Key Takeaways
- Quote management software automates and streamlines the creation, delivery, and tracking of quotes.
- Manual quoting slows down sales and increases the risk of pricing errors.
- Features such as templates, approvals, and e-signatures enhance quoting speed and accuracy.
- CRM quoting software ensures seamless data sync and better follow-up timing.
- The right tool helps your team close deals faster and scale with confidence.
If you’ve ever spent hours scrambling to pull together a sales quote only to find out the pricing was outdated, or the format wasn’t quite right, you’re not alone.
I’ve been there too. Quoting manually used to feel like a constant juggling act between spreadsheets, emails, and approvals.
That’s exactly why I started exploring quote management software. It didn’t just speed things up, it changed the entire way we approached sales.
From auto-populating product details to syncing with our CRM, it eliminated the busywork and helped us focus on what matters: closing deals.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through how quote management software streamlines the sales process, saves time, reduces errors, and gives your team a serious edge when it comes to winning more business.
What Is Quote Management Software?
Quote management software is a tool that enables sales teams to create, send, track, and manage sales quotes efficiently and accurately. It replaces manual quoting processes with automation to reduce errors and speed up deal closures.
Quote management software allows sales teams to:
- Create accurate, branded quotes using pricing rules and product catalogs.
- Send quotes digitally and track real-time engagement.
- Automate approvals, apply discounts, and collect e-signatures.
- Integrate with CRM quoting software to streamline the entire sales process.
It simplifies quoting from start to finish, saving time, reducing errors, and helping teams close deals faster.
What Are the Challenges of Manual Quoting in Sales?
Creating quotes manually might work in the early stages of a business, but as your sales volume grows, it quickly becomes a bottleneck.
Here’s what makes manual quoting problematic:
1. Prone to errors
Relying on spreadsheets or copying and pasting from old documents increases the risk of pricing mistakes, outdated product information, or incorrect terms, all of which can delay or derail deals.
Without a centralized sales quote management software, there’s no control over what gets sent to prospects, which can hurt your brand credibility.
2. Time-consuming process
Building quotes from scratch takes up valuable selling time. Reps often wait on approvals, hunt down product details, or manually format documents before sending them out.
This leads to delays that can be avoided with the right quote management software in place.
3. Lack of consistency
Without a shared library of templates, every sales rep might present quotes differently.
This creates inconsistency in pricing, branding, and presentation, something sales quoting software is designed to eliminate.
4. No visibility or tracking
Once a quote is sent, there’s no easy way to track if the prospect opened it or engaged with it.
This lack of visibility makes timely follow-ups a guessing game and increases the risk of deals slipping through the cracks.
5. Poor team collaboration
When sales, finance, and legal teams work in silos, quote approvals and adjustments become painfully slow.
A modern CRM quoting software can unify these workflows, enabling teams to stay in sync and respond more efficiently.
These challenges don’t just slow things down; they reduce your chances of winning deals, scaling your pipeline, and delivering a seamless buyer experience.
Key Features of Sales Quoting Software
Modern sales quoting software is designed to do much more than just create quotes. It brings structure, speed, and accuracy to your entire quoting process.
Here are the must-have features to look for:
1. Centralized product and pricing database
Reps can pull accurate product info and real-time pricing directly into the quote, eliminating guesswork.
This ensures every quote reflects the latest pricing rules, taxes, and discounts.
2. Customizable quote templates
With pre-built branded templates, reps can create professional, consistent quotes in minutes. It also reduces manual formatting errors and maintains a unified customer experience.
3. Automated approval workflows
Set rules for discount thresholds or special terms that require management or finance approval. Sales quote management software automatically routes these, reducing delays.
4. E-signature and digital delivery
Let customers sign quotes digitally with built-in eSignature support. Send quotes via email or secure links and track when they’re opened, cutting down back-and-forth communication.
5. Real-time quote tracking and analytics
See which quotes are viewed, accepted, or pending. CRM quoting software integrations enable you to trigger follow-ups based on the quote status automatically.
6. CRM and tool integration
The best quote management software connects seamlessly with your CRM, CPQ, and accounting platforms. This ensures customer data is always in sync and reduces manual entry.
These features not only simplify quote creation, but they also help your team deliver a faster, more responsive, and more professional quoting experience across the board.
