Creating a sales proposal is a major undertaking, a key element of your interaction with a potential buyer, and there’s a lot riding on it. An effective proposal:
- demonstrates that you understand your prospect’s needs and expectations;
- convinces them that your offering is the best solution; and
- inspires the buyer to take action.
So how do you create sales proposals that can achieve all these objectives? It all comes down to your content. Whether you’re drafting a sales proposal or responding to an RFP, content is king.
In fact, 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing in their strategies today. And, moreover, 60% of B2B buyers make their final purchase decision based on digital content. So, it’s definitely true – access to up-to-date and approved content is crucial for sales teams to deliver real value to customers.
The Content Conundrum
We all understand that the content shared with your prospect can guide them effortlessly to a purchase decision or overwhelm them with irrelevant or ill-timed information that doesn’t reflect their business challenges. So, if it’s a given, why are marketers, business development reps and proposal managers still struggling?
Because creating, organizing and finding content continues to be a major challenge for organizations around the world. Our last 9th annual benchmark report noted the Top 5 (and more!) challenges when working on requests. In 2024, these hurdles centered around collaboration and content creation and management—and the lack of efficiency inherent in those processes.
The (AI) Wind Beneath Your Wings
More and more marketers, business development reps and proposal managers are starting to embrace AI to help. Our report noted that organizations are especially looking forward to leveraging AI in specialist proposal management tools to quickly draft and optimize content (84% of respondents), free up time to personalize responses (60%), make better use of staff time (56%), and simplify content management (40%)— efficiencies and enhancements that produce a cascading effect on response volume, revenue generation, and sustained profitability.
According to Bain & Company, the next stage of AI adoption in marketing is likely to deliver the most value in these four key areas. (And, as we point out, AI can be harnessed to improve all aspects of the proposal process.)
- Streamlining Workflows
AI is speeding up tasks like drafting creative concepts, translating content, checking for brand compliance, and tagging and finding digital assets. AI will increasingly help organizations automate proposal responses and will take care of much of the manual, tedious work. - Content Generation and Personalization
Today, AI can handle copywriting, image creation, ad variations, and other creative outputs, making it easier to deliver tailored content at scale. Want to tailor proposals to specific client needs without rewriting every word? QorusDocs integrated AI makes it easier to swap out content blocks, personalize intros, and align messaging with client goals. - Deeper Customer Intelligence
Did you know that 56% of B2B marketers struggle to attribute ROI to content and track customer journeys? Not surprisingly, real-time analytics is now a must-have tool for everyone involved in marketing or proposal management. One of the most innovative features of AI-powered proposal tools, including QorusDocs, is their ability to track prospect behavior engagement, so you can see what content lands the deals — and then leverage that data to win more! - Measurement and Refinement
AI can automate campaign performance tracking, draw insights from data, and help teams optimize strategies in near real time. For example, our built-in measurement tools tracks prospect engagement. You can see how long they stay on each page, what they click on, and what they share. Use these insights to tailor smarter follow-up conversations.
Get Organized
A comprehensive, tailored content library is a sales professional’s best friend, saving precious time and many headaches when preparing proposals. Nobody wants to be chasing down subject matter experts (SMEs) across multiple departments to collect their input every time you’re putting together a proposal. In fact, the value of organized, easy-to-access content is immeasurable—and if it’s on brand, up-to-date, and pre-approved, you’re off to the races.
When it comes to building a content library, organization is critical. A good high-level place to start is differentiating between internal and external documents. A library of internal assets provides the sales team with the knowledge, insights, and best practices they need to do their job. Content might include:
- Training videos
- Market research
- Reference material
- Product data sheets
- Competitor analysis
External content is aimed at educating prospects and convincing them of the value of your product or solution. Sales content may include:
- Pitch decks
- Product demo videos
- Case studies
- Customer testimonials
- Industry whitepapers
- E-books and how-to guides
- Detailed solution specs
Understand the Buyer’s Journey
It may be helpful to organize content around the phases of the buying cycle: Awareness, Evaluation, and Selection. An understanding of the complexities of the buyer’s journey provides a foundation for developing sales content that engages the buyer—whether they’re just getting the lay of the land, reviewing your proposal, or looking to validate your solution with real-world references.
By making it easier for sales reps to find content that aligns with the three stages, you’ll help your team have more effective sales conversations with buyers, conversations that elicit purchase decisions. Here are some ideas of the types of the most popular content used by sales teams, aimed at each stage of the buyer’s journey:
Awareness
- White papers (industry)
- Blog posts
- Articles in industry publications
- Infographics
- eBooks about the problem/ challenges
- Educational webinars
- Tip sheets
- Press releases
- Social media
- Website
- How-to video
Evaluation
- Ebooks
- Case studies
- Reviews
- Whitepapers (solution)
- ROI calculator
- Product guides
- How-to content
- Checklists
- Product demos
- Competitive analysis
Selection
- On-demand videos
- Case studies
- Client testimonials
- Third-party reports
- Vendor comparison
- Detailed solution specifications
Getting Down to Business
Building a proposal content library can feel intimidating—especially when deadlines are already breathing down your neck—but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small by reusing the strongest material from your most recent proposals and focus your initial build on a manageable set of high-value content. From there, put processes in place to update and expand your library over time. Think of it as “evolution” rather than “revolution.”
Want to cut through the noise with AI-smart content tools? Platforms like QorusDocs can help you build and maintain a proposal library that suggests, drafts, and even recommends edits—so your content stays on-brand, up-to-date, and sales-ready.
Stay ahead of the competition, with customized proposals, pitches, presentations and RFP responses that demonstrate your value. If you are looking to create proposals that win, in a fraction of the time, schedule a one-on-one demo of our award-winning AI-driven proposal management software today. Be sure to download the Definitive Guide to AI in Proposal Management.
