Business proposals are essential, but they can be difficult to manage. Teams need to juggle customer requests, formatting issues, approvals, sign-offs, and more while trying to stay efficient and consistent throughout the sales workflow.

Proposal software provides a more efficient way to manage this process effectively. Rather than relying on disconnected systems and manual steps, these solutions offer a faster way to create, share, track, and sign proposal documents. The right platform can even eliminate other single-use products, such as e-signature apps or dedicated document design software.

So, what does proposal software actually do, and what should you look for when shopping for a solution? Do you even need proposal software for your team?

This guide breaks down who uses proposal software, why you might want it, and how it fits into the broader sales process.

What is proposal software?

Proposal software is a digital tool that helps teams create, manage, send, and track business proposals more efficiently.

Rather than building a proposal from scratch or relying on disconnected tools like Microsoft Word, email, or standalone eSignature platforms, proposal software brings each of these disconnected steps into a single, unified process.

However, many proposal solutions even go beyond these basics by including drag-and-drop editors or deep integrations with CRM platforms. Combined with automation, templating, and tracking tools, it’s even possible to streamline the entire proposal process so that documents can be fully generated in a matter of minutes.

Who uses proposal software?

While the functionality within proposal software might seem entirely sales-focused, these platforms can support a wide range of users and use cases.

The tools included within these systems are valuable across multiple departments and industries, particularly where collaboration, accuracy, and speed are essential.

Here’s a closer look at the team configurations that proposal software commonly supports:

  • Sales reps and teams. Salespeople use proposal software to generate proposals quickly, personalize content, and track engagement in real time. Many proposal solutions can also help to streamline the approval process, manage follow-ups, and improve visibility into the sales cycle with different reports and dashboards.
  • Cross-functional teams. Teams like marketing, legal, and finance can use proposal software to support sales processes while protecting company identity. For example, marketing can ensure brand consistency, while legal reviews contract language, and finance approves pricing and specific terms.
  • Freelancers and agencies. Smaller teams and independent professionals can use these tools for proposal writing, RFP response, project management, and more with greater efficiency, allowing them to reduce admin time, manage more clients, and win more business.

No matter the size or structure of a given team, proposal management software helps to simplify the bidding process, align contributors, and improve the overall quality and consistency of sales documents.

Why use proposal software?

Without automation, proposal creation is a cumbersome process that doesn’t scale with the needs of the business.

As teams grow and begin to handle more complex deals, inefficiencies created when building proposals and quotes can slow deal velocity to a crawl. Team members need to update documents manually, and it can take hours or days to modify even basic proposal templates and prepare documents for customers and stakeholders. If the process isn’t followed exactly, it’s also easy to misquote pricing or deadlines, potentially damaging company profits and deliverability.

Proposal software helps to reduce friction across the entire process by accelerating workflows, providing guardrails for the quoting process, and giving teams a more structured way to manage proposal creation.

Common challenges solved by proposal software

Even with a clear sales process in place, many teams still rely on disconnected tools like spreadsheets or standalone document editors to manage proposals. These gaps introduce inefficiencies, reduce process visibility, and create opportunities for costly errors.

Proposal software gives teams a way to address these issues in a user-friendly way so that deals always stay on track.

With the right software solution, even small businesses can tackle the following major hurdles:

  • Time-consuming formatting. Proposal solutions eliminate formatting challenges through the implementation of a reusable template system. This allows teams to use the same structure for every proposal while personalizing customer details and modifying offered solutions to meet customer needs.
  • Version control issues. During negotiation, documents are modified all the time. When sending proposals via email, it’s easy to lose track of those changes, leading to confusion as deals evolve and finalize. Proposal software like PandaDoc puts the document in a single location and uses secured links to provide access so that everyone is always looking at the most recent version of the document.
  • Lack of visibility into proposal status. Teams working with static documents have no insight into when a proposal has been opened, viewed, or shared. Proposal solutions with built-in document tracking and notification can let teams know when documents are accessed and what changes are made so that reps can plan their follow-ups strategically.
  • Approval delays. Routing proposals through legal, finance, or leadership via email can create process bottlenecks, causing deals to languish or fall through the cracks. Proposal solutions typically use automated workflows and a structured process to remove these roadblocks and expedite internal reviews so that deals make it to clients in less time.
  • Manual pricing and quoting. Manually keying numbers into each proposal increases the chance of a misquote, especially for products and services with variable pricing. This can affect profitability, slow down negotiations, and ruin early-stage relationships if prospective clients feel misled by bad numbers. Proposal solutions solve this with built-in product catalogs or dedicated CPQ functionality.
  • Inconsistent follow-ups and sign-offs. Although it’s not included in every proposal solution, some platforms offer e-signing and automatic follow-ups. This prevents reps from needing to chase after status updates or export deals to an entirely different platform in order to capture a final sign-off.