How Quote Management Software Streamlines the Sales Process
Implementing a robust quote management software doesn’t just improve efficiency; it transforms your entire sales workflow from quote creation to close. Here’s how:
1. Speeds Up Quote Generation
With sales quoting software, reps can auto-populate product details, pricing, taxes, and terms using pre-set templates and rules.
This drastically reduces time spent on each quote from hours to minutes, allowing teams to respond faster and impress prospects early in the buying journey.
2. Improves Quote Accuracy and Compliance
Manual quoting often leads to mistakes or outdated pricing. Sales quote management software ensures that product data and discount rules are up to date across all users.
This ensures quotes are error-free, compliant with company policies, and aligned with finance-approved pricing.
3. Enables Seamless Team Collaboration
Whether it’s sales, finance, or legal, everyone can review, edit, or approve quotes from a shared platform.
Automated approval workflows and version tracking help avoid delays and miscommunication. CRM quoting software also ensures that all quote-related activity is synced across departments.
4. Enhances Visibility and Follow-Ups
Once a quote is sent, you’ll know exactly when it’s viewed or engaged with. Real-time visibility enables reps to follow up at the optimal moment when interest is high.
You can even trigger follow-up reminders or email sequences using automation.
5. Shortens the Sales Cycle
By eliminating back-and-forth emails, manual approvals, and data entry, quote management software helps deals move faster.
Built-in eSignatures and automated updates mean your prospects can approve quotes and proceed to contract all within a few clicks.
With these improvements, your sales process becomes more scalable, predictable, and results-driven without burning out your team or frustrating potential customers.
CRM Integration: Why It Matters
Pairing your quote management software with a CRM isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a game-changer.
When both systems are integrated, the sales experience becomes more seamless, data-driven, and automated.
1. Centralized Customer Data
With CRM quoting software, you can pull customer details, deal stages, contact history, and preferences directly into each quote.
This eliminates manual data entry, ensuring every quote is personalized and context-aware.
2. Streamlined Sales Workflows
Integrated tools enable your team to automate quote-related actions, such as sending follow-up emails, assigning tasks, or updating deal stages based on quote status.
Whether it’s a signed quote or one that’s pending review, your CRM and quoting tool stay in sync, keeping your pipeline moving.
3. Better Forecasting and Reporting
When quoting activity is connected to your CRM, managers gain real-time insights into quote volume, acceptance rates, and revenue projections.
This visibility helps with better planning, coaching, and forecasting.
By connecting quote creation directly to your CRM, your sales reps work smarter, not harder, resulting in more accurate quotes, faster follow-ups, and more closed deals.
Choosing the Right Quote Management Tool
Not all quote management software is created equal. To maximize your investment, seek a solution that aligns with your team’s size, technology stack, and workflow requirements. Here are the key factors to consider:
- Scalability: Choose a platform that can grow with your business—whether you’re sending 10 quotes a week or 1000.
- CRM compatibility: Ensure the tool integrates seamlessly with your existing CRM. This is crucial if you want to utilize CRM quoting software features such as auto-fill, deal tracking, and follow-up automation.
- User interface & ease of use: If your reps can’t figure it out quickly, they won’t use it. Look for a clean, intuitive UI that requires minimal training.
- Pricing and value: Consider not just the cost but also the ROI. A slightly more expensive sales quoting software that saves hours per week may pay off faster than a basic tool.
Some popular solutions include:
- Salesmate – A CRM with built-in quoting features ideal for growing sales teams.
- PandaDoc – Great for document management, eSignatures, and quote automation.
- QuoteWerks – Best suited for businesses with complex pricing and product configurations.
Evaluate each tool based on how well it fits your sales process not just feature lists.
Final Thoughts: Is Your Sales Team Quote-Ready?
If you’re still managing quotes manually, you’re likely losing time, deals, and valuable insights.
Adopting quote management software helps your team respond faster, stay accurate, and project professionalism with every client interaction.
By reducing quote turnaround time, integrating with your CRM, and automating follow-ups, you create a quoting experience that drives revenue, not friction.
In today’s competitive B2B sales landscape, speed and precision matter. The right sales quoting software won’t just improve your quoting process; it’ll give your entire sales engine the boost it needs to scale.