Proposal and quote drafting

Requirements describe capabilities the pattern needs in your environment, not the vendors you must buy. Any system that fills a requirement satisfies it — that’s what makes the catalog portable across the long tail of SMB tooling.

1. deal_record

   REQUIREDREADrequest

   The deal or opportunity the proposal is being written for. Source of customer, scope, stage, and any notes the rep has accumulated.

   DATA SHAPE

   Deal record with customer association, current scope description, stage, expected value, products/services discussed, attached notes and call summaries.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • opportunity record in the CRM
   • deal in a sales pipeline tool
   • structured project intake form
2. pricing_source

   REQUIREDREADrequest

   Authoritative pricing the pattern uses for the quote. Critical: the pattern must never invent prices.

   DATA SHAPE

   Rate card, product catalog, or pricing rules with SKUs, descriptions, list prices, and any standard discounting logic.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • pricing module in the CRM or CPQ tool
   • rate card document the finance team maintains
   • product catalog in the e-commerce or billing system
   • spreadsheet maintained by RevOps
3. proposal_template_library

   REQUIREDREADcorpus

   Approved language, terms, and structural conventions the proposal follows. Keeps drafts on-brand and legally compliant.

   DATA SHAPE

   Document templates with variable placeholders, modular sections (statement of work, terms, assumptions, exclusions), approved language blocks.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • template folder in a document store with named templates
   • structured templates inside a proposal tool
   • approved boilerplate maintained by legal or operations
4. draft_output_destination

   REQUIREDWRITErequest

   Where the finished draft lands for the sales rep to edit and send.

   DATA SHAPE

   Editable document tied to the deal: native format (Google Doc, Word) or proposal-tool format. Linked from the deal record.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • Google Doc or Word document created and shared with the rep
   • draft inside a proposal-management tool
   • PDF generated and stored against the deal record
5. approval_routing

   RECOMMENDEDWRITEevent

   Where drafts go for internal approval when they cross discount or scope thresholds.

   DATA SHAPE

   Approval request with draft, deal context, what triggered the threshold, and routing to the approver.
   IF MISSING

   Without explicit routing, threshold-crossing drafts either get sent without approval (bad) or get stuck on rep desks (also bad). Strongly recommend defining at least one approval gate.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • approval flow inside the CRM
   • Slack notification to the approving manager
   • task created on the approver's queue
6. competitive_intelligence_corpus

   OPTIONALREADcorpus

   Notes on how to position against likely competitors. Lets the proposal pre-empt comparisons and frame the offer correctly.

   DATA SHAPE

   Per-competitor notes: positioning, common objections, our differentiators against them.
   IF MISSING

   Proposals stay generic on positioning. Reps still add competitive framing manually when relevant.
   COMMONLY FILLED BY

   • competitive battle cards in the sales enablement tool
   • internal wiki section on competitors
   • structured notes maintained by sales operations