1: Correct information available

You match the customer’s need or problem and your solution in a proposal. So before you can write an offer, you need to know the customer’s problem and the terms he is willing to accept for the solution.

Determine what is needed to make a good proposal. What do you need to know about the customer? Formulate questions for that and record the answers in CRM.

2: Right people available

Often several people collaborate on a quote. These are by no means always people actively in a sales process with the customer but do work in the background. In many cases, especially in more complex B2B Sales processes, it sometimes takes weeks to write a proposal. If you want the people who need to collaborate to have time available in their schedules, ensure you have good reporting on what work is coming up. Often a report of part of the funnel offers excellent insight for them.

Are you finding it difficult to make such a report?
If so, read the step-by-step plan here.

3: Alignment on content

In many organizations, a quotation must go through an approval process before it can be sent to the customer. It takes time. If you know your offer will raise question marks, ensure the people on the approval committee are already aware of the content before you offer it. Include them in the offer creation process and inform them when you expect approval to occur.

That way, the approval process hardly takes time, and you know where bottlenecks are at an earlier stage.

So a tight quotation process involves three steps. Combine the correct information with the right people and find alignment on content. Do you find it challenging to get started on this? Schedule a no-obligation appointment with one of our Sales Strategists. They have previously implemented such processes with clients and can help you take the first steps.

Want to read more about good quotations? Here are a few articles:

• Are my offers good?
• Writing winning offers
• A proposal tool: what is it?
• What is an proposal?