How many times have you needed to send out a proposal as soon as possible, but you couldn't get it ready in time?
Occasionally, an opportunity comes up and you have to jump on it. Or in the worst case, you've mixed up the deadlines for different RFPs and have four hours to put together a proposal.
If you use a traditional desktop publishing tool for proposal creation, and you're starting from scratch, meeting a four-hour deadline is virtually impossible.
But not with a guided proposal creation tool like XaitProposal.
From brief to signed deal in 20 minutes
Recently, I spoke with one of our clients, who trains his internal sales teams in the use of XaitProposal. A salesperson calls him one day at 4.50 pm and says, “Look, I have to get this proposal out, NOW.”
My client says, “Okay, no problem, send me the brief.”
He gets the brief, and at 5.00 – ten minutes later – he sends back the proposal to the salesperson.
By 5.10, the contract is signed.
It took 20 minutes from brief to win. That's how fast you can turn around a proposal and win business with XaitProposal. You can do it quickly, error-free, and at scale.
So how did they create that proposal in ten minutes?
With guided proposal creation.
Guided proposal creation with XaitProposal – what is it, and how can it help you win business?
When creating a proposal, it’s easy to overlook key details or content. Especially if you're writing from scratch and pressed for time.
That's why we built XaitProposal to guide you through the proposal creation process. From the start, you get an automated framework to help you complete your document much, much faster, boosting your workflow efficiency right away.
In other words, XaitProposal takes you by the hand right from the start and leads you to the finished document. This way, you don't risk leaving out anything important.
Multiple templates can be set up, allowing you to customize the content based on project requirements. As a result, you can quickly produce documents on a large scale, across multiple large teams. It's got a lot of functionality, such as a knowledge base library, to make sure the content is accurate. You can do it very easily.
At Xait, we say that details can make or break a deal. The guided process (via a questionnaire) makes sure you get everything right, in much less time. You can be sure that the information being used is accurate, current and relevant.
In the guided process, you'll fill out a Multiple-Choice Questionnaire (MCQ). Here's where the real time savings are.
Kickstart your proposal creation with the Multiple Choice Questionnaire
A Multiple Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) is an essential part of XaitProposal. This “intelligent” questionnaire basically serves as a checklist of content that needs to be included in your proposal.
You go through a guided set of questions about your brand's products and services. As a proposal creator, this guides you on what elements to include in your proposal. Using your input, the questionnaire integrates the content that is more relevant to the proposal. Then, you'll only have to follow the customization areas identified by the ‘XX’. And at the end, the automatic layout enables you to export a branded and professional document.
Here is an example of the MCQ:
The questionnaire saves proposal teams 50–60% time when creating proposals. By going through this guided MCQ process, you'll be able to bid and win business in less time than it takes to have lunch.
3 steps to getting your proposal from scratch to complete
1. Fill out the questionnaire, by matching it to the elements of your brief. It's as easy as placing an order on a website – simply add the items to your cart that you wish to include in your offer. Effortless and simple!
2. In the text editor, customize the content by following the ‘XX’ missing fields. Follow the XX and add personalised information to your offer. You can insert texts, images, PDFs, etc. from your computer or from the shared knowledge base. Additionally, you can personalise the outline and titles of your offer.
This is what the text editor looks like:
And here’s the ‘XX’ fields:
With the outline feature (or outline mode), you can drag and drop to adjust the plan quickly to that of the client (if requested).
By going through this process you can give your complete focus on writing really high-quality, personalised and bespoke content to complete your winning document.
3. Press ‘Export’. Once you have personalized the content to your client's needs, you export the final document in PDF.
You're a stronger competitor if you can respond fast
When opportunity knocks, companies that act quickly have a distinct advantage over their competitors. Particularly when responding to RFPs. You'll always have a 'formal' deadline, but the earlier you submit, the better.
When you're the first one to cross the finish line – with a proposal that stands out – you're more likely to win.
XaitProposal's guided proposal process and questionnaire allow you to beat your competitors to the finish line before they even create their first Word document.
Related article: Proposal Manager – are you tired of wasting time and opportunities with desktop publishing tools?
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