AI proposal software: Turn leads into signed contracts

Just imagine: You’re staring at your screen, coffee gone cold, piecing together another proposal for what feels like the hundredth time this month. Copy-pasting from old documents, manually updating client names, hoping you didn’t miss anything important. Sounds familiar?

You’re not alone. Sales representatives dedicate only two hours daily to active selling, according to HubSpot, with much of their time spent on non-selling tasks like document creation and administrative work. Meanwhile, the average sales win rate in 2024 was 21%, meaning most of that time ends up being wasted effort.

But here’s the thing—sales reps winning more deals aren’t necessarily better writers or smoother talkers. They just figured out how to work smarter, not harder. Over half of sales professionals believe AI solutions can help them improve their work.

In this guide, you’ll discover how modern AI proposal software transforms the entire process from lead to signed contract and beyond. We’ll explore the features that actually matter and real-world success stories.

What is proposal software?

Proposal software is a digital platform that helps businesses create, manage and track sales proposals throughout the entire customer journey. Think of it as your proposal creation process on autopilot—but smarter.

Instead of starting from scratch every time, these platforms provide:

• Template libraries with industry-specific formats you can customize instantly
• Content management systems that store your winning proposal sections
• Collaboration tools that let multiple team members contribute without version chaos
• Document analytics and tracking to see how prospects engage with your proposals
• Integration capabilities that sync with your existing sales stack

The real magic happens when proposal software includes contract management features. Your accepted proposal seamlessly transforms into a legally binding contract—no more back-and-forth email chains or separate signing processes.

For sales teams juggling multiple deals, this technology eliminates the manual effort that typically consumes hours each week. You spend less time on administrative tasks and more time building relationships with prospects.

Why smart teams choose Oneflow for proposal management

Businesses are moving away from traditional proposal workflows. Those using modern proposal management software see significantly faster close rates and higher win percentages.

Oneflow approaches proposal management differently from traditional document tools. Instead of static PDFs that require separate signing processes, Oneflow creates dynamic, interactive proposals that can be edited, negotiated and signed in real-time.

Businesses trust Oneflow to manage their proposal-to-contract workflows. The platform integrates seamlessly with popular CRM systems like Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics, making sure your proposal data flows directly into your existing sales process.

The best customer success teams reduce friction at every stage—when prospects can review, comment, negotiate and sign proposals within a single platform, you can close deals faster.

Core features that accelerate your sales cycle

Let’s look at the main features top proposal software should include.

Smart proposal creation & templates

The fastest way to kill momentum in a sales cycle is to make prospects wait while you build their proposal from scratch. The best proposal software solves this with intelligent template systems that adapt to your industry and deal type.

Industry-specific templates come pre-loaded with the sections, language and formatting that work best for you. Whether you’re in professional services, technology or manufacturing, these templates include the key elements prospects expect to see.

First impressions count—build trust, credibility and create a consistent journey with your customers using branded proposals that include color schemes, fonts and layout preferences. Your brand stays consistent without any manual formatting work.

Integrations to CRM systems streamlines the process a step further by auto-populating customer data directly into proposals. When your proposal software connects to systems like HubSpot or Salesforce, prospect names, company details and deal specifics flow automatically into the right template sections. No more copy-paste errors or embarrassing mix-ups.

Real-time collaboration & AI approval workflows

Traditional proposal creation often involves drafting in Microsoft Word, emailing it to colleagues, waiting for feedback, merging comments and repeating this process. By the time everyone’s input is incorporated, days have passed, and momentum is lost.

Multi-stakeholder editing changes this completely. When proposal teams can simultaneously work on different sections, your timeline shrinks dramatically. Legal can review terms while marketing updates case studies and sales adjusts pricing—all in parallel.

Automating approvals ensures that nothing is sent to prospects without proper sign-off. You can set up workflows where professional proposals automatically route to the right approvers based on deal size, product type or customer requirements.

Comment and feedback systems centralize discussion within the proposal. Instead of scattered email threads about specific sections, reviewers can leave contextual comments directly on relevant paragraphs.

AI Review capabilities take this further by instantly comparing your proposals and contracts to pre-set legal guidelines. The system automatically flags missing clauses and potential compliance issues, giving you an extra set of eyes to reduce human error and mitigate risk before anything goes to prospects.

