Dubsado Proposals 101
When it comes to client management, Dubsado is a game-changer, offering a number of features that significantly enhance efficiency.
Among Dubsado’s features, proposals stand out as a personal favorite, transforming the way I engage with clients and saving valuable time throughout the process.
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What is a Proposal?
At its core, a proposal is more than just a form; it's a seamless way for clients to select packages or offers tailored to their needs. What makes Dubsado proposals truly powerful is their integration with contracts and invoices, consolidating these essential elements into a single, efficient 3-in-1 form.
The beauty lies in the simplicity of the process: your client selects a package, signs the contract, and pays the invoice, all within the same interface. This not only saves you from having to send a number of emails to your clients and a lot of back and forth, but also accelerates the initial steps of client onboarding.
What to Include in your Proposal
This depends on your niche and personal preferences. I use the following structure in my proposals:
Header / Logo
Welcome
About Me: a short bio about you and/or your business and how you help clients.
Your Process: list and explain the key steps you take your client through when they work with you.
Packages: list the different packages for your client to choose from
Add-On Packages: list any available add-ons for your client to choose from
Testimonials from past clients
Frequently Asked Questions: answer common questions potential clients ask you. This is to help put them at ease.
Client Information: information from your client to set up their project in Dubsado. For instance: first name, last name, email, phone number, start date, etc.
Next steps: explain the immediate next steps they will follow. This is to help avoid any confusion.
Thank you / Footer
The Anatomy of a Proposal in Dubsado
Why Use a Proposal?
If you’re familiar with sales pages, the content of a proposal is very much like a sales page - it’s a personalized sales pitch.
It's an opportunity to showcase your business, alleviate client concerns and help them feel more at ease, and guide them toward taking that pivotal step – clicking 'Submit' on the proposal.
Using 3-in-1 Proposals in Dubsado
Dubsado’s 3-in-1 proposals are simply proposals that have a contract and an invoice attached to them.
This allows your clients to:
Complete and submit the proposal, then move onto the contract
Review and sign the contract, and move onto the invoice
Pay the invoice, and done!
They never leave the initial page, they just move onto different tabs in the same form / browser page. It helps clients get through those initial steps quickly to sign up and begin working with you.
It helps you to get contracts signed and get paid on time, without having to send out reminders and risk missing out on business.
How to Create 3-in-1 Proposals
To connect your proposal to a contract and invoice, go to your form settings
Toggle on ‘Include Contract’ and select the contract from the dropdown list. Select the contract that matches the services offered in the proposal.
Toggle on ‘Include Invoice’ and if applicable select a payment plan from the list.
Note: to collect payment you need to have your payment processor connected to Dubsado. Set up your payment processor in ‘Settings’ → ‘Receive money’.
Toggle on contract and invoice to create a 3-in-1 proposal in Dubsado
Creating Public Proposals
Public proposals take it a step further by allowing you to embed them directly into your website.
This means that clients can sign up to work with you directly on your website, without the need of a call first. They can select their packages, sign the contract and pay their invoice seamlessly on your site.
Once a client has completed these steps, Dubsado will create a new project for them. You can then trigger workflows based to send them a questionnaire to complete or a scheduler to book their first session - whatever are the first steps in your onboarding process.
How to Create a Public Proposal
To turn your proposal into a public proposal, go to your form Settings:
Toggle on ‘Create new project once proposal is completed’
You can assign new projects to a specific workflow. You can assign a project status and setup the name of new projects under ‘Project title’.
Note: You can use client Smart Fields to add your clients name to the project name.
You can also set a redirect URL so that when they submit a proposal they go to a specific page on your website.
Public proposals can also have the contract and invoice enabled. This works well for services where you do not need to have a discovery call before signing a client.
Toggle on the button to turn your proposal into a public proposal
How to Share a Dubsado Public Proposal
Once your Dubsado proposal is a public proposal, the ‘Share’ menu will be enabled in your form. To send your public proposal you have two options:
Embed Code: click the embed code to copy it, and place it in a code block on your website. This will embed your proposal directly into your website allowing you to use a URL on your site vs. a Dubsado URL.
Direct link: click the direct link to copy it. You can send it via email or you can place the link in your site, or anywhere else you’d like.
Link or embed code to share a Dubsado Public Proposal
Should I use a Dubsado Proposal Template?
Again, this is all about personal preferences. If you want to use proposal templates there are two different options:
No code template: These templates are designed with images you can add directly into Dubsado or design in Canva and then upload into Dubsado.
Pros: easy to use, no code involved.
Cons: if using Canva, updating your proposal requires editing content in Canva and uploading into Dubsado.
CSS code template: These have more options to customize elements in your form. Depending on the template options you can add different elements to your form. These includes: timelines, dropdown menus, change button colors, etc.
Pros: much more customizable.
Cons: more complex setup and editing in CSS to customize the template.
When it comes to design, I recommend staying consistent with your branding. I also recommend keeping it simple. Remember that too many design elements may distract from the main goal of your proposal. The goal is to explain your offer and invite clients to work with you.
Have fun with it! Play around in the Dubsado form builder till you’re happy with the results (make sure you preview your form). Once you have your first form setup the way you like, the next ones will be much easier to setup.
Sign up for Dubsado & Save
Sign up for Dubsado using my link and save 30% on your first month or year with Dubsado.
If you have a free Dubsado account and want to upgrade to a Premier or Starter account, use my code ‘emakatiraee’ and save 30% on your first month or year with Dubsado.
Want to Work with Me?
If you’re tired of DIYing your Dubsado setup and feeling stuck, and an expert to take care of it all for you - the very first step is to book a free 20 minute discovery call.
We'll talk about where you need help and what is missing in your client process and see if we’re a good fit to work together.
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