When this accounting firm crunched the numbers, Proposify came out on top

Elly Ohnstad, Marketing & Design Specialist
Elly Ohnstad Marketing & Design Specialist

Industry

Finance & Accounting

Role

Marketing

Features

Proposal Management

About Abdo

Founded in 1963 in Mankato, Minnesota, Abdo has been named among the top 25 accounting firms in Minnesota, Forbes ranked them one of the leading accounting firms in the United States, and they have been recognized by Inside Public Accounting as one of the 200 largest accounting firms in the US. With two locations in Minnesota and one in Arizona, a team of accounting and tax professionals with expertise across several industries, and a growing client base, it was critical for Abdo to find the right solution to manage their proposal process and their growing business. 

Abdo Team shot
“Our old process was very clunky. It was very much, ‘Grab that old PowerPoint from three years ago and update it’ and there was no tracking of where anything was. We never knew whether the client actually received the proposal. And it wasn’t easy to maintain brand and consistency across all locations and partners.”

Challenges

Despite being a forward-thinking accounting firm, Abdo's proposal process was cumbersome. The team used PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, all of which led to inconsistencies, costly errors, and a lack of visibility. Updating old templates was a tedious task, and there was no system to track changes or confirm receipt by prospective clients. 

Finding a Solution

It wasn’t a single disastrous event that triggered Abdo to search for a proposal management system, but a growing realization that their current process was insufficient. The arrival of a new marketing manager catalyzed the decision to actively search for a solution.

Abdo's evaluation criteria were rigorous. They needed:

  • Seamless integration with Zoho CRM without requiring a Zoho license for all users
  • Customizable proposal URLs
  • Overall user-friendly interface

They looked closely at other proposal management tools like PandaDoc, but in the end Proposify checked all the boxes. The personal engagement and support provided by Proposify's team, especially their customer success manager, Jessica, played a significant role in their decision-making process.

“The Zoho integration was a win right off the bat. Additionally, the interface and visibility offered by Proposify were far superior. The ease of working with Proposify’s sales rep and ongoing support were also crucial for us.”
“Our Customer Success manager, Jessica, has been super helpful, engaged, and responsive to our feedback and needs from day one. We always feel confident in reaching out with any challenges because we know someone will respond and find a solution.”

Elly and Tomi McDonald, Abdo’s Administrative Supervisor, led the initial implementation with support from Proposify’s Customer Success team. The firm built out templates and integrated Proposify with Zoho. 

Abdo team shot

The Benefits of Proposify

The transition to Proposify has been transformative for Abdo by significantly streamlining the proposal process, making it faster and less labour-intensive. Proposify's template feature has reduced the time team members spend on individual proposals.

“My team breezes through things so much more efficiently now, and it's a lot quicker for us to start things, turn them around, and get them to our internal staff. We've eliminated all the tedious manual updates.”
“The analytics piece has been super helpful because before we were just emailing PDFs and then it's just out there and you really don't know who's seen it, if they even have opened it, if they want to discuss anything. Not only did we not have visibility on the proposal itself, we didn't have visibility about the opportunity at all.”

Abdo is also enjoying an improvement in the accuracy and professionalism of proposals, including brand consistency, especially important after a recent rebrand.

“In Proposify, it's so nice because we can lock things down and make sure that everybody goes through admin and has that support to ensure our brand looks good, consistent, and presentable at all times,” says Elly. 

While neither Elly nor Tomi want to play favourites when it comes to Proposify features (Tomi: “Literally everything!”) analytics is probably near the top of the list, providing enhanced visibility into client engagement with proposals.

Abdo's journey with Proposify demonstrates how embracing modern technology can transform   business processes and, even better, business results.

Proposify helps Abdo stay ahead in a competitive market while focusing on what they do best—providing outstanding accounting services. 

“Close rates are up mostly because A, more people are doing proposals, but B, we also just have more visibility on what people are, are doing in general.”
“Proposify has been a game-changer for us. The support from the Proposify team has been outstanding, and the improvements we've seen in our proposal process are remarkable. We highly recommend Proposify to any firm looking to streamline their proposals.”

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