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Creating a Proposal
Creating Your First Proposal
Creating Your First Proposal
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Written by Simon I.
Updated over a week ago

Let's get down to business. You have a hot prospect you're looking to turn into your next customer and you need to send a proposal their way. You've already ditched the Powerpoints and decided that you're going to do something wholly different. That's why you're here. So let's get started.

Create a New Proposal

You can create a proposal by clicking the + icon to the top right or by navigating to Proposals > Create New.

Once you create a new proposal, you'll be prompted for some background information.

Title - Give your proposal a descriptive title. This will help you find your proposal for later use.

Theme - We have 4 solid themes from which to choose. You can get more information on our themes here.

Permalink - This will be the base format of the link that will be sent to your prospects.

Value - This is the amount you value the opportunity as. This number will be used in your analytics dashboard.

Don't worry, all of these values can be changed at a later time.

Once you're satisfied, click Continue.

Your Blank Slate

You now have a blank slate limited only by your imagination. Your proposal doesn't have any content yet, but you can fix that quickly.

Hover over Add Element to see a list of your content options.

Each content type carries its own distinct features. You can read about each of these content types.

In short, use the following guide to help you get started:

  • Panel - great for text-based and mixed multimedia. You can splice your text up into multiple columns and embed graphics and video.

  • List - great for enumerating things such as goals or project phases.

  • Slideshow - Great for condensing the vertical size of your proposal. Team bios or project snapshots are great in the slideshow format.

  • Table - Pricing grids, timing intervals, and any other tabular data.

  • Saved Content - you can always save and reuse content for later. We have an in-depth guide on how to accomplish this.

Creating a Content Zone

After choosing one of the built-in content types, you can now get down to the details of applying content. Assuming you chose a Panel, you'll be presented with a tray that sits above your canvas with three tabs: Design, Content, and Animation. These are aptly named and do pretty much what you think they would.

Design

The Design tab gives you control over the visual attributes of your Panel. Here you can apply background images and colors, establish a column-based layout (if you created a Panel).

With Proposa, you don't have to worry much about aesthetic. You can ignore considerations around font sizes, colors, and spacing as well as mobile responsive considerations. That's all going to be taken care of for you so you don't have to.

You can read more about the various Design tab options here.

Once you've created the basic attributes of your content zone, you're ready to move onto the next phase.

Content

The Content tab is where you work your magic. Based on the element you chose, you'll have additional options for the way your content is displayed. Keep in mind that each element has its own distinct flavor and has its own independent options for how content is supplied.

You may notice, right below the Content tab resets a singular or series of additional subtabs. If you opted for a column based layout, you'll see two subtabs that let you control what information goes into which column.

You can read more about the various Content tab options here.

Animation

The Animation tab is where you can breathe a breath of life into your proposal by adding subtle animations that create depth to your proposal. You have three basic options for animated items: Fade, Fade Left to Right, and Fade Right to Left.

You can read more about the various Animation tab options here.

Putting It All Together

Once you're done, you can sit back and wonder how you ever did without Proposa.

Creating Additional Content Zones

You can continue building out your proposal by appending additional content zones to the bottom or alternatively, adding content zones in between other elements by hovering on the + icon that appears to the top and bottom of each zone.

Expirations, Passwords, Previews, and More

You'll notice a utility bar at the top of each proposal while you're in the editing mode.

This utility bar gives you additional controls that will give you more flexibility.

  • Share Proposal - This is where you add individuals who are to receive your proposal. Read more.

  • Info - You can set or reset your proposal's title, value, or permalink. Read more.

  • Rearrange - You can quickly reorder your proposal's content zones. Read more.

  • Viewport - You can quickly toggle between a laptop view, a tablet view, and a phone view here. Read more.

  • Schedule - You may want your proposal to automatically expire on a date. Read more.

  • Password - Add an additional layer of security by requiring the recipient to enter a password. Read more.

  • Activity - You can view a digest of all activity that has happened on this proposal.

  • Theme - You can quickly switch and toggle between themes. Read more.

  • State - Your proposal can exist in a variety of states: Draft, Published, Expire, Won, or Lost. Read more.

You're all set to bust this month's quota!

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