If you’re drowning in back-and-forth emails trying to get proposals approved, you’re in the right place. This guide walks you through setting up automated proposal approvals using workflows in Bidsketch. It’s for anyone who’s tired of chasing down signatures or nagging managers — whether you’re running a small agency, wrangling freelancers, or dealing with corporate red tape.
Let’s get real: proposal approvals are usually more painful than they need to be. The good news? With the right workflows, you can make the whole thing pretty much run itself.
Why automate proposal approvals?
Before we dive in, let’s be honest: automation isn’t magic. It won’t fix a broken process or make slow people suddenly fast. But if your approval process is mostly a checklist—“Did Alice approve this? Did Bob sign off?”—then automating it will save a ton of time and headaches.
Here’s what you get when you automate approvals in Bidsketch: - No more manual follow-ups: Automated reminders do the pestering for you. - Clear accountability: It’s obvious who’s supposed to approve what, and when. - Fewer mistakes: No more “I thought you already sent that to legal.”
If your approval process is a mess, automation will just make you hit the wall faster. But if you have a solid workflow that just takes too much wrangling, this is for you.
Step 1: Map out your current approval process
Don’t skip this. If you haven’t written down who needs to approve what, and in what order, you’ll just end up automating chaos.
Ask yourself: - Who actually needs to sign off on each proposal? (Be ruthless. “Because we always have” isn’t a good reason.) - Does the order of approvals matter? (Legal first, then sales? Or can anyone approve at any time?) - Are there proposals that can skip approval? (Small deals, repeat customers, etc.)
Pro tip: Start simple. You can always add complexity later, but it’s a pain to untangle an overbuilt workflow.
Step 2: Set up your approval workflow in Bidsketch
Once you know your process (and only then), log into Bidsketch and head to the workflows section. Here’s how to put it all together:
- Go to Workflows:
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In your Bidsketch dashboard, find the “Workflows” or “Approval Workflows” tab. (Menu names might change, but it’s usually obvious.)
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Create a new workflow:
- Click “New Workflow” or whatever Bidsketch is calling it now.
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Give it a clear name — something like “Standard Proposal Approval” or “Enterprise Client Workflow.” You’ll thank yourself later.
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Add approval steps:
- Add each approver or approval group in the right order. (You can assign steps to individuals or roles.)
- Set whether steps are sequential (one after another) or parallel (everyone can approve at the same time).
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Be realistic: if people always wait for someone else to approve before they bother, just make it sequential.
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Set conditions (optional):
- If certain proposals don’t need every approval (e.g., deals under $2,000 skip legal), add those rules now.
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Don’t go nuts with edge cases until you’ve seen the basics work.
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Add notifications and reminders:
- Decide who gets notified, and when. Bidsketch can send automatic reminders if someone’s sitting on an approval.
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Set the frequency. Daily reminders can get ignored, but weekly might be too slow. You know your team best.
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Save and activate:
- Double-check everything. Approver order, conditions, notifications.
- Hit “Save” or “Activate.” (Naming varies — just don’t forget this step.)
What works: The basics — clear steps, a handful of approvers, and simple rules — work best. Trying to turn Bidsketch into a legal approval labyrinth will just frustrate everyone.
What doesn’t: Endless conditional logic. If you’re building a flowchart that looks like spaghetti, it’s time to rethink. Also, don’t bother setting up notifications for every tiny action unless your team is genuinely that forgetful.
Step 3: Connect your workflow to your proposals
Workflows don’t do anything unless you hook them up to real proposals.
- When you create a new proposal, there’s usually a dropdown or checkbox to assign an approval workflow.
- Pick your workflow from the list. If you forget, you’ll be back to manual chasing.
- For recurring proposal types (e.g., retainer renewals), set a default workflow so you don’t have to pick it every time.
Pro tip: Start by testing the workflow on a dummy proposal. Assign yourself and a teammate as approvers. See what notifications get sent, what happens if someone declines, etc. Better to break it now than in front of a client.
Step 4: Train your team (without making it a big deal)
You can automate all you want, but if your team doesn’t know what to do, you’ll just get new kinds of confusion.
- Send a quick email or have a 10-minute call to explain:
- What’s changing (less nagging, more automation)
- What to expect (automatic emails, easy approve/decline buttons)
- Who to bug if something breaks (probably you)
- Show them how to approve or decline from the email notification. It’s usually just one click.
Don’t overthink this. Most people pick it up fast, especially if it saves them time.
Step 5: Monitor, tweak, and ignore the hype
Don’t expect everything to work perfectly from day one. Here’s what to actually pay attention to:
- Bottlenecks: Are approvals still getting stuck with the same person? That’s a people problem, not a workflow problem.
- Skipped steps: Are people bypassing the system? Maybe you made it too annoying.
- Unnecessary steps: Are you getting approvals “just in case”? Cut them. The fewer steps, the faster things move.
- Notification fatigue: If people start ignoring Bidsketch emails, dial back the reminders.
Ignore any dashboard or metric that doesn’t actually help you ship proposals. Some reports are just digital busywork.
Pro tip: Set a calendar reminder to review your workflow in a month. Kill off any steps or notifications that didn’t help.
What about integrations?
Bidsketch isn’t the most open platform out there, but you can connect it to other tools with a bit of effort.
- Email: All approvals are handled via email, so you can forward or archive as needed.
- Zapier or custom integrations: If you need to log approvals in Slack, a CRM, or a project tracker, you might be able to hack something together with Zapier. Just don’t expect miracles — the basic workflow covers 90% of use cases.
- API: Bidsketch has an API, but it’s not always the most friendly. Unless you have a dev who loves this stuff, stick to the built-in features.
If you find yourself spending hours “integrating” instead of sending proposals, it’s time to step back.
Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
- Overcomplicating things: If you’re spending more time designing the workflow than you did chasing approvals, you’ve gone too far.
- Trying to automate accountability: Automation helps, but it won’t make someone care about approvals.
- Neglecting training: Even great automation fails if no one knows how (or why) to use it.
- Ignoring feedback: If your team hates the workflow, listen. Annoyed teammates will find ways around it.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, then iterate
Automating proposal approvals in Bidsketch isn’t about making everything perfect from day one. It’s about cutting out the grind, so your team can focus on actually landing clients — not chasing signatures.
Start with the basics, get your team on board, and don’t be afraid to cut steps that aren’t pulling their weight. The best workflow is the one people actually use — and tweak as they go.
Now go automate something that actually matters.