In the Market for Proposal Management Software? 10 Questions to Ask

Product queries

1. Does it help you create a proposal in minutes vs. hours?

   An effective proposal management platform should break down manual steps and enable you to quickly create winning documents in a matter of minutes, not hours or days.

   Must-haves:

   • Content management capabilities, including the ability to easily access and search pre-approved content
   • Data-driven content recommendations and auto-answer feature
   • Easy, repeatable build steps for each project or content piece

2. Does the software use AI to automate the proposal and RFP response process?

   No longer a ‘nice-to-have’ feature, AI is a critical piece of modern proposal management software. By automating the proposal process and leveraging data-driven content, your team will save countless manual hours while creating engaging proposals that resonate with buyers.

   Must-haves:

   • AI-powered system that gets smarter with each use
   • Recommendations Engine that suggests optimized content
   • Answer and content insertion capability

3. Does the platform help you easily personalize proposals?

   Personalization is the secret sauce that wins the hearts and minds of your customers—and smart templates should be your personalization tool of choice. By tailoring content to the unique challenges and needs of your prospects with the help of smart templates, you can create consistent, contextual experiences that win business.

   Must-haves:

   • Customizable, formatting-enabled, smart template options
   • Ability to build modular content library with customer-centric content
   • Use of automated conditions to dynamically build proposals
   • Easy branding and themes

4. Can you track proposal engagement to see what’s winning?

   Being able to track the delivery of proposals and RFP responses—plus gain an understanding of how prospects are engaging with the document to identify winning content—is incredibly valuable for informing future proposals.

   Must-haves

   • Built-in measurement and metrics tools
   • Detailed strategic insights that show how your document has been received and interacted with
   • Smart content library features

5. Is collaboration across the enterprise easy and efficient?

   Easy collaboration with SMEs simplifies and accelerates the proposal process. By uniting team members and projects with a centralized content hub and easy-to-use interface—and working within familiar applications (e.g., Microsoft 365)—you save time, reduce errors, and ensure consistency.

   Must-haves

   • Labeling to help track active pursuits and assign tasks
   • Integrations with applications commonly used across the organization
   • Centralized content hub
   • Easy-to-pull, meaningful metrics and KPIs

6. Which business-critical platforms does it integrate with?

   Make sure the proposal management software you choose integrates seamlessly with your tech stack.

   Must-haves:

   Integration with the following:

   • Stored content (e.g., SharePoint, OneDrive)
   • CRM data (e.g., Salesforce, MS Dynamics)
   • Collaboration apps (e.g., MS Teams)
   • CMS (e.g., Drupal, Sitecore)
   • Analytics software (e.g., MS Power BI)

   Bonus integrations:

   • Sales enablement (e.g., Highspot)

7. How secure is the platform?

   Documents and branded content should be housed in a secure environment, such as cloud storage, and should be backed by a reputable solution provider. Your new software choice should also empower you to securely share and sign documents from anywhere.

   Must-haves:

   • Robust security and privacy controls to ensure data is protected
   • Housed by a confident provider, such as Microsoft Azure’s hybrid cloud
   • Remote-enabled software with e-sign

8. What other business-critical documents can you automate?

   The right proposal management software can make a huge impact on sales and bid teams by eliminating the need for manual processes and revisions across a range of documents. Think beyond proposals and RFP responses: What other content could you automate?

   Nice-to-haves:

   • Security questionnaires
   • Statements of work
   • Sales pitches and presentations

Company queries

9. Who has the vendor partnered with?

   You can tell a lot about someone by who their friends are; companies are no different. Partnering with big brands with strong reputations speaks to the quality of the proposal management solution.

10. Take a peek behind the curtain to see how the company operates.

    Make sure the company has solid bones. A vision and mission statement that align with your values is a bonus.

    • Who are their customers?
    • Have they won any product or customer service awards?
    • What level of customer support do they offer? Is it 24/7?
    • Does the leadership team reflect diversity and inclusion?
    • Do they offer resources and training content on-demand?

    The right proposal management software can make a huge impact on your sales and bid teams, resulting in higher adoption rates, bigger deal sizes, and more consistent wins. Happy hunting!

Are you ready to rock your win rate?

QorusDocs is transforming the way Sales, Marketing, Business Development, and Proposal & Bid teams win business.

Schedule a one-on-one demo to see firsthand how we help you turn responses into revenue!