By solving these common roadblocks, proposal software creates a more efficient and reliable process. Teams can move faster, avoid mistakes, and work together to support more predictable deal outcomes.

Key benefits of proposal software

When implemented correctly, proposal software does more than simplify document creation. These platforms create a more consistent sales operation by centralizing documents in one place and providing tools to manage and control access.

Once the immediate pain points of proposal creation are under control, the long-term value that these software solutions provide becomes even more apparent.

Speed and efficiency

Proposal software effectively streamlines every stage of proposal creation. Rather than building documents from scratch, teams can reuse proposal templates, insert pre-approved content blocks, and insert customer-specific details through variables and placeholders to personalize each document.

The level of customization and control in this process varies greatly by platform. For example, PandaDoc and Proposify both use a block-based, drag-and-drop document editor to allow for fast, customizable designs while solutions like Bidsketch and QuoteWerks use (very different) compiler technologies.

Regardless of the solution, almost every platform relies on reusable templates, content libraries, product catalogs, and similar features to speed up sales outputs.

On-brand professionalism

First impressions matter, and branded documents are no exception. While not directly related to sales, proposal software solutions usually allow for a variety of branding options as part of the preparation process. Using PandaDoc, teams can add logos, format documents to specific brand colors, use specific fonts, and add approved media that aligns to a target industry or an ideal customer profile.

Marketing and brand teams can manage this centrally while allowing sales reps to personalize messaging where it matters most. This is most often done by adding boilerplate language to a specific template. Teams that need more flexibility can also add useful snippets to the content library and give sales reps the authority to add that language to a document, when required.

This approach improves quality control and allows companies to present a unified, professional image to potential customers. When combined with the other automation solutions that proposal software provides, these changes are baked into the quoting process, allowing for improved control without slowing the process down.

Visibility and tracking

Most proposal tools include built-in analytics that track proposals and notify users when customers engage with a specific doc.

The exact data varies by platform. PandaDoc notifies reps when documents are opened, and audit trails keep track of user activity. It’s even possible to see how long someone spent on each page of your document. Other platforms give different information. Qwilr, a web-based proposal solution, tracks metrics like which modules a user engaged with and which links were clicked.

While every solution provides a slightly different set of data, the ultimate goal is to give teams an opportunity to engage with prospective buyers at the right time and close deals in a way that feels intuitive and natural.

Collaboration and scalability

In most organizations, proposal creation is a team effort. Sales reps need to create proposals, but legal and finance may need to review terms and offerings, approve pricing, or confirm compliance. Meanwhile, marketing needs to build targeted documentation for specific markets, and customer success may need post-sale solutions for upsell opportunities.

Using the right proposal software allows all of this to happen inside the same platform. Access controls, dedicated workspaces, internal comments, and approval workflows are collaboration tools built to reduce confusion and ensure that the entire workflow is consistent without increasing administrative overhead.

By introducing customizable, repeatable workflows through software automation, teams can work together to close deals with greater confidence. Proposal management can happen as a natural part of the sales process, allowing teams to self-manage every stage of the document lifecycle.

Features to look for in proposal software

Every proposal software can vary greatly in functionality.

Some solutions only offer simple editing tools. These can build good proposals and might be a great fit for small teams, but they often lack the features required for scalability and growth. At the same time, ultra high-end software can easily exceed budgets or may come equipped with a kitchen sink of features that aren’t immediately useful.

Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the most essential capabilities, align with optional tools that can enhance performance as your sales process matures.

Must-haves

This section includes the essential features required to make a competitive, professional proposal. Although most platforms on the market today offer these features as part of a minimum or standard package, it’s possible that some core functionality is missing.

While shopping around for the right solution, be sure to double-check and make sure that everything in this list is included.

