You come across a prospective client who is excited about your offerings. But now they want a proposal from you. If you’re like most people, you open a word processor and start working out all the details of your expertise, services, and promise. You want to impress this new client, so you convert the finished document into a PDF and send it off. Now, it’s the waiting game. This can be frightening, especially if you’ve had little to no success in the past. But what if there was a way to improve your odds of having clients read and approve your proposals?

That’s what we’re going to talk about today: the many advantages of using proposal software (over PDFs). 

Let’s look.

Impress clients with professional-standard proposals

A good proposal can make all the difference when trying to land a new client. But in order to create a professional-standard proposal, you need more than just a PDF creator. You need proposal software that can help you put your best foot forward.

When you use proposal software, you create more than just a standard PDF. With the help of professional proposal templates, you can produce a document. This means that you will have a proposal that looks like its been written by a subject matter expert and designed by a pro.

With the right proposal software, you can create a custom-branded document that is sure to impress potential clients. You can also include interactive elements, such as videos and infographics, to really capture their attention. And with built-in tools for collaboration, you can get input from your team before sending off the final version. This is far preferable than creating the proposal from scratch using Adobe software.

Save time writing draft proposals

If you are in a company with stringent deadlines and many layers of approval for each proposal, then submitting proposals drafts as quickly as possible is crucial. But, you don’t want to create a draft that won’t go past your C-suite. That’s the advantage of using proposal software.

Using expert templates at your fingertips, you can swiftly write up proposals. Additionally, you can speed up the process by using pre-written sections with tools like Fresh Proposals. All you need to do is adjust and customize the sections, to make them unique and different.

Imagine never writing a proposal from scratch again. Additionally, the content in proposal software can be saved in the content library, saving you the time of having to repeatedly copy and paste it into every draft. Not to mention, adding images and videos from the web. For PDFs, I can’t say the same. You’ll appreciate this solution whether you work for a corporation or as a freelancer.

Improve collaboration between teams and managers 

In any organization, communication is key to maintaining a cohesive work environment and keeping everyone on the same page. When it comes to collaborating on projects, this means using the same software platforms so that everyone can access and edit documents in real time. PDFs have long been the go-to for sharing documents, but they are not ideal for collaboration. This is where proposal software comes in.

Proposal software is designed for team collaboration and allows managers to provide feedback in real time, rather than having to wait for a PDF to be emailed back and forth. This can help save time and improve communication between teams. In addition, proposal software often includes features such as version control and commenting, which can make it easier to track changes and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Prevent making mistakes in your proposals

When you’re putting together a proposal, the last thing you want to do is make a mistake. After all, this document is going to be used to help you win new business. But mistakes happen, especially when you’re using PDFs to create your proposals.

With proposal software, though, you can avoid making mistakes in your proposals. That’s because this software is designed to help you create error-free documents. Plus, it’s easy to use, so you can get your proposals done quickly and efficiently.

So if you’re looking to prevent making mistakes on your proposals, be sure to use proposal software rather than relying on PDFs. This way, you can rest assured that your proposals are error-free and professional-looking.

Get key insights such as how frequently a client opened your proposal

If you manage proposals, then you know just how important it is to keep track of your client’s engagement. You want to make sure that they are reading your proposal and that they understand the content. However, when you use PDFs, it can be difficult to tell how much engagement your client has with your proposal.

Proposal software can help you get analytics and key insights into how frequently a client opened your proposal. This way, you can tell if they read it once or if they read it multiple times. You can also see how long they spent looking at each section. This information can be invaluable in understanding what parts of your proposal are resonating with your clients and which parts need more work.

Overall, using proposal software rather than PDFs gives you a much better idea of how engaged your clients are with your proposals.

Use digital signatures to quickly seal the deal

One of the most important principles you learn in sales is that the best way to convert customers is to make the purchasing process as easy as possible. When it comes to your proposals, a signature is the only thing that stands between you and a deal. So rather than having them print out a PDF, sign it, scan it and email it you can do something completely different. You can let your clients digitally sign the proposal by using proposal software. 

To sign their name, all they need is a touch screen and a finger or pen. If not, they can simply type their name and a signature will be generated for them automatically. The great thing about this technique is that you can catch customers in the heat of the moment. They just finished reading your proposal and are thrilled to hire you. Your chances of winning more bids rise if your proposal includes a portion where they can e sign and conclude the deal straight away.

Reduce the cost of proposal creation

When it comes to proposal creation, many companies default to using PDFs. However, this can be an expensive and time-consuming process. Proposal software can help reduce the cost of proposal creation by streamlining the process and making it more efficient.

Proposal software offers a number of benefits over PDFs. First, it’s more efficient. Proposal software can help you create proposals faster and with less effort. Second, proposal software is more flexible. You can easily make changes to your proposals as needed without having to start from scratch. Finally, proposal software is more cost-effective. In most cases, you’ll save money by using proposal software rather than relying on PDFs.

So, if you’re looking for a way to reduce the cost of proposal creation, consider using proposal software instead of PDFs.

So which proposal tool to use?

It might be difficult to select the right proposal software for your company’s needs. For this reason, we recommend using Fresh Proposals. With this tool, you can get your proposals done 3 times more quickly using the built-in content and other features.