Version control and audit trails solve the “which is the latest version?” problem that plagues email-based collaboration. Every change is tracked with timestamps and user attribution, so you always know who made what changes and when.

Tracking & analytics with AI insights

Here’s where proposal software gets really interesting for sales teams focused on optimization. While your previous proposals (i.e., traditional documents) disappear into email attachments, modern platforms track proposals to help you understand prospect behavior.

Proposal engagement metrics show you exactly how prospects interact with your documents. You can see which sections they spend the most time reading and what content they skip. Document interaction insights reveal engagement patterns that help you time your follow-up. 

AI Insights elevate this analysis by reviewing your contracts in bulk to provide instant due diligence and compliance reports. You can identify and extract risky contracts across your entire portfolio instantaneously, with a smart dashboard showing all contract analysis at a glance.

Pipeline visibility connects proposal activity directly to your sales forecast. Instead of wondering whether deals are progressing, you can see real-time engagement data that indicates genuine interest versus polite silence.

Analytics and audit trails provide the data you need to improve your existing content continuously. By identifying which sections have higher close rates, you can optimize future proposals based on what works.

Seamless contract signing with AI risk management

This is where most traditional proposal workflows fall short. After weeks of back-and-forth refinement, you finally get approval—only to start a separate contract negotiation and signing process.

One-click proposal-to-contract signing eliminates this friction. When prospects are ready to move forward, the proposal they’ve already reviewed transforms directly into a legally binding contract. No reformatting, no separate document preparation, no delays. AI Review ensures this transition maintains compliance by automatically checking that all necessary clauses are present and aligned with your legal guidelines.

Electronic signature integration supports multiple signing methods depending on your security requirements and local regulations, from simple click-to-sign options to qualified digital signatures that meet the highest legal standards.

Contract repository and management keep all your signed agreements organized and searchable, with AI-powered risk analysis providing ongoing visibility into your contract portfolio’s compliance status.

Automated renewal and follow-up workflows help you maximize customer lifetime value. The system can track contract end dates and trigger renewal conversations at the optimal time.

Industry-specific proposal solutions

Well-designed proposal software meets the needs of numerous teams. We’ve identified those who benefit the most from it.

Sales teams & business development

When your proposal software connects with platforms like Salesforce or HubSpot, proposal activity feeds back into your lead scoring and pipeline management. You can see which prospects actively engage with proposals and prioritize follow-up accordingly.

Sales process automation reduces the administrative burden that keeps sales reps from selling. Automated workflows can trigger proposal creation when deals reach certain stages, send follow-up reminders based on engagement data and even escalate stalled proposals to sales leaders.

Team collaboration features share knowledge across your entire sales organization. When successful documents get saved to your content library, other reps can learn from what works and generate error-free proposals.

Professional services & consulting

Detailed scope documentation becomes much easier when you can build comprehensive project breakdowns within your proposals. Instead of vague service descriptions, you can create detailed task lists, deliverables timelines and success metrics that set clear expectations.

Time and materials proposals benefit from built-in calculation tools that automatically compute project costs based on hourly rates and estimated hours. When scope changes during negotiations, pricing updates happen automatically without manual recalculation errors.

Customer communication tools through integrated platforms like Slack mean conversations about proposal details can happen in real-time. Prospects can ask questions directly within the proposal platform and your team can respond immediately without losing context.

Technology & software companies

Technical specification templates help you present complex product requirements in digestible formats. Instead of overwhelming prospects with technical documentation, you can structure specifications to highlight business benefits alongside technical details.

Timeline specification templates make project implementation schedules clear and actionable. When prospects can see precisely when different phases will be completed and what resources are required, they can plan their internal processes accordingly.

Stakeholder management features become critical in enterprise technology sales where multiple departments need to review and approve proposals. Access controls, permissions, version control and audit trails ensure the right people see the right information at the right time.

Integrations that power your workflow

The real power of modern proposal software comes from how well it connects with your existing business tools. Instead of creating another disconnected system, the best platforms become the central hub that ties your entire sales and operations workflow together.

Salesforce integration deep-dive

When Oneflow connects with Salesforce, proposal creation becomes a natural extension of your sales process. Opportunity data automatically populates proposals, eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors.

