Are you tired of the time-consuming and error-prone process of manually creating quotes and proposals for your business? Do you struggle to keep track of all your deals and easily access past quotes? If so, it‘s time to consider implementing a quote management software solution.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about quote management software – what it is, how it works, key features to look for, top solutions to consider, implementation best practices, and more. By the end, you‘ll be equipped with the knowledge to select the best platform for your business needs and streamline your quote-to-cash process. Let‘s dive in!
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What is Quote Management Software?
At its core, quote management software is a tool that allows businesses to efficiently create, send, track, and manage sales quotes and proposals. It replaces manual methods like using Word/PDF templates or spreadsheets, which are time-consuming and prone to errors and inconsistencies.
Quote management platforms enable sales teams to quickly generate professional, accurate quotes using pre-built templates, product/pricing information pulled from a centralized database, and custom fields. Advanced features like workflows, approvals, electronic signatures, and payments allow for a complete, end-to-end quote-to-cash process.
The Challenges of Manual Quote Management
While using Word docs or spreadsheets to create quotes may seem simple enough, there are several challenges that arise when managing this process manually:
Inconsistent branding/formatting: Without standardized templates, reps often send out quotes that look vastly different and don‘t align with brand guidelines. This creates an unprofessional image.
Errors and inaccuracies: Reps may accidentally use outdated pricing, product info, or terms leading to mis-quoted amounts. Manual data entry also often results in typos and miscalculations.
Difficult to track/manage: With quotes saved across multiple rep‘s computers, it becomes very difficult to find past quotes, track status, analyze metrics, and ensure proper follow-up. Deals often fall through the cracks.
No mobile access: Sales reps in the field meeting with clients can‘t easily generate or send quotes on-the-go. This leads to delays in getting proposals out the door.
Lack of insights: Without the ability to slice and dice quote data, it‘s hard to uncover key insights like average discount %, quote-to-close rates, most popular products quoted, etc.
How Quote Management Software Streamlines the Process
Now that we understand the challenges, let‘s look at how quote management software helps solve them and streamline the entire quote-to-cash process:
Centralized quote creation: All quotes are built within a single, cloud-based system using approved templates, products/pricing, and business rules. This ensures consistency, accuracy, and compliance across all reps and deals.
Dynamic, logic-based fields: Advanced platforms enable you to utilize conditional logic to show/hide fields and sections based on things like deal size, product selection, region, etc. This allows for highly customized, targeted quotes.
Collaboration and approvals: Teams can collaborate together on complex quotes, adding comments, making changes, and getting necessary approvals before sending out to the client. Automatic notifications keep everyone informed.
Electronic signature and payments: Modern buyers expect a "self-service" buying experience. Quote software with built-in e-signature and payment processing allows clients to easily review, sign, and pay directly from the digital proposal on any device.
Reminders and tracking: The software automatically sends reminders to clients on outstanding quotes and notifies reps when a quote is viewed or signed. This enables timely follow-up and prevents deals from slipping away.
Analytics and reporting: Real-time dashboards provide insights into key quote metrics and trends. Drill-down reports help identify top performing reps, most profitable products/services, average sales cycle length, and more to drive smarter decisions.
Top 10 Quote Management Software Solutions
With so many quote management tools on the market, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one for your business. To help you get started, here are our top 10 picks:
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PandaDoc – Known for its extensive template library, CRM integrations, and ease-of-use. Offers plans for businesses of all sizes.
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Quoter – A sleek, modern solution with real-time collaborative quoting. Robust product/pricing management features.
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Qwilr – Turn quotes into interactive sales pages with videos, charts, and e-commerce capabilities. Ideal for creative, media or tech companies.
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Salesforce CPQ – An enterprise-grade CPQ tool built native on the Salesforce platform. Handles complex pricing and product configurations.
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Zendesk Sell – A simple, affordable quoting solution as part of their Zendesk Sell sales CRM. Great for SMBs and startups.
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Zomentum – An all-in-one sales acceleration platform with quoting, proposals, and e-signature. Geared towards IT service providers.
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Apttus – Sophisticated quote-to-cash capabilities for large enterprises in industries like manufacturing, telecom, and life sciences.
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Proposify – Clean, modern interface with a focus on design/branding. Includes content library, client input forms, and integration with 2000+ apps.
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Zuora – A complete subscription lifecycle and revenue management solution with proposal/quoting functionalities. Used by top SaaS and subscription-based businesses.
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HubSpot Quotes – A basic quoting tool included in HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub. Provides a seamless handoff from deal to quote.
Be sure to evaluate each solution carefully based on your specific requirements, budget, user/team size, necessary integrations, and complexity of your quoting process. Take advantage of free trials to test drive your top picks.
Key Quote Software Features & Capabilities
As you assess different quote management solutions, here are some of the key features and capabilities to look out for:
- Branded templates with drag-and-drop builders
- Product/price catalog and configuration
- Dynamic quote generation with formulas/logic
- Role-based access and approval workflows
- In-app collaboration with commenting/chat
- Real-time notifications and analytics
- Content library for images, videos, other sales collateral
- Integrations with CRM, accounting, billing systems
- Mobile app for creating/sending quotes on-the-go
- Electronic signature and online payment options
- Auto-reminders and document tracking
- Multi-currency and multi-language support
More advanced capabilities for complex use cases may include guided selling, product visualizations/AR, automated discounting, and ERP/PLM integrations. The more sophisticated your quoting process, the more advanced features you‘ll likely require.
