Process

How to Create a Business Proposal That Closes Deals

When it comes to business proposals, there’s always room for improvement.

Small tweaks can make a big difference towards whether or not a client says “yes”—and how quickly they sign off.

Last year, over 1 million proposals were sent with our software, and we analyzed them to uncover trends. We dove into the details of what successful proposals have in common, as well as best practices that our users rely on.

We found out that winning proposals are interactive and feature multimedia content. In this post, we cover smart tips for creating proposals, based on our research.

For all of our the best proposal strategies, download The State of Proposals 2022.

Winning Proposal Structure Tips (What The Research Says)

We have the data on what actually improves the chances of a business proposal being accepted.

1,026,891 business proposals were sent with our proposal software in 2021, and our data team analyzed them to find out what successful proposals have in common.

We discovered both the proposal structure and the design elements that winning proposals share—including a way to boost your closing rate by an impressive 72%.

So keep reading for our data-driven tips on creating better proposal content.

To get all of our data-driven proposal strategies, make sure you download The 2022 State of Proposals.

How to Create a Simple Sales Contract

Looking to draw up a simple sales contract?

We’ve put together a guide for creating easy, efficient sales contracts that close. This guide is based on our own experience with creating and reviewing thousands of simple sales contracts, as well as feedback from our customers who have used our contract templates.

In it, we’ll explore the benefits and challenges of using a contract, review different kinds of contracts, and give you an outline to follow—just to make your life easier.

The Vendor Contract Essentials

Your vendors are important. They often provide important basics of business operations: office supplies, for example, as well as equipment repair and maintenance, internet and phone services, and the raw materials for your products.

But as you grow, it can be difficult to keep track of all your vendors and ensure that everyone is on the same page. This can lead to disputes over prices, payments, and more—and it can cost both parties time and money (and added stress, who needs that?).

In this article we'll learn what a vendor contract is, why they're important and how to create smart vendor contracts that protect your business. Most importantly, we'll discuss how Proposify helps you build vendor contracts that are easy to work with, adapt them over time, and strengthen the partnership between you and the vendors you do business with.

Your Guide To Contract Renewal Workflows

The rate of contract renewals is dropping—fast. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of finance and accounting outsourcing contracts will not be renewed. Why? “Outdated pricing models that do not drive digitization and process improvement,” Gartner Inc reports. Take into consideration that the finance and accounting industry are leaders of the world’s economy (financing alone accounts for 25% of the global economy), and it’s safe to say the trends we see here will likely carry into the rest of the business sector.

What this means is that contract renewal is going to take new creativity, effort, and investment.

If you're one of the millions of businesses who rely on the use of contracts, this is the final of three articles that will help you get ahead of the game when it comes to contract workflows. Check out the first two articles of this series, here:

• Your Guide to Contract Negotiation Workflows

• Your Guide To Contract Approval Workflows

Your Guide To Contract Negotiation Workflows

A contract negotiation workflow is the step-by-step process of moving a legal contract through a business' negotiation process. Each step has specific requirements that must be met before the document moves on to the next step. Here's how to do it right.

Your Guide To Contract Approval Workflows

When your business is growing, you can't afford to be slowed down by inefficient processes. And yet, some inefficiencies are hard to avoid.

Approving a contract is a task that often involves many stakeholders and follows a complex process. In fact, it's easy for it to become the bottleneck of your sales process — unless you use an efficient contract approval workflow.

A contract approval workflow allows you to streamline your existing process and automate tedious tasks. It also helps keep track of who is responsible for what and makes sure that no detail gets overlooked.

10 B2B Sales Methodologies You Need To Know

After years in the sales world, you’re bound to have built up an arsenal of techniques, strategies, and even questions that have proven successful. But as the sales world evolves, your approach needs to change as well. Here are some sales methodologies that can help you keep things fresh and close more deals.

What Are Sales Pods?

In the first episode of our newest series, The Closing Show, the Proposify revenue team uncovers a way to drive 300% more business without increasing costs or hiring additional team members. Conor Cox, our Chief Revenue Officer, takes us through his journey on our latest experiment: sales pods.

How Discovery Sessions Make Closing Easier

Sales and marketing teams spend crazy amounts of time and resources generating leads, only to rush into the proposal stage as soon as they connect with their prospect. Here’s how discovery sessions can help you slow down and set yourself up for a smoother close.