But the integration goes deeper than simple data sync. Proposal engagement metrics feed back into Salesforce, updating opportunity records with real-time engagement data. Your sales team can see which prospects actively review proposals without leaving their familiar CRM interface.

Automated workflow triggers can create proposals when opportunities reach specific stages, send notifications when proposals are viewed or signed and update deal stages based on proposal status.

HubSpot workflow automation

HubSpot becomes much more powerful when connected to proposal management. You can create sophisticated workflows that automatically trigger contract generation based on lead actions.

See also: HubSpot contract management software: Top 9 integrations

For example, when a qualified lead submits a marketing form on your website requesting a quote or consultation, Oneflow can automatically generate a personalized contract or proposal with their information pre-populated, then send it for signature. This eliminates manual data entry and speeds up your sales cycle by getting contracts in front of prospects while they’re still highly engaged.

Microsoft Dynamics synchronization

Microsoft Dynamics users benefit from native integration that maintains data consistency across both platforms. Contact information, company details and opportunity data stay synchronized automatically, preventing the data discrepancies that often cause proposal errors.

Google Drive and productivity tool connections

Google Workspace integration means your existing document creation workflows can naturally incorporate proposal management. Teams already using Google Docs for collaboration can transition to proposal software without abandoning familiar tools.

Success stories & customer results

Real-world results demonstrate the impact that modern proposal software has on sales performance.

Sweco, Europe’s leading architecture and engineering consultancy, transformed its proposal process across Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Key Account Manager Mattias Johnson reports that time previously spent on administrative tasks can now be devoted to selling. The company saw a 133% improvement in its sales process efficiency, with proposals that previously required multiple email exchanges and file updates now completed seamlessly within the platform.

Trustmary enhanced its sales efficiency through the Oneflow native integrations with CRM platforms like Pipedrive. The integration eliminated manual data entry between systems and created automated workflows that accelerated the entire sales process, from lead qualification to contract signing.

Oneflow proposal software pricing & plans

Transparent pricing helps you understand what investment is required to transform your proposal process. Oneflow offers flexible plans that scale with your business needs, from small teams just getting started to enterprise organizations with complex requirements.

The paid plans start from:

• Essentials: $17/mo/user. It includes digital contracts, templates and insights.
• Business: $45/mo/user. It includes all Essentials features, plus lifecycle, tags and data retention.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing. The enterprise plan comes with shared templates, groups, SSO and more. Large organizations with specific compliance requirements or complex approval processes can explore this plan.

Plus, we have a free forever option that gives you access to PDF contracts, dashboards, audit trail and the ability to export contracts.

ROI calculations show that most businesses recover their software investment within the first quarter through time savings alone. When you factor in improved win rates and faster sales cycles, the financial impact becomes even more significant.

Want to see how Oneflow can help you introduce a streamlined process and generate personalized proposals? Try our proposal software for free or get a demo.

Why choose Oneflow over traditional proposal software

The proposal software market includes several established players, but the differences in approach create dramatically different user experiences and results.

Oneflow stands out by treating proposals as the beginning of the contract lifecycle, not a separate process. While other platforms focus on proposal creation and basic e-signatures, Oneflow provides true contract management software capabilities that extend far beyond the initial signing.

The HTML-based proposal format means documents remain interactive and editable throughout the entire negotiation process. Prospects can suggest changes directly within the proposal, eliminating the email back-and-forth that typically extends sales cycles.

AI-powered contract review helps identify potential issues before proposals reach prospects, reducing the likelihood of stalled negotiations due to problematic terms or unclear language.

Getting started with Oneflow proposal software

Here’s what we’ve discovered: the difference between sales teams that consistently hit their targets and those that struggle isn’t talent or market conditions. It’s the systems they use to eliminate friction between initial interest and signed contracts.

Traditional proposal workflows create unnecessary barriers at every stage. Hours spent on formatting. Days waiting for internal approvals. Weeks of back-and-forth negotiations that could happen in real-time. Meanwhile, prospects lose momentum and competitors slip in with a faster response process.

Oneflow transforms this entire dynamic by treating proposals as the beginning of your contract relationship, not separate sales docs that eventually become something else. When prospects can review, negotiate and sign within the same platform where they first encountered your offering, deals move at the speed of decision-making rather than administrative processing.

Ready to discover how much faster your deals could close when proposals work the way modern buyers expect? Book a demo with Oneflow!