  • Document builder. In order to build a proposal, you’ll need some kind of editing or building tool. This eliminates the need for external design software and streamlines the editing process. Most proposal solutions offer a slightly different experience, from our own drag-and-drop editor to programmatic compiling or WYSIWYG-style editors.
  • Template tools. Proposal templates allow teams to standardize layouts, messaging, and structure. Combined with variables and smart fields, templates ensure consistency while saving time on manual entry. At PandaDoc, we also offer a vast template library to help you get started.
  • Multimedia support. Many proposals include more than text. Support for embedded videos, product images, and interactive elements helps to create engaging, modern proposals that stand out.
  • Approval workflows. Essential for any team that needs to hand off documents internally, approval processes and user permissions create an internal hierarchy that allows documents to be reviewed and verified with different teams before being sent to prospective customers.
  • Analytics and tracking. Real-time insights into when a document is opened, viewed, or signed helps teams monitor engagement throughout the sales cycle, and boost win rates by planning follow-ups more effectively.
  • Quoting tools. Built in pricing tables and product catalogs reduce the risk of errors and help teams create accurate, dynamic quotes directly inside the proposal. In some cases, this can be combined with CPQ (configure, price, quote) functionality for even faster document generation.
  • E-signing tools. Integrated electronic signature capabilities allow clients to sign proposals without leaving the platform. This speeds up deal completion and eliminates the need for third-party e-signature software.

Nice-to-have

This section includes features that are highly useful but aren’t required for everyone. However, as your team grows and begins to take on more complex tasking, many of these features can be essential for maintaining an optimized workflow.

To avoid a forced switch to a new software at a later date, keep an eye out for these features and make sure the proposal solution you choose can grow and evolve alongside your business.

  • Extensible document functionality. Often, the same tools that teams use to build proposals can also be used for invoices, quotes, contracts, and other business documentation — but only if the software supports it. If you want the software to handle more than proposals, make sure that it has the ability to build other types of documents.
  • Payment collection. Some platforms support direct payments directly within a proposal, helping teams shorten the time from signed agreement to overall revenue. While this can accelerate sales cycles, take the time to verify that the platform supports the payment providers you use.
  • Content library. A centralized library of approved language, case studies, and product descriptions allows teams to reuse content and maintain brand consistency without generating every new document from scratch. This is a great addition for teams who need added versatility when building winning proposals and other documents.
  • Integrations. Connecting with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and other tools in the company tech stack enables teams to sync data, trigger workflows, and align proposal activity with broader sales operations.
  • Automation workflows. The ability to automate specific processes like internal approvals, reminders, and follow-ups reduces administrative tasks and uses systemization to keep proposals moving forward.
     
  • Custom domain mapping. Some proposal solutions (notably Qwilr or Bidsketch) allow users to map the proposal process to their own web domain for better branding consistency.
  • API access. Useful for teams who want to integrate proposal data into other systems or platforms, API tools can help users create custom automations based on specific triggers or business logic while also extending platform functionality.
  • Collaborative workspaces. Support for shared spaces and internal commenting helps teams work together to review and refine proposals without relying heavily on email threads or external messaging tools.
  • Accessible support. Live, human-powered chat, onboarding resources, and responsive support teams reduce friction during implementation and can help teams learn how to build more customized proposals using platform tools.
  • Custom branding options. Control over fonts, colors, logos, and design elements ensures that every document aligns with brand guidelines.

How to pick the right proposal software for your business

Proposal platforms vary greatly in capability, pricing, and overall design philosophy. Some are built for speed and simplicity. Others prioritize customization, integration, and overall scalability.

Choosing the right tool for your team means balancing your current needs with future growth while also making sure the software aligns with existing workflows.

Here are a few essential elements you should consider when evaluating potential providers.

Budget and ROI

Pricing models for proposal software can run from basic, low-cost tools with limited functionality to enterprise-grade platforms with extensive features and customization options.

While it may be tempting to consider a low-cost solution, it’s worth considering how the software will contribute to team productivity and output. A slightly higher cost for greater functionality may result in more time saved and fewer hours spent on things like formatting, follow-up, or manual data entry.

It’s possible that, although you’re paying more for a proposal solution, you’re recovering that money through improved team efficiency, allowing reps to support additional customers without the need for additional headcount.

Ease of use

Modern software is powerful, but it won’t deliver good results if your team isn’t comfortable with it.

Look for platforms that offer modern, intuitive interfaces and require minimal training to get started. This is something we’ve worked for years to refine at PandaDoc. Our user interface is very similar to the interface you’ll see inside a standard word processor or a drag-and-drop website builder. It’s easy to see changes in real time, as they happen, and that makes editing and formatting much easier.

However, many platforms — especially those that rely on document compilers or generators — separate the design process from the ordering process. In this scenario, the design team creates the proposal using code blocks and the sales rep uses a separate interface to build orders. When the rep has collected everything for the order, they press a button and the platform generates a new proposal with the required information. The downside is that the rep doesn’t see the finished proposal until the entire process is complete and may only have a limited ability to modify that output.

Before buying, consider taking advantage of free trials or live demos to test how quickly new users can create and send proposals without outside assistance.

