What is proposal management software?
A proposal management software is a system that helps streamline and improve different parts of the sales operations process. On one hand, it allows businesses to automate some of the tasks, but on the other hand, it enables them to analyze data deeply and increase proposals’ personalization.
Proposal management software can offer various features, such as:
- automatic follow-ups,
- notifications following proposals openings,
- proposals management,
- proposals personalization,
- lead nurturing,
- real-time tracking and reporting,
- analytics,
- and more.
Why use proposal management software?
Proposal management software can help you at different stages of the sales process. The most important enhancements include:
- Tracking and analyzing – first of all, with proposal management software, you’ll always know what’s going on with your proposal. Did the prospect view it? Did they open and read it? How much time do they spend reading the proposal? Which part draws their attention? All this data allows you to improve the process you have in place. You can make your offers more accurate, more interesting for potential customers, and delivered at the right time.
- Better results – proposal management software is like another sales team member. With more personalized and better-suited proposals, you’ll significantly improve your performance. And while targeting customers with more effective offers is crucial here, there’s another reason for that. Proposal management software helps you organize the whole process, manage it well and have advanced reporting in place.
- Engagement – finally, something that is probably the main driver for people considering proposal management software for their business. Who doesn’t want to create proposals that make the customers stop scrolling and actually read every word? And that’s exactly what happens when you use proposal management software. Your offers are more personalized – they include more accurate calls to action, information, videos, and ads.
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What should you pay attention to when looking for proposal software?
The key to finding the suitable proposal software is keeping in mind your current workflow and the specificities of your business. That’s why you should consider the following features:
- Integrations – the possibility to integrate the proposal management software with other tools and frameworks. You should always keep in mind that you already have a process in place, and changing it completely wouldn’t be efficient. So it’s worth checking if the proposal software fits your current workflow. Integrations with CRM solutions or email systems are among the most important ones. They make the implementation of proposal software easier and smoother.
- Follow-ups – the possibility to automate follow-ups is one of the key features you’re going to use in proposal management software. Depending on your needs, you can decide what to include in the follow-up and when to send it (e.g., when a customer opened/not opened the proposal, when they read it once/twice/three times, etc.).
- Team management – management features are as important as creation or response options. The possibility to analyze statistics in this matter affects the effectiveness of your proposals. You can see how many offers were sent, how engaging they were, who’s offers generated the best results, etc. Pay attention to the collaboration options as well. You need to be able to share documents within the team, work on them together (comment, edit, leave feedback).
- Analytics – all the features that allow you to track open rate, engagement, responsiveness, closed deals, etc., are crucial. They let you analyze the sales operations process all the time, find bottlenecks, and eliminate them.
- Usability – check how easy it is to learn the tool and implement it into your workflow. In other words, how much time it will take until you see the real value from using the proposal software.
- User Interface – test the tool and see if you simply enjoy using it, if the interface is nice, easy to work with, and responsive.
How do you choose the right proposal software tool for you?
It’s worth mentioning that there are different types of proposal software. Some of them can assist you in the whole process, from creation to management and analytics. Others are specialized in the management and reporting part. And those are perfect for businesses that are happy with what they create, they just don’t know what to do next.
So, first, you have to analyze the needs of your business and your customers. Then, decide on which stage of the proposal process you need help and automation.
Once you know that, it’s time for some testing. Try out different tools and check which one works well for you. In this article, we mention various platforms that offer a free trial period, so it shouldn’t be a problem to test a few and see what suits you best.
If you want to save some time, keep on reading. We did half of the work for you! Here’s an overview of the 10 best proposal management software. Hopefully, you’ll find something for yourself.
Proposal management software – comparison table
Let’s start with an overview of the most important features of the 10 best proposal management software.
Top 10 proposal management software
Now, let’s take a closer look into each of these tools.
Sellizer
Sellizer is a comprehensive proposal software and sales support tool. Thanks to the live tracking and instant notifications, you’ll be able to contact leads at the exact moment when they are most exposed to your offer.
What’s super useful as well, is the option to know which parts of your proposals were the most interesting for potential customers. Extensive analytics allow you to track how long they were reading the offer, on which pages they spent the most time, which elements they skipped, if they shared the content with someone or if they printed it. It will help you customize the proposal accordingly and lead the discussion.
With Sellizer, you’ll understand your customers better and increase your sales performance significantly.
Key features:
- personalized proposals
- easy attachments management
- SMS notifications
- extensive live analytics
- leads assessment
- lead nurturing and the possibility to automate follow-ups
- lead forms
- email templates
Docsend
Docsend is a platform for sharing all kinds of documents securely and easily. It allows you to store documents, password protect them, and analyze what’s going on after sending them. It integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.
Docsend’s users value the most the fact that it helps them keep all the documents organized in one place – easy to find and work with. Such a system saves a lot of time and lets the salespeople focus on their primary tasks.
Key features:
- easy sharing with a link
- real-time insights and analytics
- possibility to update shared files at any time
- eSignature
- increased security
Bit.ai
Bit.ai is a document collaboration platform built for teams and individuals. No matter if you want to organize and share notes, documents, client deliverables, projects, or technical guides – Bit.ai lets you do that.
