Kick Your Spreadsheets to the Curb
Jun 14, 2024
7 mins
How many filters have you applied this week to find item pricing in an endless sea of columns and rows? How many duplicates did you find? How many times did you accidentally hit a key and had to restore the previous version?
How much time did it then take you to create another spreadsheet to lay out the project timeline for the client? Did you do it manually and take a screenshot? Or did you Google complex formulas so you can then import it all into a Word document?
It even sounds exhausting
All that work, all that time, and you still have to convert the Word document into a PDF to email it to your client. All those tiny little annoying tasks, all to send your document into the void and be stuck waiting for a reply.
Worst of all, no matter how well you've put it all together, the end result is still a PDF. Something your client is so used to getting it sets you apart in no way.
There's no wow factor, your proposal doesn't adapt to different screen sizes, and you have no way of knowing if the client even opened it. Yet, you still do it, cause that's the way you're used to doing it.
You've got to let old habits die
As it is now, you're spending hours trying to format and organize your proposals. You've got your pricing, client data, and product information scattered around spreadsheets. You're copying and pasting left, right, and center.
You're wasting time and energy doing admin work, when you could be focusing on creating a great customer experiences. You could be investing this time and energy into working on more projects and building up your business.
But to do that, you've got to let old habits die and say goodbye to that behemoth spreadsheet you've spent years adding to. It's time to join the 21st century and start using proposal software.
It's not a replacement, it's an upgrade
Sure, a screw and pair of pliers will do if you need to open a wine bottle in a pinch, but you know what's better? A corkscrew.
A specialized tool is always better than any workaround you can come up with. The same goes for business documents.
Proposal software doesn't just make your proposals look great. It also makes it easier and faster to create and send them, keeps all your proposal-related tasks in one platform, and simplifies your entire workflow.
Manual data entry? A thing of the past. Tracking and analytics for better decision-making? You've got it. Easy ways for your clients to accept your offer? Right there. A place to input your products and services for quick reference? Of course.
And that's just a few things you can do inside professional software like Better Proposals. But hey, it's our blog, so why not go through it all?
Better Proposals saves you time
With Better Proposals, you're not starting from scratch. Our library holds over 250 free document templates you can customize to fit your needs. They're all professionally designed and written.
If you do have a template you don't want to give up on, you don't have to. Simply use our doc importer and bring in all your content.
Besides the templates, Better Proposals also helps you automate repetitive tasks. Our Editor takes care of the formatting and you can save content you want to reuse into the Content Library.
That way, you can add it into a new doc in two clicks instead of copying and pasting. And when it comes to client info, you have automatic fields that let you populate it fast and error-free.
Speaking of automatic, our pricing tables will calculate your line items, any discounts or taxes for you. Oh, and they're interactive, meaning you can let your clients choose between two or more options or let them mark as many as they want.
Better Proposals makes you look like a great choice
In Better Proposals, you set up your brand once and all the settings automatically apply to your documents. Put in your logo, brand colors, and fonts once and all your proposals will look professional, no extra effort needed.
Unlike a PDF, Better Proposals lets you create dynamic documents. You can add rich media, links, or embed videos. The docs you create inside Better Proposals will look great whatever device they're opened on. Instead of having to zoom in, out, and pinch, your clients now get a document that automatically adapts to their screen size.
Better Proposals keeps you updated
You know how you send an email and then have to wait for a reply to know what your client's thinking? With Better Proposals, you'll never wonder again.
Every doc you send gets tracked and you get real-time notifications for every action a client takes. You'll know when they've received, opened, forwarded, signed, and even how much time they've spent reading each section.
Besides activity tracking, you also get detailed reports on document and team performance. With all this, you'll always be able to follow up at the right time and have all the data you need to identify areas for improvement.
Better Proposals makes collaboration easy
Better Proposals comes with real-time collaboration and commenting, so you'll no longer have to email files back and forth. All your changes are automatically saved, so you know the version you're looking at is the most recent one.
Better Proposals keeps your data secure
Spreadsheets are often shared via email or stored locally. Because of that, they can be vulnerable to unauthorized access and data breaches.
With Better Proposals, you don't have to worry about that. Your data is safe thanks to secure cloud storage and encryption.
What's more, only the people added to your account have access to the data inside it. And if you want to restrict access, you can. Better Proposals comes with team permissions, which lets you make sure only authorized users have access.
Better Proposals keeps you in control
Even if you have a large team, keeping your docs under control is easy with Better Proposals. Set up manager approvals to make sure nothing reaches a client without going over it first.
Lock sensitive content like your terms and conditions to prevent accidental edits and expensive mistakes. Create a library of pre-approved content so your docs go out faster.
Better Proposals makes it easy to accept
With a Better Proposals document, clients don't have to jump through hoops to accept your offer. All your docs come with built-in, legally binding digital signatures.
The only thing your client needs to do is type in or draw their name. And if you want to use a simple Accept button, you can do that as well.
Better Proposals helps you create great customer experiences
When you're working inside Better Proposals, sending the document off isn't where it stops. You can create your own, custom onboarding flow to give clients (or new employees) the welcome they deserve.
This allows you to collect extra information through forms and let clients book calls, all from the same document. You can also include a redirect or collect a deposit right after a client signs.
Better Proposals integrates with your existing tools
Speaking of collecting a deposit, Better Proposals comes with a ton of integrations so you don't have to switch tools for everything you do. Besides payments, this includes project management platforms, CRM tools, and live chat integrations that let you talk to clients as they're reading your documents. And if you can't find the integration you're looking for, there's Zapier.
Ready to leave the spreadsheets behind?
Great choice. All that's left to do now is sign up. The first 14 days are on us.
Admitting you need help is the first step
The second one is signing up for Better Proposals. Start your 14-day free trial today.