Your rep might be spending 20 minutes building a quote that should only take them two. They’re hunting down product names, copying prices from a spreadsheet, formatting a PDF, and then emailing it, all to do it over again when the buyer wants to change the quantity on one line item. In the meantime, the deal is sitting idle. 

Your product and pricing table already exists, so it’s not a catalog problem. The issue is that it’s disconnected from the document the customer actually sees and signs. All quotes are getting built from scratch, which means there’s more of a likelihood of introducing the wrong price, an incorrect SKU, or a missing line item.

A sales order form connects your catalog directly to a signable, sendable document. Buyers see your products, select what they want, adjust quantities and sign all in one place. The rep’s job shrinks from “build the quote” to “send the link.”

Here’s how to build one in PandaDoc.

Already convinced? Start a free PandaDoc trial and build your first order form today — no integration or developer needed.

Why building quotes from scratch is costing your team more than time

Manual quoting is slow and structurally broken at scale, introducing plenty of risk and challenges:

• Every quote is a data entry risk. When the catalog and the document aren't connected, reps have to key in prices manually. This leads to outdated rates, wrong SKUs, and missing items becoming more inevitable as your team grows and your product list changes.

• Time-to-quote affects close rates. Buyers who get a quote fast are more likely to sign fast. A process that takes hours instead of minutes means unnecessary drop-off at exactly the wrong moment.

• Version confusion. When you’re emailing PDFS, quotes get revised, resent, and re-revised. Neither the rep nor the buyer can be confident they're looking at the current version.

• Rep inconsistency. Different reps might quote the same product differently. Pricing discipline falls apart when there's no enforcement at the document level.

Is a self-serve sales order form right for your sales motion?

Not every deal needs the self-serve model. Here’s a quick list to help you decide if it’s right for you. 

You're a strong fit if:

• You sell from a defined product or service catalog, even if it’s a semi-fixed one

• Reps are spending meaningful time building quotes that should be repeatable

• Buyers can self-select products without a guided, consultative process

• Your pricing is standardized or rule-based, not heavily negotiated deal by deal

Consider alternatives if:

• Every deal is custom-scoped from scratch

• Buyers need a guided approach to understand what to buy

• Pricing is so variable that a catalog-driven form would mislead more than it helps

How a catalog-connected order form works: the basic concept

What makes an order form self-serve is the ability to interact with it. Instead of a static PDF, the buyer sees an order form that they can participate in. They’ll see your products, they can select or deselect items, and they can adjust quantities. They also get to see the total recalculation in real time.

This is a fundamental difference from a traditional quote where the document is static. Instead, the document is live and the buyer isn’t a passive reader, since they can configure their own order.

The rep sees a significant shift in this model. They can configure the template once, send it to the buyer, and wait for the signed document (and optionally paid) to come back. 

How to build a sales order form in PandaDoc: step by step

Step 1: Load your products into the PandaDoc catalog

The product catalog is where all your products, services, SKUs, descriptions, and prices live in PandaDoc. It's the single source of truth that feeds every order form that you build.

Products can be added manually one by one, or you can import them in bulk via CSV. This saves a lot of time if you already have a spreadsheet-based list. Each item can have a name, SKU, price, description, and product image. All of these surface in the order form that the buyer sees.

When you get the catalog right upfront, every future quote goes faster and is more accurate. Reps no longer will have to enter prices manually. The catalog enforces consistency and accuracy across the whole team. 

Step 2: Build your order form template with a quote builder block

Create a new template and add a quote builder block. This is PandaDoc’s modern quoting tool, and where we recommend to start for any new order form. 

From there, you can use “Add from catalog” to pull products right into the builder. All prices and descriptions will populate automatically without having to manually enter anything. 

You can also organize products into sections (like Core Products, Add-ons, and Support Packages) to make it easier to navigate the form. 

The template only has to be configured once. Every order form sent from it will inherit the same product list, structure, and pricing. 

Step 3: Make products selectable and quantities editable

This is the step that will turn a static quote into a self-serve form, which allows a buyer to interact with it.

Mark products as optional so buyers can check or uncheck line items. This is helpful when the form covers a broad catalog and your buyers are choosing a subset.

You can enable quantity editing on relevant items so that buyers can adjust the volume. The total will recalculate automatically.

Volume-based pricing can be configured in the catalog so the price per unit will adjust based on quantity. You have the ability to lock some items (fixed, non-optional), while keeping others fully selectable. This gives you the control over what the buyer can and can’t change on the form. 

Step 4: Add a signature field and send

Add a signature block to the order form template so that the buyer’s selections are captured as a binding order instead of a browsing session.

Assign the signature field to the recipient role so it’s automatically mapped when the document is sent. 

Sending is straightforward: all you have to do is enter the recipient’s name and email, and the order form will be in their inbox with a link to the form. There’s no account required for the buyer to be able to eSign.

Once they sign, the document status will update automatically and the rep will be notified. No need to chase!

Step 5: Collect payment at signing (optional)

This step is for teams that want to go further. You can add a payment block to the order form so the buyer can select products, sign, and pay in a single motion.

The most accessible payment integration is Stripe. You can connect Stripe in PandaDoc settings, add a payment block to the template, and payment is collected automatically when the buyer signs.

The order form will flow directly into the payment block, so there’s no need for manual price entry. 

This can be particularly valuable for teams that sell lower-ACV products, add-ons, or services where immediate payment at order is standard practice. 

Remember, this is completely optional, as the order form will work without it. But this step can help if you want to collapse the order-to-cash step entirely. 

What changes when your catalog powers your quotes

Turning your product catalog into a self-serve order form will allow your reps to stop building quotes and start sending them. These time savings will compound across all the deals in your pipeline.

Plus, pricing consistency will improve since the catalog enforces the right number on every document. This means less risk of a rep quoting an outdated or incorrect price.

Buyers will also get a better experience. Interacting with a live form is faster and clearer than reading a PDF and emailing it back with a list of changes. 

Finance will get cleaner data too because signed orders with itemized line items are easier to process than PDFs with handwritten annotations or email threads.

For your reps, all of this means less time focused on document admin and more on actual selling. 

See it for yourself. Start a free PandaDoc trial and turn your product list into a working order form in an afternoon.

Implementation timeline and requirements

No-code setup:

• Typical scope: a few hours to load the catalog, build the template, and configure optional items and quantity editing

• Who’s involved: one Sales Ops or RevOps owner (no developer needed)

• If the product catalog already exists as a spreadsheet, CSV import speeds setup significantly

• Ongoing maintenance: update catalog items when pricing or products change; the template inherits changes automatically

Optional: add Stripe for payment at signing:

• Connect Stripe in PandaDoc settings, add a payment block to the template; this adds 15–30 minutes of additional setup

• No developer required for the Stripe connection

Optional: CRM-connected setup (Salesforce or HubSpot):

• If you want catalog data to sync from your CRM, PandaDoc integrates natively with Salesforce and HubSpot product catalogs, so pricing stays managed in one place

Next steps

Ready to try it for yourself? Start a free PandaDoc trial

Want to see what else you can do with your quoting workflow? Explore PandaDoc quoting features

Need to explore a little more? Learn more about the product catalog