Site icon MonstersPost

Save 15 Hours a Week on Proposal Creation without Compromising the Quality

Nick Campbell
proposal and sales quoting software

Are you stuck in the endless mess of the proposal-making process? Renaming, copying, pasting, and other machine-oriented actions can take much of your time, whereas misspellings and mediocrity can kill the deal. And you’ll never know whether clients even viewed your proposal or left it to grow moldy in the mailbox. Get done with the outdated principles – use the top proposal and sales quoting software featured in this post.

With the cut-throat competition of today, speed is a critical factor to outrun rivals, closing more deals, and boosting sales. Proposal automation software can help you cut down the amount of time required from 3 hours to around 30-40 minutes. Two hours saved don’t seem to play a really huge role in the weekly workflow, but what about the whole year? Time savings can be unbelievable, and you can focus more on other purposes, e.g. finding new clients or polishing your projects. As you see, using tools of this category is a smart investment that will be repaid in no time.

In this post, you can find proposal management and quote tools available for a low monthly fee, lower than the cost of tea or coffee required for a week. Most of them come with a free trial and some offer even a free plan. Thus, you can try the tool’s functionality out at no cost until you see its advantages for your business. Thousands of reps are already closing deals with minimal expenses. Don’t lag behind them! Give these tools a try to create brilliant proposals. Plus … you can contribute your mite to the green mission, as you’ll save on ink and paper too.

Main Features of Proposal and Quoting Tools

To help you choose the right tool, we’ve created a checklist with the main features you may need to use. Here they are.

Now, check what each piece of the top proposal and sales quoting software offers. Scan through the checklists, read more detailed descriptions, or go directly to their official sites.

RFPIO

RFPIO is the leading RFP response management software, trusted by some of the world’s smartest companies to manage responses to RFPs, RFIs, Security Questionnaires, and more.

As an AI-powered sales enablement solution, RFPIO makes it easier for sales teams to create their best content, respond to opportunities, and deliver on expectations. By centrally managing company knowledge and making it available on-demand, RFPIO allows organizations to harness its power for nearly real-time response—driving sales productivity and improving sales outcomes. More than 175,000 users at organizations such as Google, Adobe, Atlassian, Microsoft, Tenable, and Zoom Video trust their response management strategy to RFPIO, elevating sales enablement as a competitive differentiator for buying and customer support experiences.

Proposify

Proposify comes with a gallery of 19 proposal templates divided into 5 categories. They include design, software, marketing, events, and real estate. To create attractive cover pages for proposals, there are multiple pre-made themes with high-quality images. You can also supply each proposal with different elements, from YouTube and Vimeo videos to tables with payment schedules, timelines, and pricing grids. It’s also possible to upload some extra files in Word, PDF, and Excel formats.

The tool also features a built-in editor with drag-and-drop functionality. It allows you to switch between 600+ Google fonts, resize elements, change their colors, add borders, customize style sheets, style header, and footer rows, upload your logo, etc. Clients who haven’t viewed your proposal can receive an automatic reminder, which will increase your chance of closing the deal. Some users of Proposify have complaints about the UX and ask to make it more intuitive so that they could master the tool faster.

Nusii

Nusii enables you to use one of its built-in professional templates or create your own one. You can brand your proposals by adding your corporate colors and logo to them. The tool is integrated with a smart notification system. It will send you a message telling you that a client has viewed your proposal. If the recipient accepts it, he/she can sign it via any device, be it a desktop or smartphone.

What Nusii definitely needs is to enrich its set of templates. At present, it offers only two options, namely web design, and social media templates. I’d personally like to have more proposal templates at my disposal to choose from. Although the tool has multi-user accounts, it doesn’t provide team collaboration, but hopefully, such a feature will be added in the near future.

Proposable

Proposable has a catalog of 23 pre-designed templates for various business niches, e.g. property, construction, cleaning, and insurance, to name a few. The tool enables you to offer products and services in a table-like format known as line items. When it comes to estimation, most foreign currencies are supported. You can keep estimate line items in the content library, where templates and proposal sections are also stored.

