Yesterday, I requested a quote from a hot tub company, and it arrived as a JPEG of a handwritten paper quote he had photographed with his phone and emailed me.

My first reaction: incredulity. Who still works with paper but advertises online for new leads?

My second reaction: suspicion. Is this even a real company? This made me pause and do some additional research before proceeding.

Then, my third reaction: disbelief towards the business owner. Who sends their salespeople into battle with such weak sales tools?

Why spend money to generate leads only to make it harder to close them by not having a proper quoting process?

Here’s what a proper quoting system should do:

• Be fast and easy to use on any device - PC, Mac, or mobile
• Inspire confidence in your company and promote your products with digital assets like images and videos.
• Allow interactivity—prospects should be able to select or deselect options and adjust quantities as needed.
• Automate follow-ups, fuel your pipeline, and track when prospects engage with your quote.
• Make it easy for the prospect to say yes and make a payment.

Sounds simple, right? When the sales process is easy, sales are easier to close. But if it’s so simple, why do so many businesses—like the one I dealt with yesterday—do everything right but still fumble the ball at the one-yard line?

Act! Premium Cloud, in conjunction with Link2quotes, checks all these boxes. Sales reps love its' ease of use, flexibility, and how it helps them manage more deals in less time. Business owners will love how it makes the sales process easier, and costs less than a small coffee a day.