Hey Makers
Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by the exhausting process of creating sales proposals? Just imagine the complexity and time spent gathering data scattered across teams and tools.
Enter Nick Child from Ethos, the mastermind behind today’s solution. He has brilliantly crafted a tool for mid-sized sales organizations, making it easier to streamline the proposal creation process and stay ahead of the game.
What apps helped Nick accomplish the desired outcome?
What are the benefits of this solution?
- 75% decrease in time spent on sales proposal creation
- Under 5% error rate, ensuring quality and consistency
Keep on reading to find out what’s under the hood of this solution!
What problem were you trying to solve with your automation?
The creation of complex sales proposals is inefficient and time-consuming, as data is scattered across multiple teams, including solution architects, quote teams, and sales teams. This leads to outdated templates, inconsistent branding, and a labor-intensive process where documents are passed from team to team, often taking days to finalize.
Why did the problem exist?
This issue arises due to a lack of centralized tools and standardized processes. Each team often uses its systems to manage data, which leads to silos and inconsistent formats. Additionally, outdated templates persist because there’s no streamlined process for updates or brand consistency, making the entire workflow prone to delays and errors.
How did you solve the problem? What does your solution look like?
- Webhook called from Airtable when the Sales Proposal is ready for generation.
- Request made to Airtable to pull relevant data from the base.
- New presentation created in Google Slides from the template.
- Add the front page replacing tags with client name, salesperson name, and date.
- Add required fixed content pages to the presentation (eg. about us, our partners, our services, T&Cs, etc). Inclusion based on a checkbox field in Airtable.
- Add variable content pages (eg. summary, additional info, schedule of agreement, etc). Tags on each Google Slide page are replaced with text data pulled from Airtable. Page inclusion is based on fields that contain data in Airtable.
- Add images to the presentation where necessary, using images from Airtable fields.
- Delete template pages from the presentation.
- Download the presentation as PPTX using Google Drive.
- Upload converted PPTX to Microsoft Sharepoint.
- Insert Sharepoint Web URL to the field in Airtable.
What did your solution achieve?
Time Savings:
Previously, creating a proposal took 1 to 4 days. With the new automated process, this has been reduced to just 2 to 4 hours, representing a 75% decrease in turnaround time.
Error Reduction:
Prior to automation, nearly 100% of proposals required rework due to errors or inconsistencies. Now, error rates have dropped significantly to under 5%, ensuring higher quality and consistency.
Improved Win Rate:
The more efficient process has contributed to an estimated 15% increase in win rate, translating to more closed deals and increased revenue, as faster, higher-quality proposals have improved the sales team’s competitiveness.
Consistent Branding:
The automated system ensures that all proposals use up-to-date templates and consistent branding, reducing instances of brand misalignment by over 95%. This enhances the company’s professional image and strengthens brand recognition in the market.
This is Nick, the creator of this powerful solution
Helpful Resources
Airtable guide