Proposable also provides a set of tools to visualize and report on the efficiency of your proposals. You will receive email and SMS notifications to track customers’ actions while they’re viewing your proposals. Some users say that it takes time for things to load. So if you have a little slow Internet connection, you may want to opt for an alternative tool.

Quotient

Quotient allows you to create attractive quotes with images, files, and website links for greater engagement. The tool is actually meant for those of you who are looking for an easy-to-use solution. Just title your quote, add items and terms, save the changes, and voila. It is ready for sending. When customers receive your quote, they can add questions to it and accept it in a legally bound way.

The intuitive dashboard of Quotient provides meaningful insights into the performance of your quotes. You can see how many times each of them has been opened and when it was last viewed. Unfortunately, the tool doesn’t provide any pre-made templates, but you can create them yourself if you like.

Loopio

Loopio provides the enormous flexibility required to build proposals of any size and via any device. This fully responsive and speedy platform features an intelligent search engine, which will help you find the necessary content in the library easily. There are also categories and custom tags to let you sort different content types, e.g. images, text, and documents. By means of a built-in style editor, you can manage the look and feel of your proposals.

If you need a simple, drag-and-drop solution with multiple built-in templates, Loopio is definitely not for you. Its main goal is to help large teams manage loads of proposal content, respond to long RFPs of over 50 pages, etc. Before using this tool, contact their friendly support team to find out whether it really fits your needs.

Quotegine

With the help of Quotegine, you can create HTML proposals yourself or opt for one of the built-in unique templates. It’s possible to change layouts with a single click, change font styles, and even add your own background for custom branding. Due to a drag-and-drop editor, the whole process of customization is as easy as pie. To create quotes on the fly, you can make use of pricing tables with an auto-calculating option.

Online signature and one-click approvals can make it easy for customers to close your deals. Real-time information about their actions adds more value to Quotegine. Just be careful when choosing the plan, as some must-have features are locked in the cheapest one.

Paperless Proposal

With Paperless Proposal, you’ll have all the essentials at hand while building proposals. They include a library of documents, templates, personalization options, pricing tools to eliminate errors, and much more. To create engaging proposals, you can supply them with multimedia options and Word, Excel, PDF, and PowerPoint files.

Moreover, Paperless Proposal comes with analytic tools to give you insights into customer behavior and interests. You can track your proposal at each stage of its lifecycle process, i.e. unsent, sent, viewed, and signed. If your proposal is too large to send via email, you can simply send a link to it and get a message when customers view it.

Keep in mind that you may face minor problems with pagination if you use a table of contents in your proposal. So make sure you’ve double-checked things. Some users also say they had issues with editing specifications, reporting, and time-consuming customization. However, the friendly team behind Paperless Proposal solved all of them in no time, so you seem to be in safe hands.

NiftyQuoter

NiftyQuoter is packed with 3 kinds of templates, particularly theme, content, and service/product templates. Its WYSIWYG editor turns customization into a breeze with a drag-and-drop interface. Inside the text of your proposal, you can use tokens, both predefined ones like [ClientFirstName] and your own ones like [my_token_abc]. The tool will automatically replace all the repetitive occurrences.

What’s cool, you can divide your quotes into groups and reveal the costs of each group by means of subtotals. To target the international audience, client-side texts can be translated into other languages apart from English. You are also entitled to set an expiration date, which means customers won’t be able to approve a certain proposal after that date. However, they will still be able to request an updated version of that proposal with single a click.

The dashboard of the tool provides a basic overview of your proposals and customers’ actions such as views, comments, approvals, and reasons for rejection. Charts, filters, and search options make it easier to explore this data. There’s one thing that may cause some discomfort. When you choose from product lists, it’s unclear whether an item has been chosen.

