What is a software sales proposal?
B2B SaaS selling is no small feat. Bagging a project from your potential clients involves multiple meetings, product demos, presentations, and many rounds of negotiations. Among these, one crucial step to close deals successfully is by creating a compelling software sales proposal. It is a testimony to your company’s performance, business experience, and proven track record.
Software sales proposals are business documents that detail:
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The business challenges of your prospective clients
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How your software solution and services can address the business challenges of your potential clients
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The benefits of your software solutions
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Pricing information about your software product or services
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The roadmap with timelines to deliver the services
How to write a software sales proposal?
Creating a successful software sales proposal is a vital step in the sales process to secure a business contract from the prospective client. Here’s an exhaustive step-by-step process to make your proposal professional and captivating.
Cover page
The cover page is like the opening chapter of your software sales proposal. It mentions the prospective client's name, the service provider's company name and logo, and the proposal's name.
Introduction
In this section, briefly summarize the purpose of the proposal, your product features or services, and their key advantages for the potential client's business needs.
About us
This is the space to tell your company’s story. Here, briefly describe your company, your business strengths, and what makes you unique.
Scope of Software
This is a crucial part of the software sales proposal to convince your prospects. It explains the purpose and application of the software solution, its features, and why it is better than the other software systems available in the market. Here, go in-depth about the benefits and advantages of your offerings.
If you have any marketing resource, for example, online articles, blogs, videos, support articles, etc., add them to back up your software claims.
Client testimonials
Adding social proof takes your business closer to a deal. Customer reviews and testimonials enhance the trustworthiness of your company. Add relevant case studies of previous projects and customer testimonials.
Pricing
In this section, give a clear breakdown of:
About team
List down the team members who will work closely and dedicatedly with the customer throughout the project - their role, responsibility, and contact information.
Terms & conditions
Getting the terms and conditions in writing is important to set the right expectations between both parties. It makes them aware of the work obligations during the project like the payment terms and date, payment method, governing laws, cancellation terms, warranties, disclaimer, etc.
Conclusion
Creating a Conclusion section is better especially when your proposal is lengthy. Wind up the proposal in a small paragraph along with a call to action and contact details - company name, contact person and number, and email id.
Acceptance and signature
This is the final section that contains the signatories-related data. It contains the signature placeholders where representatives of both parties sign the dotted line and make the deal official.
Tips for writing a software development proposal
Here are some important points you should consider while drafting a business proposal.
Thorough research goes a long way: Know your prospects well before proposing a solution to them. Conduct online research about them, and understand the company, their existing systems, and business challenges. This will help you to document the pain points well and create an effective personalized proposal.
Leverage a sales proposal template: A sales proposal template gives you a headstart even when you are creating it for the first time. A well-structured template helps you to create comprehensive proposal documents and deliver them to prospects promptly.
Create a clean structure and format: A well-laid-out structure is easy to comprehend. Follow the below points:
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Break the proposal document into sections and subsections
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Write small paragraphs
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Add bullet points
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Add white space for easy readability
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Include page numbers
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Use the right fonts
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Highlight key data points with different colors or make them bold
Use visuals: A picture is worth a thousand words. Use images, charts, tables, and graphs to help the prospect understand the solution quicker.
Always proofread: The proposal is not final until it is reviewed for grammatical or spelling errors. These mistakes can leave a bad impression on your team and professionalism. Do check the proposal thoroughly before submitting it.
Keep the language simple: Jargon can complicate your business document. Use simpler words that make the proposal easy to read and process.
Use Revv - Automate and streamline your software sales proposal and close deals faster
Revv is an intuitive proposal software solution that takes care of all your sales proposal needs. Its advanced features, suited for both small and enterprise businesses, give you a wider scope to automate the software proposal process end to end.
Legally vetted and ready-to-use software sales proposal template: Revv's free software sales proposal templates are professionally designed, structured, and vetted by legal teams. The neatly layered sections in the proposal template help you to create a winning project pitch and brighten the chances of converting a prospect to a client.
You can even upload an existing Microsoft Word or PDF template and make edits to it.
Rich Document editor to customize based on business needs: Enhance your proposal using Revv's drag-and-drop editor and make it more selling. You can add images, edit text, import data from Google Sheets, and alter the design as per your company’s brand guidelines.
Integrate your business apps and import data to the document: Streamline your crucial business solutions with Revv. Import data from these apps to a document with the no-code Data Studio feature and create proposals within minutes.
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Save time spent on switching between multiple apps and copy-pasting the data
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Generate error-free proposals
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Increase the productivity of your resources
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Reduce cost
Built-in electronic signature service for a legally-binding contract: Revv's integrated eSignature system helps your customers to sign documents online from anywhere and turn them into a formal contract. The client is notified via email to sign the document and complete the process in a few clicks.
Collaboration features to communicate with the team in real time: No more non-ending and confusing email requests. Revv facilitates conversations between teams by helping them to collaborate within the proposal through tags, notes, and attachments.
Real-time document tracking for faster closures: Revv gives you detailed analytics on all the actions that have been taken on the software proposal - who has opened the proposal, who has signed and who hasn't, etc.
Automated notifications to take action: Revv sends automated notifications to the prospect to sign the contract. The sender also gets notified of the signature actions taken by the prospect on the document.
Bonus! Here are the other free software-related proposal templates:
Also, check out our blog on how to create unparalleled commercial proposals.