What Causes Proposal Bottlenecks? 3 Common Issues and How to Fix Them

You’re not imagining it. Proposal work is really getting heavier and more demanding. There are more requests piling up, more stakeholders who need to be involved and more last-minute input from people who are, naturally, “just about to get to it.”

And the data supports this feeling of overwhelm.

Quick Answer: Proposal bottlenecks are usually caused by SME delays, difficulty finding approved content, and unclear final approval workflows. High-performing teams fix these issues by capturing SME knowledge earlier, building governed content libraries, automating review workflows, and connecting proposal work to revenue outcomes.

Demand Is Compounding: Our latest benchmark report notes that teams are experiencing 68% proposal volume growth and 63% RFP response growth. So, yes, growth is up significantly, however that growth combined with the added coordination is also compounding the issue. Teams aren’t just dealing with seasonal ups and downs, but rather with the ongoing, consistent pressure of responding to proposals and RFPs.

Every Response Requires More Coordination: Our research also shows that a typical RFP response takes 1–2 weeks and requires 6–12+ contributors. Proposal work has now become cross-functional by default, requiring SMEs, sales, legal, finance, product, compliance, leadership, and approvals. It’s no longer a simple writing task. In short, nobody owns the full picture, but everyone owns a piece of the deadline.

Buyers Expect Proof: Demandbase reports that 72% of B2B purchases involve complex multi-stakeholder buying groups, 89% of buyers prioritize integration capabilities over standalone features, and 83% say economic and budget pressures shape vendor choices. And, as our 10th annual benchmark also indicates, approximately 90% of respondents view ROI or business case inclusion as important because they know that proposal teams are not just filling out forms. They are helping buyers justify decisions.

Traditional Tools Weren’t Built for This Level of Complexity: Over 50% (10th annual benchmark report) of proposal professionals still use Word as their primary proposal creation tool. Tools, like Word, PowerPoint and Excel, can create documents, but they were never designed to coordinate large response teams or manage complex proposal content. Traditional tools open the door to a breakdown in the proposal process.

Let’s dig into where the bottlenecks occur.

The Top 3 Bottlenecks

Slowdowns can occur anywhere, but from our perspective there are three common scenarios where they most likely occur.

Bottleneck 1: SME Delays

Did you know that 88% of benchmark report respondents cited SME delays as a top pain point? Before everyone starts throwing dark looks at the SMEs, it’s not because they don’t care, they are just already busy with their own pile of work.

How High-Performing Teams Fix It: Don’t wait until the RFP lands to capture SME knowledge. High-performing teams make expert input easier to request, reuse, and validate. That means building structured intake processes, capturing common SME responses, assigning clear content owners, and turning frequently requested information into approved, reusable answers. SMEs still need to be involved, but they should not have to answer the same questions from scratch every time.

Bottleneck 2: Finding the Right Content

Most people involved in the proposal process (74% to be exact) struggle with locating accurate content. As mentioned above, there’s the hunt across decks, drives, inboxes, and prior proposals to try to track down answers, but there’s also the risk of old answers being reused or updated proof points are missed. When teams waste time trying to find the right content, the more strategic parts of the process, like personalization, suffer.

How High-Performing Teams Fix It: Create a governed content library that gives teams one reliable place to find approved answers, proof points, boilerplate, product language, case studies, and value messaging. The right content needs to be easy to search, easy to update, and easy to adapt. AI-assisted retrieval can also help teams find relevant approved content faster.

Bottleneck 3: Final Approvals

When we speak to new customers, one of the pain points that comes up is chasing approvals. It’s that old adage where the last 20% takes 80% of the effort. Getting the response finished on time and out the door is critical, and the last mile of coordination can be a challenge.

How High-Performing Teams Fix It: Make the approval process visible before the final scramble begins. High-performing teams define owners, reviewers, deadlines, and approval paths early, then use automated reminders and workflow visibility to keep the response moving. With less ambiguity everyone knows what they need to review, when they need to review it, and what is still blocking the final submission.

The Revenue Risk

While proposal bottlenecks are frustrating for teams, they are also expensive for the business. When proposal teams are stretched too thin, organizations lose more than just time. They lose the ability to respond to every qualified opportunity. And, that, affects the bottom line.

According to our 2025 benchmark research, a typical firm handles 5–9 RFPs per month. For professional services firms, where individual opportunities can be worth $1M to $5M or more, missing even one RFP response per month can put significant annual revenue at risk.

Proposal bottlenecks need to be seen as more than an operational inconvenience. When the number of quality revenue opportunities the organization can realistically pursue becomes limited, it has a direct affect on how the organization competes in the market.

The strongest proposal teams are not simply trying to “get more done.” They are building processes that help the business protect revenue opportunities, prioritize the right pursuits, and respond with greater confidence.

What High-Performing Teams Do Differently

High-performing teams take a more strategic approach to the proposal process. They look at where work slows down, where approvals stall, and where better systems can remove unnecessary friction. Here’s what they do differently:

1. They Treat Proposal Work as a Revenue Function

   Traditionally, proposal work has been viewed as a support function. However, today it’s moved from the periphery of the organization to the center of the revenue engine.

   With proposal volume growing, RFPs opportunities can represent significant revenue. High-performing teams recognize this shift and have pivoted to be more strategic. This includes examining win rates, missed opportunities, turnaround times and where work often gets stuck. This understanding offers up insights into which opportunities to pursue and how to improve performance over time.

2. They Build Systems, Not Workarounds

   Instead of relying on one proposal manager who “just knows where everything is,” high-performing teams build systems that reduce their dependency on a single person. With repeatable processes in place, they document SME knowledge and make approved information easier to find and update. The goal is not to remove human judgment from the proposal process. Quite the opposite. It’s to give proposal professionals more time for the work that actually benefits from their expertise, such as positioning, personalization, strategy, and quality control.

3. They Use AI to Coordinate, Not Just Draft

   Sure, AI helps proposal teams write faster, but drafting content is only one part of the problem. Often the biggest challenge is getting the right information, from the right people, into the right response, at the right time.

   High-performing teams use agentic AI to support coordination across the proposal lifecycle. Beyond just surfacing approved content or helping teams to analyze RFP requirements, teams can use it to support connected workflows. The bottom line? The next phase of proposal work won’t be defined by who uses AI, but by who turns AI into a coordinated system.

4. They Build Value Proof Earlier

   Buyers are under pressure too. They face budget pressure and need internal justification for any purchase. That means proposal teams need to bring value proof into the process earlier. Things like ROI, business cases and proof points should shape the response from the very beginning.

   High-performing teams make value an integral part of the proposal strategy. They connect the buyer’s problem to business impact and then show how the proposed solution supports measurable results. This approach gives decision-makers the evidence they need to move forward with confidence.

From Bottlenecks to Better Capacity

Proposal bottlenecks are not going away because proposal work is becoming more strategic, not less. The teams that improve will not be the ones that simply ask people to move faster. They will be the ones that make the work more visible, more reusable, more coordinated, and more directly tied to revenue outcomes. And, if you’re ready to re-evaluate how pursuits get done in your organization, talk to us.

Bonus Resource: Download the 10th Annual State of the Proposal Industry Benchmark Report to see where proposal work is breaking down, where AI is helping, and what high-performing teams are doing differently.