Bit.ai offers its services to a very broad range of clients. Individual users benefit from the space to store and organize their documents. Teams, on the other hand, can make their work more efficient by sharing documents with each other and with their customers or business partners. It’s especially convenient for teams working from different places in the world, as it makes collaboration much easier.
Key features:
- template gallery and smart widgets
- smart text editor and the possibility to leave comments
- collaboration features
- multiple integrations (including Google Sheets, Tableau, Trello, Canva, and more)
- documents tracking
PandaDoc
PandaDoc is more than eSignature. Its goal is to help you improve the document workflow in your company and, in consequence, increase your productivity and sales. With PandaDoc, you’ll create attractive documents, you’ll send them, and you’ll track their performance.
What draws attention to this tool are its customization features in the document building space. It’s very easy to make eye-catching proposals by choosing from dynamic elements and ready-to-use templates. But at the same time, users can create custom themes, colors or fonts, and add a branding touch to their offers.
Key features:
- a wide variety of templates
- custom branding
- analytics features
- multiple integrations with tools like Hubspot, Zapier, Stripe, or Google Drive
- access management
Better Proposals
Better Proposals is a proposal management system that lets you create and customize proposals that convert well. Once you know what works well, you can save the best pieces of your proposals to the Content Library for future use.
But don’t think about it as a text editor only. With Better proposals, you’ll also deliver your proposals, price them, and have them signed. Finally, you’ll get an email notification every time your proposal is opened, forwarded, printed, or signed. So you’ll know exactly what’s going on with your offer and when to take the next step and close the deal.
Key features:
- Automatic Designer that creates proposals in minutes
- +160 ready to use designs
- smart follow-ups
- reporting and tracking features
- instants notifications
- intelligent pricing tables that help set fees
- many integrations
Mailtrack
Mailtrack is a free email tracking software for Gmail. If you want to know when your emails are opened by receiving instant notifications with a status update – this is the right tool for you.
Key features:
- fast and lightweight
- free
- easy to use
- simple and intuitive user experience
Mailbutler
Mailbutler is an email extension that helps you track emails, schedule them, and personalize their content. You can use message templates, customize your signature, and track what happens with the email after it’s sent. You can even recall a message if necessary.
Mailbutler also offers interesting features in terms of contacts management. You can add notes and tasks to your prospects or leads, get predictions for the best send times and see review your conversation history with a contact. With Mailbutler, your emails will be much more organized, and you’ll always remember who you should contact and when.
Key features:
- customizable message templates
- collaboration options such as the possibility to share and comment on emails
- real-time notifications following link clicks or email opens
- contacts storage and management
- multiple integrations (including Evernote, Asana, Todoist, and more)
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform made for salespeople by salespeople. It allows you to manage leads and deals, automate communications and track them, as well as dive into important metrics. With Pipedrive, you’ll have all sales-related information in one place.
Users also value that they can create visual sales pipelines and follow them. Whenever they complete a step, Pipedrive reminds them about scheduling the next one. What’s more, you can integrate this tool with Google Calendar and sync all the activities with it.
To make your work more productive check Pipedrive time tracking integration with Time Camp!
Key features:
- visual sales pipelines
- possibility to automate follow-ups
- easy to use
- mobile app available
- extensive reporting features
Hubspot
Hubspot is marketing, sales, and service software with a clear goal – help your business grow. It’s a CRM platform that divides into several tools and integrations that support you at different stages of your workflow. So, depending on your needs, you can choose between Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub.
The Sales Hub has one main goal: eliminate friction at every step. And it really assists you at every stage. From email templates to email tracking, from contact management to meeting scheduler – it’s a full package.
Key features:
- email tracking and notifications
- message templates, and email automation
- email scheduling
- document sharing
- eSignatures
- email sequences
- customizable reporting
- mobile app available
Salesforce
Salesforce is another CRM platform that offers support in different tasks, from marketing to sales and customer service. It allows you to manage leads efficiently, automate administrative tasks, and close more deals, no matter your company size or industry.
For sales-related tasks, it offers an application called Sales Cloud. It allows you to have a complete view of your customers, manage leads, and analyze sales data. It also works great as a sales team management tool. You can monitor all deals in one place and track all associated activities.
Key features:
- lead management
- email templates
- real-time insights
- integrates with Gmail and Outlook
- scales up with ease
- mobile app available
- collaboration features
Indy
Indy is a great proposal management tool for freelancers and independent contractors because it makes writing, sending, and tracking proposals simple for freelancers.
Indy’s Proposals tool uses a simple document editor to help you build a professional proposal in minutes. The editor comes with preformatted content blocks for items like text paragraphs, images, timelines, estimates, and signatures. You can also add branding elements like your logo and brand colors. And with the Free plan, you’ll always have access to all the basic tools you need to manage your business.
Key Features:
- Simple, block-based document editor for quick proposal creation
- Automatic document tracking with esignature integration
- Proposal dashboard to track proposal progress at a glance
- Duplicate proposals to create templates to make the process shorter
Final thoughts
Remember that proposal management software should make your life easier by turning the proposals process into a simple, and effective engine. It should save you time and improve sales results. Keep these goals in mind when choosing the right software for you and your sales will skyrocket. Good luck!