-approved, customizable templates and interactive pricing tables. Richard says, "Once we implemented Proposify we were able to remove bottlenecks and get deals to clients and prospects faster with increased internal collaboration and working more cross-functionally as a team. Everyone is becoming power-users and feels more confident in the process."
Put a Proposal System in Place with Proposify
Ready to efficiently manage your proposal process? Consider Proposify. It has all the features your team needs to replace the inefficient tools they're currently using.
From creation and design to tracking and signing, your team will be able to do everything in one centralized location. Our proposal software gives you end-to-end control and visibility into your proposal process.
Schedule a demo today, and see how you can increase your team's efficiency with a total proposal management system.
