When you’re managing a rapidly expanding PPC agency, you understand the constant struggle of time. From coordinating calls and launching campaigns to managing budgets, the workload never seems to end. On top of the daily grind of maintaining your current client base, there’s the added pressure of attracting and onboarding new clients. Building business proposals from the ground up can be a tedious and time-consuming task that eats into your precious work hours. Luckily for agencies, there’s a plethora of tools available designed to simplify the proposal creation process. This allows you to focus on what truly matters - delivering a compelling pitch that wins over new clients – instead of getting bogged down by formatting and tracking proposals. In this article, we’ll explore seven of the most effective tools for crafting proposals specifically designed for PPC clients.
1. Proposify
Proposify is a cloud-based platform that has gained significant traction among businesses aiming to optimize their proposal writing workflow. It offers tools for crafting reusable, custom-designed templates, enabling the rapid creation of new proposals without sacrificing quality. Adding text, images, and video is a breeze with its intuitive editor, making it ideal for users who might not be well-versed in intricate design software.
Beyond its design capabilities, Proposify offers collaborative features for managing your proposals. You can define roles, assign permissions, and control access levels for each section, which is incredibly useful when multiple stakeholders are involved.
One of Proposify’s standout features is its seamless integration with various platforms, including HubSpot, Stripe, Salesforce, QuickBooks, Pipedrive, FreshBooks, Xero, and Zapier. This integration facilitates automatic prospect status updates within these platforms upon proposal acceptance and signing. The value of this feature depends on your agency’s growth rate. For companies constantly sending out new proposals, it’s incredibly beneficial. However, smaller agencies might not even utilize a CRM for client management, and even if they do, the utility of this feature might be limited. Proposify, like many SaaS providers, offers a three-tiered pricing structure tailored to accommodate a wide range of users:
- “Tall” – $25/month ($300 billed annually)
- “Grande” – $75 per month ($900 billed annually)
- “Venti” – $250/ month ($3,000 billed annually) While the Starbucks-inspired naming conventions might seem a bit on the nose, the pricing structure itself provides increasing value as you move up the tiers. The primary differentiators between tiers are the number of active proposals allowed (sent but unsigned), the number of user accounts included, and the extent of integration capabilities. For small to medium-sized agencies, the “Tall” tier is a suitable starting point unless you’re consistently handling more than five unsigned proposals at a time. Once a proposal is finalized, the count resets. The additional features offered in higher tiers are generally more beneficial to larger operations. Key takeaways: Proposify is purpose-built for businesses like marketing agencies. Its base price is quite reasonable for growing businesses and is on par with other options on the list.
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2. PandaDoc
PandaDoc brings the ease of electronic signatures to a wide range of client-facing documents. Similar to Proposify, this tool boasts a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for document creation, along with a diverse selection of templates. A standout feature is the “pricing tables and catalogs,” which enable users to “automate quote creation with product catalogs and dynamic pricing tables, allowing customers to choose the right options and pricing for them.” Agencies with well-defined pricing models would find this feature particularly useful, as it allows prospects to customize the services they require.
PandaDoc, like Proposify, offers team management features with customizable user roles, assignment options, and integrations with CRMs and payment gateways. Additionally, PandaDoc provides insights into client interactions with your proposals, such as when they open the document, how long they spend reviewing it, and when they sign. Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices are also available. PandaDoc takes a less gimmicky approach to pricing plan nomenclature, categorizing its tiers as “Individual,” “Team,” and “API.” The individual plan is available at $15 per user per month and offers the following:
The 50-document annual limit translates to roughly four proposals per month. This might suffice for smaller agencies, but if you’re experiencing rapid growth, the team plan would be a more suitable option:
The standard “Business plan” starts at a relatively steep $49 per user per month. And then there’s the ubiquitous “Let’s talk!” pricing for the Enterprise plan – potentially a good fit for large, well-established agencies. Key Takeaways: PandaDoc is a comprehensive platform packed with features to streamline and manage the proposal process. However, it comes at a premium price point. Smaller agencies seeking a simpler proposal tool might find more value in other options. The advanced analytics and integrations might not justify the cost for smaller teams.
3. Better Proposals
Better Proposal mirrors the feature set of other platforms on this list, providing tools for creating visually appealing proposals quickly, along with integrations for various CRMs and payment gateways. However, Better Proposals distinguishes itself by focusing solely on enabling the creation of clean, professional proposals with speed and efficiency. The proposal designer appears to be robust, allowing for extensive customization of templates, including colors, fonts, imagery, and logos, ensuring a polished look across all devices.
