Do you and your colleagues feel overwhelmed by the amount of work required to prepare a sales proposal? Proposal management software can help you simplify and speed up the creation, storage, and distribution of content. While you may be hesitant to invest time in learning how to use new software, a simple level of work can really pay off.
Consider how much work and resources it takes to create a single proposal. Regardless of your industry, a great proposition management app can reduce your work in half every step of the way. Consider the five features listed below, and you’ll honestly have no idea why you haven’t used one all along.
Benefits Of Using A Proposal Management Software
Collaboration
You’re probably well aware of how difficult it could be to keep each participant of your sales department and supporting departments focused on the specifics of your proposition. It may be difficult to keep in contact with certain people, while others may end up prioritizing the wrong tasks.
The collaboration features in proposal software allow everyone on your team to see the same files at any time of day. Because software with this feature typically includes version control, anyone with permission can make necessary changes or add content. If anybody makes a mistake, you’ll be able to roll back to a previous version.
Controls Of Access
Nearly every single piece of collaboration software includes a combination of access control. However, some sophisticated apps do far more than simply allow you to mark files as read-only. Larger companies with larger teams may have multiple people that work on a file at the same time. Unfortunately, collaborative proposal writing increases the risk of unauthorized access.
Fortunately, access controls allow you to allocate access permission to each user who logs into the system. You can limit some people to only editing necessary documentation or segments. Whether you have multiple proposals saved together, you can prevent some users from gaining access and even seeing specific ones that contain personal information. This can help to protect privacy while also lowering the risk of sabotage and other malicious behavior.
Content Repositories And Document Management
Small businesses may have dozens of proposals in the works at whatever given time. It can be extremely difficult to keep track of all of these documents. If you’re an independent consultant, the task may seem even more daunting since you don’t have anyone to assist you. Mishandling a project proposal can make you look unprofessional and may even result in the loss of a seller and tainting your reputation.
That’s why document management became one of the most important features of proposal software. Many proposal apps record and store all of the advertising documents in the cloud in a single location. They usually allow you to search through the full text, so you won’t be losing one even if you don’t recall what you titled it.
You can even hold anything linked to the proposition process of writing along with your finished work in content repositories. If you’ve been communicating with your client to iron out all the details of a project, you can save these files in your archive and refer to them when revising your sales proposal.
CRM Integration
These days, storage capacity isn’t the only item incorporated into this type of program. Developers have made it simple to maintain track of all your customers’ contact information details by adding customer relationship management (CRM) services into proposal apps. To completely automate this procedure, some apps can even interact with a separate CRM app and import.
You’ll be able to keep track of who reacted to or accepted your bids and remain on top of all the assignments, you’ve presently allocated to using CRM integration. This is especially significant if you’re a freelancer who puts out offers regularly and may have several tasks in the works at the same time.
Notifications And Alerts
Small company owners sometimes have to manage a large volume of mail on their own, so they may not even realize if a client glanced over their newest sales pitch. Using project management software with push notifications may send you a real-time alert when a certain event occurs, such as when a customer receives your proposal, verifies that they’ve read everything, and answers.
They will also notify you if your counterparties have requested revisions or established a new deadline. You can get these warnings through email, text message, or push notification but be sure any program you’re choosing matches your workflow.
To Sum Up
Proposal management software can help organizations big and small create consistent sales proposals that leave a great impression on customers. Implementation is simple and straightforward, but the benefits are extensive. Hopefully, this resource has helped you to gain a better understanding of proposal management software and its value for your business.
