Boost Close Rates with Smarter Proposal Management | Proposify

How to Calculate Close Rate

Close rates tell you exactly how successful your team is at pursuing leads and closing deals, both individually and as a group.

Yet as valuable a tool as the close rate is for measuring a sales team’s performance, many businesses don’t know what their close rate is.

The Formula:

Number of Closed Deals

X 100
= Close Rate %

Number of Opportunities

The key is determining at what point in your sales cycle an opportunity counts as an opportunity. Is it at first engagement? Discovery? Negotiation? Proposal?

What Is a Good Close Rate?

Every year we publish a State of Proposals report. In the 2025 State of Proposals report, we determined that the industry average close rate for sales is around 20%. But when we studied the results of deals made with our proposal software, we found an average sales close rate of 36%.

The Hidden Cost of Neglecting Your Proposals

A bad proposal can cost you the sale. If they take too long to produce, or they’re full of mistakes, or they look messy and unprofessional, your proposals may actually be hurting your business.

The Proposal Bottleneck: Why Speed Matters More Than You Think

Many sales teams underestimate how delays in the proposal process can impact closing deals. A buyer is eager and asks for next steps; delays can shift their interest to a competitor.

Scott explains, "It's about speed to lead. If you can just get in front of an interested party faster, you will often close more or close faster."

Tips to Boost Close Rates

If you've never considered your proposals as tools to improve your close rates, you're missing out on some powerful factors that can help you win more deals.

Pay Attention to Deal Size

Smaller deals close more. One approach is to price your deal under the client's approval threshold. This often allows for quicker decisions and less necessary approvals.

Send Proposals to Multiple Stakeholders

When proposals are sent to more than one person, the close rates double. Ask if anyone else needs to receive the proposal during the discovery process.

Automate Proposal Creation

The fastest-growing sales teams aren’t manually creating proposals. Instead, they’re leveraging proposal automation tools. This allows for customized, professional proposals to be generated and sent swiftly.

More Than a Price Quote: How Proposals Reinforce Value

A strong sales proposal reinforces everything the prospect has already agreed is valuable. It ties the price to the value being offered.

What Winning Proposals Include

High-converting proposals contain seven essential elements:

  1. Cover Page – A professional introduction.
  2. Executive Summary – Tying the proposal back to the prospect's needs.
  3. Scope of Work – Breakdown of the solution.
  4. Deliverables & Timeline – Clear expectations.
  5. About Your Company – Your experience and qualifications.
  6. Pricing – Value justification.
  7. Terms & Next Steps – Legal details and electronic signature options.

The Interactive Proposal Advantage

Proposals need to be more engaging. Modern proposals include:

Gain Visibility Into Your Proposals with Analytics

Analytics in proposal management software provides insights into how prospects engage with your proposals. Tracking metrics enables you to improve your proposal strategy and boost your close rates.

Close Deals Faster with Proposal Software

A well-structured proposal does more than summarize a deal—it accelerates it by automating and optimizing your proposal management process.