Mimiran

Mimiran is advised for everyone who wants to build multimedia-rich proposals and do it with a few clicks. Snippets enable you to reuse content blocks, e.g. descriptions of services and staff bios, as long as you need. When customers read your proposal, you will get an email message telling you which sections they’ve read and when.

Here’s what I also find advantageous about Mimiran. It automatically inserts the right customer names, pricing, and other details into proposals. This feature can secure you against any possible confusion of customers’ names. Moreover, the tool generates accurate prices automatically. In terms of user experience, it may take a while for you to build your first templates.

Nibaal

Nibaal gives the advantage of creating proposals with Microsoft Word. Its text editor comes with a set of advanced features including a table of the content generator, format painter, table merger, etc. To signify your brand identity, your proposals can also include your corporate logo, colors, fonts, watermark, etc. They are stored in the repository, where you can filter them by categories using tags. Multiple members of your team can work on the same doc and track each other’s changes. Take into account that the tool also operates in the offline mode.

What’s notable about Nibaal is the possibility to create unlimited versions of the same proposal. However, if you need a pre-made solution, you are limited to only 3 templates. Although they are customizable, you may want to have a wider choice at your disposal.

TinderBox

TinderBox is optimized for literally any device. You can generate proposals and customers can view, comment, and accept them via smartphones, tablets, or desktops. In terms of branding, it’s possible to add videos, case studies, and pricing to your proposals. Thanks to the integration of analytics, you can figure out what content is the best to close more deals. Each time a client views or forwards your proposal, you will get a real-time alert to your email or SMS box.

TinderBox is the only tool on my list that offers no free trial. So, you won’t know what you will get before paying. Are you brave enough to go blind? There are also no proposal templates for those of you who need a ready-made solution.

ClientSky

ClientSky is another good tool to build mobile-ready proposals with images, videos, and advanced pricing options. To make your proposal recognizable, you can use your business logo, palette, domain name, and terms and conditions. To avoid any confusion, the tool automatically populates your client’s name, his company’s name, and abbreviations throughout the proposal. Before sending, you can preview it the same way as recipients will see it. Once the proposal is sent, it’s possible to add updates and comments to it.

In terms of analytics, you can track the following metrics: the hit ratio, sales over time, and by a person in tables, graphs, and charts. There are currently only two pricing options, i.e. one-time and recurring fees. It would be cool if the team behind ClientSky could expand their number to provide more potential for users.

Conga Composer

Conga Composer enables you to create literally any kind of proposal, e.g. business, sales, consulting, contract, grant, etc. You can supply them with complex content including charts, graphs, tables, images, custom fonts, watermarks, global currencies, etc. It’s possible to display or hide some content based on your business rules. The tool is compatible with all mobile browsers and supports Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, and PDF formats. It is also integrated with the top e-signature providers such as DocuSign, Adobe EchoSign, and Sertifi.

Some users report that the tool sometimes keeps them waiting for a while before their templates are generated. Conga Composer would also be more practical if its developers could let users preview their work live, without the need to save it.

Tilkee

Tilkee is meant to track business proposals rather than create or edit them. It allows you to upload documents of any type, from Word and PDF to MP4 and YouTube videos. You can take full control over the use of your documents, e.g. set deadlines, disable downloads, and create links with secure access. The tool provides detailed stats on customers’ behavior. You can check the documents read, links clicked, time spent on each proposal, a device used, and other details. By means of a machine-learning algorithm, you can access tips on when to follow up on customers.

What seems a bit odd about Tilkee is a $2 fee per signature regardless of the package. Other tools from this selection don’t charge extra money for this service.

Qwilr

Qwilr is designed to replace your quotes and proposals with interactive, mobile-friendly web pages. You can either build your own one from scratch or use one of the ready-to-send templates. Qwilr also comes with a quoting tool that can make all the calculations for you. Passwords, secret links, and time limits will keep your documents secure. By means of analytics, you can track each view, measure engagement, test different proposals, etc. To personalize them, there are easy-to-use custom styles and various fonts.

