If you work in sales at a managed service provider, you don’t need anyone to tell you that quoting takes too long.
You spend hours chasing down the right pricing, rebuilding the same bill of materials for the fifth time, waiting on internal approvals, and flipping between tools that don’t talk to each other. You try to move fast—but the process keeps pulling you back.
Before working in SaaS, I led marketing at an MSP. I wasn’t responsible for sales, but I saw the same quoting bottlenecks firsthand.
Our team lost deals we had earned. Not because the pricing was wrong or the proposal lacked value, but because we were too slow. And the competitor who showed up faster got the business.
It was frustrating—and it was preventable.
Read our story: From MSP to SaaS Platform backed by Arnie Bellini
What’s Actually Slowing You Down?
Most quoting delays can be traced back to a few key problems:
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Disconnected systems that require duplicate entry
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Manual tasks that could be automated
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Lack of standardized templates for quotes and SOWs
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Missing product and service data that has to be sourced or recreated each time
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No centralized place for customers to take action
The reality?
The customer isn’t thinking about your quoting workflow.
If it’s easier to buy from someone else, even if their solution isn’t the best fit, they’ll do it. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to lose the deal.
The good news is these are all fixable. And you don’t need a complete overhaul to get started.
A 6-Step Playbook to Speed Up Quoting and Reduce Friction
This approach is based on what we implemented ourselves before we sold our MSP business. It helps you modernize quoting without disrupting your entire sales operation.
1. Connect All Your Tools
Start by integrating your CRM, CPQ software, PSA, ERP, accounting software, and distributor platforms. When these systems are connected through APIs, you eliminate double entry and avoid quoting in silos.
2. Digitize the Sales Process
Take the manual and offline steps in your sales process and bring them online. This allows you to automate internal handoffs, reduce repetitive work, and ensure consistency across every opportunity.
3. Use a Digital Catalog
Instead of starting from scratch each time, build from a centralized catalog of products and services. This makes it easier to create bundles, assign SKUs, and automate margin calculations.
4. Standardize Proposals and Legal Terms
Replace ad hoc documents with pre-approved templates that include eSignature and embedded terms. Hosting legal content online also helps reduce the complexity of your proposals and speeds up contract turnaround. We recommend apps like Monjur.
5. Offer a Self-Service Client Portal
Customers expect real-time answers to simple questions: Where’s my order? How do I pay my invoice? How do I submit a ticket? A unified client portal lets them do all of that on their own—no email required.
6. Automate Bill of Materials (BOM) Creation
BOMs take time to build and are prone to pricing errors when done manually. Automating this step improves accuracy and allows your team to handle more quotes without needing more headcount.
You Don’t Need to Wait Months to Improve
Most sales teams don’t overhaul their quoting process because they think:
- It will take too long
- Cost too much
- Disrupt their current workflow
TechGrid was built to make this playbook not just possible—but practical.
Instead of stitching together multiple tools or trying to build on top of restrictive all-in-one suites, TechGrid gives your sales team the modern infrastructure you’ve been missing—built specifically for how MSPs sell.
With TechGrid, you can quote faster (and as-a-Service), standardize proposals, automate BOMs, and deliver a more "Amazon-like" customer experience, all from one digitally connected platform.
You can go from manual to automated, from slow to fast, without a complicated and invasive rollout or expensive consulting project.
If your team is ready to move faster, simplify quoting, and give customers a better buying experience, TechGrid makes it easy to start—schedule a live demo now.
