What's the best way to automate your proposal process?
Short answer
Record and transcribe the sales meeting, turn the transcript into the facts a proposal needs (scope, deliverables, timeline, budget, decision makers), fill your own proposal template from those facts, and have the person who ran the call review it before it goes out. A proposal that used to take an evening becomes a draft waiting for review shortly after the call.
Where proposals lose time
Most firms don't lose deals on the proposal itself. They lose time and momentum around it:
- Notes are rebuilt from memory days after the meeting
- Last month's proposal is copied, and old details slip through
- Pricing waits on whoever knows the rates
- Formatting eats an evening
- The follow-up after sending never happens
The workflow, step by step
- Record the meeting. Use the transcription built into Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, or a notetaker app. Tell the client you're recording.
- Pull out what the proposal needs. The transcript is summarized into the same fields every time: the client's problem in their words, scope, deliverables, timeline, budget signals, who decides, and open questions.
- Check it against your rules. Scope is matched to your services and price list. Anything that isn't on the list is flagged instead of guessed.
- Fill your template. Your proposal template in Google Docs, Word or a proposal tool is filled in from those fields: cover letter, scope, pricing table, timeline and terms.
- A person reviews it. Whoever ran the call reads the draft, fixes what's off and approves it. Nothing goes to a client on its own.
- Send, sign and track. It goes out through your e-signature tool. When it's signed, the deal is updated in your CRM and the kickoff meeting is booked.
What it connects to
| Step | Common tools | What moves between them |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams | The recording and transcript |
| Notes | Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint | The summary and proposal fields |
| Pricing | Your price list, QuickBooks items | Line items and rates |
| Templates | Google Docs, Word, PandaDoc | The draft proposal |
| Signing | DocuSign (on a plan with API access), PandaDoc | The signed proposal |
| CRM | HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce | Deal stage and next steps |
What to keep with a person
- Discounts and pricing that isn't on your list
- The final read before anything is sent
- Anything the client asked to keep off the record
How to start small
Start with step two. Take one transcript, run it through a summary with your fixed fields, and see whether the fields come out right. When they do, connect your template. Add e-signature and the CRM last, once the drafts are good enough that you're only making small edits.
How Midwater sets this up
We build it as custom work on your meeting tool, your template and your CRM, with your price list as the rules. You review every draft before it goes out. Then we run it, monitor it, and change it when your services or template change.
Published
Common questions
- Is it okay to record client meetings?
- Get consent: say you're recording at the start of the call, and check the recording laws where you and your client are. Some states, including California, require everyone on the call to agree.
- Will it write the whole proposal?
- It drafts it from your template and the meeting. A person reviews and approves every proposal before it's sent.
- What if the meeting didn't cover pricing?
- The draft flags what's missing instead of guessing, so you know what to ask before it goes out.
Use cases behind this answer
Ask your company anything
Ask by phone, text or chat and get an answer from your email, files, CRM and accounting. Each person sees only what they're allowed to see.
Documents by email, read, filed and routed
Email any invoice, contract, form or receipt to your agent. It pulls out the details, enters them where they belong, files it, and tells the right person.
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