Sales cycle complexity

The complexity of your sales process should directly inform your feature requirements.

Teams that operate on short, transactional sales cycles might need a lightweight solution that prioritizes speed and templating. Organizations managing long-term deals, RFP responses, and multi-step negotiations are likely to need more robust features like approval workflows and versatile pricing tools.

Some proposal solutions also include a CPQ element, which can be a valuable asset if your product catalog or pricing models are extensive and complex.

Team size and collaboration needs

Everyone wants to move more quickly, but the scrappy flexibility that smaller teams enjoy fades as an organization grows.

Larger teams typically require a more structured approach to content sharing, user roles, and internal reviews. That’s especially true if your proposals need feedback from multiple departments (legal, finance, etc.). In that case, make sure the platform supports collaboration tools like internal commenting, approval routing, and user permissions.

The right tools can help to streamline workflows so that larger teams can shed cumbersome handoffs and administrative tasking and improve deal velocity.

Integration with existing tools

Powerful proposal software should complement and enhance your existing tech stack, not compete with it. Look for platforms that integrate seamlessly with your CRM, project management, and communication tools.

If possible, try to pick a solution that allows for data syncing between your systems, which can further reduce the amount of window hopping and task switching required to build a document.

For example, PanadDoc uses a unique two-way data sync when integrating with HubSpot or Salesforce. While this allows the platforms to seamlessly pass data back and forth, it also enables the user to build proposals directly within the CRM using PandaDoc tools. In other words, proposal creation can happen in one place (the CRM interface) without forcing users to switch between the CRM and the proposal tool.

By integrating with tools you already use, it’s possible to eliminate duplicate data entry, automate document generation, and make sure that proposal processes fit naturally into your sales workflow.

If integrations are limited, check whether the platform supports API access or offers a roadmap for future connections.

Create stunning proposals in a flash with PandaDoc

The right proposal software helps teams move faster, stay aligned, and deliver professional proposals that are consistent, accurate, and easy to track.

By centralizing document creation and consolidating the tools required to create actionable proposals (document design, e-signing, quoting, etc.) in one place, it’s easier for teams to scale without adding unnecessary complexity.

PandaDoc is built to support growing sales teams at every stage of the proposal lifecycle. With tools for document creation, pricing, content management, and more, teams using PandaDoc can build truly stunning proposals without sacrificing flexibility or control.

But you don’t have to take our word for it! Sign up for a free 14-day trial to see firsthand how PandaDoc can level up your entire document workflow.

Disclaimer

PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Frequently asked questions

  • These terms are used interchangeably and mean roughly the same thing. 

    Most modern proposal solutions include automation tools as part of their standard feature set. This functionality is what sets proposal software apart from manual-only solutions like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, where most work is done manually and templating options are limited.

  • Proposal software streamlines the entire proposal process by centralizing the workload and consolidating the production process.

    Teams can automate content production and formatting while taking advantage of collaboration features that further expedite the sales process. Most importantly, the lion’s share of this work is done in a single, unified platform, eliminating the need for disconnected email threads and spreadsheets or standalone solutions like dedicated e-signing tools.

    This consolidation results in faster turnaround times and fewer errors for each proposal.

  • Look for essential tools like a document builder, templating options, pricing tables, analytics, and e-signature support. Check out the full list in the article for more details.

    Ideally, the feature set you select can help your team accelerate their existing sales process while also leaving room to scale and grow as deals become more complex.

  • Mostly, this is done by centralizing the proposal workflow and creating a unified, repeatable process that can be used for every new document. 

    Using templates and automated workflows, proposal software makes it easier for teams to collaborate as proposals are developed while maintaining consistency throughout the process.

    The result is a predictable, streamlined process that everyone understands and that is partially guided by workflows that you build for your team.

  • A PDF template is static and requires manual editing. When sent to a user, it won’t track engagement and may need to be signed using different tools.

    Proposal software allows users to create, send, and track dynamic documents with integration collaboration and e-signing capabilities. It’s faster, easier, and it all happens inside a single platfo

  • Not at all! While sales teams are the primary users, proposal software is also used by a variety of other teams, including marketing, legal, finance, customer success, and operations. 

    Cross-functional teams can collaborate more effectively through shared templates, content libraries, and approval workflow, making proposal software a valuable tool beyond just sales.

    In some cases, it’s also possible to use the proposal software to create other document types. For example, PandaDoc can be used to create proposals, contracts, NDAs, invoices, case studies, and other sales collateral by using the same set of tools in a different way. However, many proposal solutions like that versatility and are singularly focused on proposal generation.