Customers may not sign off on proposals on time for various reasons—pending internal approvals, Integrator selection, or perhaps they forgot about it. Whatever the reason, it can be frustrating when customers don't get back to you on time!
On Cloud, you can automate follow-ups for proposal approval, grant extensions for approval, and even track proposal views.
The ability to set an end date and send reminders is available when you share proposals or email or via URLs.
Set end date and reminders
End dates and reminders are primarily part of the Proposal Sharing workflow, but these can be changed even after sharing the proposal.
End date
Set the end date based on what you agreed with the customer or a cut-off date you have in mind. The customer cannot view or accept the proposal after this date.
Go to the "Share Proposal" view and set the end date in the left pane.
Customers will see the expiration date in two places:
1. Under the "View Proposal" button in the Proposal email.
2. On a banner at the top of an opened proposal.
Reminders
You can add up to "two" email reminders days apart before the end date. Reminder emails are sent to every email address with which the proposal was shared. Reminder emails are also sent to the opportunity owner; that way, they can remember an impending end date.
Under Reminder Email, click "Add reminder email" and specify the number of days before expiration to send the reminder emails.
By default, the email text has the proposal expiration date, company name, company logo, and opportunity owner name. Click the Pencil icon and update the reminder email if you want to customize the email.
Expired proposals - customer view
After the expiration date, customers can no longer view the proposal. They will see an automated message explaining that the proposal has expired and that they should reach out to the opportunity owner to request an extension.
Grant extension for approval
If your customer requests an extension to approve the proposal, you can change the expiration date. Reminder email dates will automatically adjust to fit the new expiration date. You can also manually change reminder email dates.
Go to "Proposal Analytics" in the Overview tab to grant the extension. Customers will see the revised date on the banner when they see the proposal.
Throughout the Proposal Approval process, you can use the Proposal Analytics feature to track how customers view your proposals. You even know if someone cannot see the proposal despite clicking the proposal URL.
Learn more about Proposal Analytics.