In terms of pricing, Better Proposals offers both monthly and annual payment options, with a 17% discount for annual subscribers:
Better Proposals offers excellent value for money. The $24 per month “Starter” plan caters to freelancers and individuals, allowing for 10 proposals per month with a single user limit. This plan could easily suffice for small agencies. For larger teams, the $49 per month “Premium” plan is a better fit, offering up to 50 proposals per month and support for up to five users. Takeaway: Better Proposals delivers all the essential functionality of its competitors at a very reasonable price point.
4. Qwilr
Qwilr is to proposals what Squarespace is to web design. Not only are the proposals and templates effortlessly customizable, but they are also visually stunning. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, Qwilr’s interactive pricing feature is a game-changer:
Similar to PandaDoc’s price catalog functionality, Qwilr’s interactive pricing allows you to present prospective clients with a dynamic selection of services. You can configure your quotes as single-select, multiple-choice, or combined package options, empowering clients to tailor their service selection and opening up upselling opportunities for your agency. Qwilr employs a familiar three-tiered pricing model, offering Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. As with other platforms, you have the flexibility to choose between monthly and annual billing cycles.
Unlike other options, the “Business” plan is recommended unless you’re a very small agency simply trialing the tool. The “Pro” plan strips away numerous features, including electronic signatures, Typekit fonts, and custom forms – features well worth the additional cost. Key Takeaways: While the platform itself is impressive, the feature limitations of the “Pro” plan are a bit disappointing. However, for smaller teams, the “Business” plan at $20 per user per month offers excellent value.
5. Bidsketch
Bidsketch provides a familiar set of features found in most tools on this list: a streamlined proposal builder, a vast template library, analytics, integrations, and upselling capabilities. What sets Bidsketch apart is its “Client Landing Pages” feature, which provides your prospects with a dedicated landing page to view, approve, export, and comment on their proposals effortlessly.
Bidsketch also allows you to automate follow-up actions with approval messages – a useful feature for PPC clients as it can prompt them to grant account access or provide necessary information. Bidsketch, like many others on the list, offers both monthly and annual billing options. Notably, the base “Solo” plan includes unlimited proposals and unlimited clients. The only limitations on this plan pertain to team management and collaboration features.
Key Takeaways: Bidsketch offers features and pricing comparable to other platforms on this list. The unlimited proposals across all plans are a significant advantage for agencies of all sizes!
6. Proposable
Proposable boasts drag-and-drop design tools, analytics, a wide range of customizable templates, and many of the same integrations found in other tools on this list. Proposable allows you to configure email and SMS notifications for proposal-related events – a valuable time-saving feature for agencies juggling multiple proposals.
Proposable offers monthly and annual billing, with a 15% discount for annual subscribers. It does not appear to have an individual pricing model, and at $39 per user per month, it’s one of the pricier options on the list.
Key Takeaways: Proposable provides a feature set comparable to other tools, with the main differentiator being its price. Its focus on sales team features, such as performance tracking and automated proposal notifications, makes it a good fit for agencies with dedicated sales teams. However, smaller agencies might find better value in more budget-friendly options.
7. nexus-security Advisor for Agencies: Proposal Generator
No list of agency proposal tools would be complete without mentioning nexus-security’s own proposal generator. nexus-security offers a comprehensive platform for PPC agencies. The platform itself includes white-labeled performance graders for presenting detailed client account audits, and its proposal generator tool provides a customizable, downloadable PDF to help you recommend a successful, full-funnel approach to prospects.
What sets nexus-security’s proposal generator apart is its dedicated focus on PPC. While other tools offer robust design and templating features, this generator allows for the rapid creation of compelling paid search and social proposals. Key features include the ability to input industry data, geographic points of interest, business metrics (like average conversion rates and selling prices), and relevant keywords to generate a cross-platform proposal in seconds. The proposed budget feature is particularly useful:
Unlike the standalone options on this list, nexus-security’s Proposal Generator is part of the nexus-security New Business Center, a suite of tools designed to help agencies acquire new clients. If you’re already leveraging nexus-security for PPC account management, you can add the New Business Center for $49/month with the flexibility of canceling anytime. Key Takeaways: nexus-security’s combination of robust PPC-focused features and a $49/month price point is hard to beat. Access to white-labeled account auditing tools and a persuasive full-funnel proposal generator could significantly improve your prospect-to-client conversion rates. Try out nexus-security’s New Business Center with a free trial!
Choosing the Right Tool for Your Agency
Whether you’re a small agency just starting out or a larger one looking to streamline client interactions, the right tools can make proposal creation a breeze. Consider testing out free trials to determine the best fit for your agency. Keep these factors in mind during your evaluation:
- Your agency’s size
- Your agency’s growth rate
- The number of team members involved in the proposal process Remember, the ultimate goal is to create proposals that not only save you time but also improve your close rate.