5 reasons you need automation software for your RFPs

Responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) can be grueling, and if you’ve gone through the process yourself, you’ve no doubt found yourself at some point wishing for a quicker, easier, more collaborative way to get things done.

The great news is that there is hope in the form of RFP response software. Check out the top five reasons to introduce this kind of automation software at your organization.

1. Manage, locate, and use your company’s best content

Unfortunately, finding and sharing great content with prospects can be a frustratingly slow process.

With RFP response software, you can quickly find the content you need. Some tools allow users to access their content library directly from their Office applications and may even have intuitive filters that allow you to group related content together into buckets or categories that cut down search time. 

Once you have run your search, you might end up with a large number of results, in which case you can use these search filters to quickly reduce the volume of returned content and find exactly what you're looking for. 

Handy asset: Download Your Definitive Guide to Setting up a Proposal Library in SharePoint

2. Create proposals and respond to RFPs faster

Time is one of life’s most valuable resources – and, aside from the impact it has on day-to-day business costs – it can be the difference between closing a deal or losing a prospect to a competitor.

Because effective RFP response software gives you a central area to manage and collaborate on a pursuit with subject matter experts, you’re able to work in real-time, eliminating the need to send drafts back and forth between collaborators. It also gives you a way to manage version control, helping you and your team stay organized and working efficiently.

Great RFP software also automates processes and lets you create proposals directly from Microsoft Office apps and popular CRM systems, saving you precious hours.

3. Improve the quality of your proposals

With the increase in remote work, business critical documents – like proposals and RFPs – have become the new ‘face’ of companies, like the sales meeting we used to have pre-COVID. Salespeople aren’t able to spend as much time in front of prospects, which means that the quality of these documents speaks volumes about your organization and what customers can expect working with you!

The quality of your proposal can therefore also make or break a deal. Fortunately, RFP response software makes it far easier to compile dazzling proposals that are more likely to win over prospects.

With a library full of approved content, it is quick and easy to locate the most recent and up-to-date content and to put your company’s most compelling case forward. And the right RFP software makes it convenient to get SMEs to weigh in on the document, ensuring that it conveys the most important information to prospects.

4. Track your prospects’ engagement for tailored follow-up

Once you’ve sent your prospect your proposal, you don’t want to be left in the dark until you (hopefully) hear back from them. Sophisticated RFP response software gives you insight into how your customers are engaging with your content so you can have smarter follow-up conversations with them.

Qorus’ Share & Track feature, for example, lets you see how often the recipient has opened and shared your proposal, what they’re spending time reading, and what they’re clicking on. This creates a powerful feedback loop that can tell you how interested a potential buyer is and give you great insight into their propensity to buy.

It gives you a good reason to call them, as well as a good idea of how well received your content was, and which content they value the most (which will also help guide your sales and marketing strategies).  

5. Increase your win rates and grow sales

Of course, the ultimate aim of speeding up response times, having access to your company’s best content, and creating personalized and high-quality proposals that your prospects engage with is to increase your win rates and ensure sales growth.

And that’s exactly what the right RFP response software can help you achieve by ticking all of the above-mentioned boxes!

Fact snapshot: 100% of Qorus users surveyed by MDC Research reported that they’ve increased their speed to market with their sales and marketing efforts and have experienced sales growth, thanks to our software.

See our RFP response software in action!