Proposals
and
Profits
an insights blog from:
There’s a silent productivity killer lurking inside most digital agencies - and no, it’s not Slack.
It’s the slow, custom-from-scratch-every-time proposal process.
You know the one: a prospect shows interest, you book a discovery call, and then you find yourself staring at a blinking cursor in a Google Doc for 90 minutes trying to reinvent the wheel for a service you’ve already sold 27 times.
It’s time to stop the madness.
In this post, we’re going to break down how to streamline proposal creation at your agency - without cutting corners or sending generic garbage that gets ignored. Let’s dig in.
It’s tempting to blame proposal delays on being busy or needing more people. But often, the root problem is this:
You’re not using repeatable building blocks.
Every time a new proposal request comes in, you’re starting over. Rewriting line items. Re-explaining scope. Copy-pasting from that random Doc folder your old ops person set up.
You’ve built your agency around repeatable services - SEO audits, landing page builds, retainer work - but your proposals don’t reflect that repeatability.
And that’s where the slowdown starts.
Before you can streamline anything, you need clarity. What services do you actually offer?
Not hypothetically. Not “whatever the client needs.” I mean: what services do you sell on repeat? Here are some examples:
These are productized services - even if they’re delivered with a human touch.
Once you nail these down, you can start building what we call modular components in your proposals.
Here’s the shift: instead of treating every proposal like a one-off, create modular line items that can be mixed, matched, and customized quickly.
Each one should include:
For example:
“Landing Page Build: Single Page”
Includes mobile-responsive design, copy editing, and conversion tracking setup. Does not include long-form copywriting or multi-step funnel builds.
This lets you assemble proposals instead of writing them from scratch.
When proposals are built from repeatable blocks, you speed up delivery, reduce mistakes, and create consistency that builds trust.
You know what else happens when your proposal components are standardized?
Your team knows what’s included.
No more ambiguous sales promises that the delivery team can’t fulfill. No more unclear scope. No more “wait - did we quote them for that?”
This is how you scale without burning out.
The problem with most proposal software? It’s just prettier Google Docs.
What you really need is:
That’s exactly what we built Smart Pricing Table to solve.
Instead of copy-pasting and rebuilding every time, you define your services once and reuse them forever. You can even let clients select add-ons themselves, which increases deal size without the awkward upsell.
You can see how the whole system works on our features page.
Streamlined proposals aren’t just faster - they help you win more deals by making the buying experience easier.
If you liked this post, you’ll probably also enjoy:
Both go deeper into the mindset shift behind productizing services and reducing friction in your sales process.
You don’t need more hours. You need better systems.
Smart Pricing Table is proposal software built for digital agencies who are tired of starting from scratch. Whether you build landing pages, run paid ads, or manage content campaigns, we help you quote faster - and win more.
👉 Learn more or book a no-obligation demo
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