Best Practices for Implementing Quote Software
Investing in a quote management platform is a big step for any organization. To ensure a successful implementation and maximize ROI, follow these best practices:
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Assess your current process – Map out your entire quote-to-cash process as it stands today, noting any bottlenecks, manual touch points, and systems used. Identify areas for improvement.
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Define your requirements – Outline your must-have and nice-to-have features and capabilities based on your process assessment and future goals. Get input from all key stakeholders.
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Evaluate solutions thoroughly – Dive deep into your shortlist of vendors, comparing features, pricing, integrations, user reviews, and client support. Ask for reference customers in your industry.
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Get buy-in from leadership – Ensure you have the budget and executive support for the initiative. Build a business case focused on efficiency gains, faster sales cycles, and revenue impact.
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Plan your implementation – Assign a project manager and cross-functional team to oversee configuration, data migration, testing, and training. Communicate the roll-out plan and timeline to all end users.
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Start with a pilot group – Begin with a small group of reps to work out any kinks before deploying platform-wide. Gather their feedback and make adjustments to your configuration and process.
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Provide comprehensive training – Make sure reps and other end users are fully trained on the tool and understand any new workflows. Provide refreshers as needed and have power users coach peers.
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Monitor usage and performance – Regularly review user adoption metrics, quote volumes, and cycle times to measure success. Analyze quote data to uncover additional process optimizations.
By following these guidelines, you‘ll be well on your way to transforming your quote management process and empowering your sales team for success. The key is starting with clear goals, choosing the right technology partner, and dedicating the time and resources for proper implementation.
Quote Management Software FAQ
Still have questions about quote management software? Here are answers to some frequently asked ones:
What‘s the difference between quote software and proposal software?
While sometimes used interchangeably, quote software tends to focus more on the product/pricing aspect with some light proposal functionality, whereas proposal software focuses more heavily on the visual design of sales documents with some light quoting features. Many solutions today offer both.
How much does quote management software cost?
Pricing varies widely based on the feature set, number of users, and deal volume. Basic solutions start at around $10-25/user/month while enterprise tools can range from $200-500+/user/month. Most offer annual discounts of 10-20%.
What‘s the typical implementation timeline?
This depends on the complexity of your sales process, amount of data/content to migrate, and integrations required. Simple implementations can take 2-4 weeks while more complex ones can span several months. Consult with your vendor on their average customer deployment times.
How do I get my sales team to adopt the new software?
The key to driving adoption is showing reps how the tool makes their lives easier – less manual work, more time selling, bigger commissions. Make it a required part of their daily workflow, set usage goals, reward power users, and enlist managers to lead by example.
Can I integrate quote software with my CRM and other tools?
Most leading quote management solutions offer pre-built integrations with popular CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics), accounting/ERP systems (NetSuite, QuickBooks), and other sales/marketing tools. Some also provide an open API for custom integrations.
The Future of Quote Management Software
As B2B buyers increasingly expect a consumer-like, self-service experience, quote management software will become a critical tool for modern sales teams. Here are some of the top trends and predictions we see shaping this space in the coming years:
Greater automation and AI: Tools will leverage AI/machine learning to auto-populate quotes, recommend optimal pricing/discounts, and even auto-generate proposal content. This will allow sales reps to respond to RFPs faster than ever.
Immersive, interactive content: B2B buyers crave engaging experiences. Expect to see more video, 3D models, AR/VR, and other interactive elements built into sales quotes to stand out and capture attention.
Deeper insights and predictive analytics: Quote management platforms will deliver more prescriptive recommendations and predictive capabilities to help teams optimize their quoting process over time. This could include intelligent cross-sell/upsell recommendations, client health scores, and more.
Tighter integrations across systems: As more companies embrace "quote-to-revenue" operations, quote software will more seamlessly integrate with downstream applications in finance, fulfillment, customer support and beyond for an end-to-end view.
Mobile-first experiences: With remote selling now the norm, quote management solutions will double down on their mobile capabilities to help reps create, collaborate on, send, and track quotes from anywhere.
It‘s an exciting time in the quote management software space and sales technology overall. The most successful sales organizations will be those that leverage these innovations to enable more seamless, insight-driven, and impactful customer interactions.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Effective quote management is a critical piece of the sales process and one that too often gets bogged down in manual inefficiencies. A purpose-built quote management software can be a game changer in accelerating quotes, eliminating errors, boosting rep productivity, and ultimately closing more deals faster.
Whether you‘re a small business looking to scale or a large enterprise looking to drive more revenue, investing in a quote management solution should be a top priority. Of course, not all software is created equal. Be sure to follow the guidelines we‘ve outlined for assessing your needs, evaluating solutions, and driving successful adoption.
Equipped with the right tool and process, your sales team will be unstoppable. It‘s time to say goodbye to the days of clunky spreadsheets and time-consuming proposals, and hello to a new era of fast, accurate, and impactful quotes.
Want to see quote management software in action? Sign up for a demo of one of our top picks like PandaDoc or Quoter today. Your sales process (and bottom line) will thank you.