At Fresh Proposals, we have been working with tens of thousands of businesses. Most of these business users have found about Fresh Proposals organically, meaning no Google paid advertisement or LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter ads got them to know about Fresh Proposals software. And most of them represent small and medium businesses all over the world.
What does it mean?
Online proposal software is in news. It is not a fad or trend that would come and go. SMBs embracing proposal software are ready for a digital revolution.
One event in other part of the world breaks or cheers the economic sentiment in other countries. We are witnessing it every now and then.
Ok, so what is the problem and why should we care about it?
It is an era of face-paced and dynamically changing business landscape. Businesses are realizing they need to stay ahead of the competition to survive. The times are tough. It feels like recession is looming every 4-5 years. It becomes stressful to manage, survive and grow your business. Isn’t that true?
If one need to survive or grow, s/he has to stay ahead of the game. It requires better understanding of the market, clients, competition, products/services, pricing, sentiments. Using right information at right time to break-through the lower growth trajectory to higher one. So you will need information, you will need to process it and gather insights and take proactive measures.
One such revolutionary tool has taken the business world by storm is online proposal software. As businesses seek to do better with sales, streamline their operations, improve collaboration, deliver compelling & convincing proposals, they are turning to features proposal software offers.
Let’s look at the reasons why businesses are adopting online proposal software and how it is becoming a game changer in the current business scenario.
Proposal Creation – Streamlined
Traditionally creation & signing of proposals would involve manual editing, prolonged approval cycle, paperwork. It was a cumbersome process, it was error-prone too.
Online proposal software has transformed the proposal process into a streamline and efficient one. It offers user friendly interface, ready-to-use templates, drag-drop functionality.
It allows users to create proposal in a matter of minutes.
Sending proposal documents is super simple, getting it signed is easy & quick too.
It feels bit odd when you find people running around with documents and pen-paper to get it signed. Things have changed for good; for efficiency and speed. e signature is here it stay.
In short, proposal software has streamlined the entire proposal flow. It has also enabled teams to focus on writing compelling and convincing content and deliver greater value to their clients.
Superior – Visual Appeal of Proposals
Believe it or not, many of us do not want to spend lot of time in understanding something. It is also true for today’s generation. They decide whether to view/stick to something pretty quickly. If they don’t find anything interesting, useful, they just move on to something else, very fast.
The attention span has gone down significantly in last 10 years. It has gone down like 50%.
It is not surprising but it makes challenging for businesses to make their way through the clutter, to retain/ sustain visitors, users, customers.
What’s the solution?
Go visual. Make it pretty simple to find and understand.
Proposals software of today, allows businesses to include captivating visual content in their proposals. Visual content can be image, videos, charges, interactive pricing tables.
Not only these visual elements catch their attention, keep them engaged but also communicate complex solution in a clearer way.
You can create business proposal/ offer in a memorable and impactful way thereby distinguishing from competitors.
Personalization of Client Proposals
Personalization is somewhat related to above point.
Scalable sales/marketing techniques are getting widely available, prospective clients are bombarded with offers ever other day.
What we (product/ service provider approaching other businesses) don’t realize that all these mass scale offers are burning prospects. It is inevitable.
What’s the solution?
Personalization.
Think about making a proposal personalized
- Focussing on client: identify, address its needs
- Tailoring offer/proposal with client-specific information, solution, reference and brand elements
- Demonstrating a greater understanding of client’s challenges & goals
- Personalizing proposal to build trust and rapport
- Thereby making his proposal experience unique, memorable
You just increased your chances of winning contracts and nurturing long-term client relations.
Mind blowing Data Analytics and Insights
Imagine the traditional way of getting proposals proposals.
Once you draft the proposal, get it signed internally and courier it to your clients. Or in last few decades, you would send it via email, yet you would have no idea whether client has received it, seen it or signed it unless you put up someone from your end to keep contacting client about it.
With new age of proposal software, your decisions are going to be data driven; rathe than gut feeling or guess work.
Data is a new oil.
There is no denying about it.
What’s in the proposal data? As you explore you will get various data points and you can use insights to turn the conversation into more effective, convincing manner rather than clueless guessing talks.
Let me share few basic data points you can gather using proposal software
- Whether client opened your proposal
- How many times has client viewed your proposal
- How much time has client spent looking at your proposal
- How many times client has viewed particular section
- For how long has s/he seen a particular section
- Whether s/he has viewed it on Desktop or smart device
These numbers indicate the level of engagement, prospects’ interaction; which can be inferred to understand client behavior, preferences or inclination (subconscious decision making process).
One can dig deeper to know and refine future proposal for increased success rates
- How many proposals are sent, how many are won, what is the conversion rate
- Trend line about sent proposal, won proposal, conversion rate
- Most effective sections across different proposal templates
- Sales proposal velocity
- High performing/ converting team members
Today’s proposal software are not only about creating, sending, signing proposals. It is also about turning/improving those proposals for higher conversion.
Proposal analytics and insights are critical to what is now called as Proposal Performance Management.
Proposal performance management includes
- Hyper personalize proposal with dynamic content
- Optimize content
- Optimize touch-points based on client’s interactions with proposal
- Refine proposal strategies
- Effective team collaboration
Enhanced Accessibility and Mobility
We live in a connected world. It has enabled us to deliver information, message at any time from anywhere in the world.
As proposal software mostly works using cloud technologies, the proposal information is delivered almost instantly.
Cloud based proposal software give team members flexibility to create, draft, review and share proposals at any time, from any where.
Your client can receive, review and sign the proposal at any time, using smart phone or connected laptop from anywhere in the world.
Compared to traditional business practices, proposal software has uncovered unlimited possibilities and many opportunities.
Sales teams can instantly respond to client inquiries, proposal teams can promptly send proposal to clients, thereby improving client acquisition and satisfaction.
Integrating Business Systems & Tools
Providers of business applications have realized the power of interconnected applications. Today, no business can work using isolated applications. It just makes life so hard for those using such applications.
What are the challenges with isolated softwares?
- Need to re-enter data/ duplication of data
- Errors during double entries, creating inconsistent data
- No clear visibility of business activities
Since proposal software is on the sales side of the business, it naturally connects with CRM softwares.
To plan the delivery work, it is also connected to project management applications
To receive payments, it is connected to payment gateway providers
To store signed documents, it is connected to cloud storage services
To update books of accounts, it is connected to accounting & bookkeeping software
Power of automation is immense for the client’s business hence it is also connected with third party integrators like Zapier.
Integration of proposal software with other business applications ensures data consistency, enhances workflow efficiency, and minimizes duplicate data entry. The seamless flow of information across various applications optimizes business processes and saves valuable time and resources.
Conclusion
Online proposal software is certainly reshaping how modern businesses function. As it streamlines proposal creation, improves collaboration, makes proposal greatly appealing with visual elements, enabling personalization, with greater accessibility, providing data insights, and integration with other business applications, proposal software has become indispensable solution for businesses.
Proposals software that streamlines proposal process, improves collaboration, automate business functions has vital aspect of digital transformation of most businesses looking to sustain and grow.
Businesses that adopts such digital transformation have a competitive advantage by delivering compelling proposals, strengthening client relationships, and driving growth.
Remember, the adoption of online proposal software is not just a trend; it is an essential step towards leveraging technology to drive businesses towards success in the dynamic and competitive global marketplace.
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