Continuing our series of texts on the advantages of automating documents to speed up the sales cycle, today we are going to talk about the application of this technology to the elaboration of business proposals.
It is true that not all sales teams work with business proposals. There are some simpler transactions that can be formalized with adhesion contracts or purchase orders. However, in the case of more complex services or high-value goods,the proposals are part of the commercial routine.
In such cases, it is no exaggeration to say:
The presentation of business proposals mobilizes a lot of expectations.
After all the conversations, demos and all your commitment to demonstrating the value generated by the product or service, it's time to discuss values, deadlines, scope and deliveries. This is also a strategic step, which requires customization to reconcile what generates the most interest for the buyer, with what observes the company's guidelines.
Understand now how to achieve this balance using a tool that automates documents such as netLex.
Automating standard terms of business proposals
Throughout the sales cycle, you already gathered several pieces of information that will help guide all possible proposal variations.
Take this simple example: imagine a company that leases vehicles and is presenting another company with the offer of leasing an entire fleet. When preparing the proposal, some factors to be taken into account will include the type of vehicle, the lease time and several other elements, right?
Without automation, you need to find a template and manually adjust the conditions to reflect the reality of that specific client.
Some kinds of problems that arise from this form of working include:
- Delay in preparing proposals
- Errors in manually transcribing customer data
- Placing incorrect conditions in the proposal
- Use of templates that are not the most up-to-date
To different degrees, each of these problems has the potential to generate attrition for clients or damage to your career. It's one thing to apologize for getting the address wrong. Another thing is to send a proposal with outdated pricing and have to explain this to your manager.
Compared to this manual scenario, how does automation work?
Instead of filling out the document manually, you answer a form with all the information that is relevant to defining the proposal’s outline. Meanwhile, netLex has already been programmed to interpret these data and reflect specific consequences on the text.
Following our previous example, one of the factors that probably influences pricing is the length of the lease. Let's assume that the company has a guideline indicating that the price for leasing for one year is X and for each additional year Y is added to the value. The form will contain the question “What will be the duration of the contract”. From there, netLex will be programmed to capture this response, make the necessary calculations as indicated in the guideline, and reflect in the proposal not only the term of the lease, but also the price!
Here are some of the main benefits of using this technology:
Veja agora alguns dos benefícios do uso dessa tecnologia:
Advantages of proposal automation with netLex
- Conformity: all proposals come out in accordance with the conditions pre-approved by the company
- Agility: the document is generated automatically from the simple completion of the form
- Correction: there's less chance of mistakes as there's no need to do math or write documents manually
Bonus: is it possible to integrate your CRM, such as Salesforce, to netLex! That way, when you fill out the form, a portion of the responses will have already been pulled directly from your leads base!
In addition to proposals, you can also automate the preparation of contracts! Learn more at: Contract management at the sales team: are you creating problems or solutions?
But you may be wondering: what about when I need to ditch the standard proposal and give my client a special condition?
This is also possible with proposal automation!
Workflow for approving changes in business proposals
A salesperson’s routine is not made only of standard proposals. It is often necessary to change conditions for strategic customers and submit this modification for internal approval within the company.
Without automation, the approval process is usually done by email or in the company's chat, right?
But this generates a series of problems, as:
- Loss of approval history for that change
- Lack of visibility into how often standard conditions are modified
- Difficulty in monitoring the effectiveness of special conditions in closing deals
Compared to this manual scenario, how does automation work?
Inside netLex, it is possible to create automatic flows in case it is necessary to approve a modification in a proposal. This will send the document to whoever should decide about that specific condition.
Returning to our fleet leasing example, imagine that your potential customer is a large company with constantly expanding demand. As such a partnership would be extremely valuable for your organization, you suggest modifying the proposal to make a long term contracting more attractive.
In netLex, you fill out the form and suggest a new wording for the clause. From then on, the system will be configured to forward the document to your manager, who can approve, disapprove or even improve upon your suggestion. Afterwards, you can forward the proposal to the prospect.
Here are some of the main benefits for your company:
Advantages of the automated workflow with netLex
- Record building: the entire flow of approval in case of changed conditions is recorded in netLex.
- Visibility: your manager will be able to have visibility on all proposals submitted with variations in comparison to the standard.
- Compliance: your company is safer as every variation of proposals will follow a predetermined approval process.
This way, you reconcile the advantages of document automation with all the flexibility you need to always present the best proposal to your customers!
Once the proposal has been sent, the negotiation phase begins! Keep up with our blog to understand: Is there a way to negotiate proposals within netLex? Spoiler alert: there is, and it gets much easier!
Automation of business proposals with netLex
In this text you saw some of the main advantages of automating business proposals with netLex, including:
- Agility in the preparation of business proposals
- Ease of applying the correct conditions
- Flexibility to adapt the offer when necessary
- Compliance in the approval of modifications
- Full record of the authorization of special conditions
- Visibility for the manager on the approved changes
- Integration with your CRM to reduce manual work and much more!
netLex is a platform used by leading companies from ScaleUps to Fortune 500s to create, approve, sign and manage their documents. Talk to our experts and learn how you can also enhance your contract’s life cycle!
You might also be interested in: Contracts on the sell-side: a gold mine for data-driven management