The tool doesn’t enable you to upload Word and other files to your proposals, but you can still link them to Google Spreadsheets. Also, don’t overlook the fact that Qwilr gives access to only 4 templates at present.

Proposal and Quoting Tools with Free Plans

Here is a separate block with a few tools offering free plans.

PandaDoc

PandaDoc offers the largest collection of pre-made templates compared to the other proposal and sales quoting software. You can choose from 80 options whose topics vary from traveling and landscaping to catering and janitorial services. The templates are customizable, allowing you to change the font color and size, and add hyperlinks, bullet points, background images, logo, and much more. To let you build error-free quotes and proposals, the tool automatically calculates taxes, discounts, margins, and totals. Among other benefits of PandaDoc, it’s worthwhile to mention a drag-and-drop builder, real-time commenting, and workflow automation tools that facilitate team collaboration.

The free personal plan of the tool has some limitations, i.e. a single user, only 1 template, and 3 documents. There are also a few issues for the PandaDoc team to address. For example, it’d be nice if they allowed users to view all the proposals sent in chronological order and enable them to return the deleted ones. Using the tool, you’ll need total white labeling, as the name PandaDoc sounds a bit informal and may not inspire clients’ trust.

Bidsketch

Bidsketch offers a free, yearly service for non-profits or those of you who will write an honest review about it. You can use the tool with your own HTML / CSS designs or built-in templates, each of which is available in different colors and exportable to PDF. Once a client approves your proposal, comments it or changes its status, you will receive a notification. Moreover, Bidsketch also complies with international e-signature laws. The system captures clients’ email & IP addresses and stores their proposals in an archive protected from further changes.

As for file uploading, you can’t attach Word or Excel directly to your proposal. You can only upload them to Google Drive and add a live link to the body of your proposal.

Plus23

Plus23 comes with multiple functions for ease of use. For example, it allows you to resize images by dragging, aligning them, adding videos and pricing options, saving proposals as templates and PDF files, etc. Each proposal can have its own area of comments. Besides text, it’s possible to attach photos and videos to comments. When it comes to joining forces with your team, you can import an address book, control access to individual proposals, share templates, etc. The Plus23 dashboard gives access to activity records and proposals by the user or stages.

The tool doesn’t provide mobile support at the moment, so reaching clients on the go will be a challenge with it. Also, keep in mind that the free plan limits you to only 100MB of storage and one user account.

ProposalPad

ProposalPad is an online proposal system meant for small business owners. Its dashboard allows users to track the number of testimonials and references and the percentage of accepted proposals. For ease of use, all the contacts can be managed in one place. If you have a contact list in another app, you can import it to ProposalPad. Speaking about configuration, it’s possible to change settings once or create multiple configuration files for proposals of different types.

The free basic plan of ProposalPad is limited to 20 MB of storage, 1 template, 1 font, 4 portfolio items, and 1 page for testimonials, references, terms, and processes. Within the free plan, you can’t change the layout alignment, font, and accent colors. The option of online client sign-off is locked as well.

Onsight

Here is the last tool from our selection that comes with a free plan. Onsight allows users to build mobile-friendly quotes, but keep in mind that it was not developed specifically for quoting needs. It is a mobile sales app, and the creation of quotes is just one of its features. However, it doesn’t offer a lot to users in this respect, e.g. there is only one template. So, if you need a quote builder with extended functionality, you’d better use a tool meant for this purpose. But you can still try Onsight out as it has a free package.

Here we are. Proposify seems to be the coolest solution in this selection. It comes with beautiful templates, multiple customization options, easy-to-use options for team collaboration, detailed stats, and everything you may need to optimize the proposal-making process. Frankly speaking, it’s not only my opinion – many other users and even competitors agree with me. And what do you think? Which one of these tools is worth trying? Have you already used any proposal and sales quoting software? Share your experience with us in the comments, please!