If you’re tired of chasing down the right version of a sales deck, wrestling with email threads, or wasting hours on “just tweaking the proposal,” this guide’s for you. We’re talking to sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone responsible for getting sales docs out the door—quickly, cleanly, and without losing your mind. If you’re curious what Seidat can actually do to automate the grind, keep reading.
What Seidat Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Let’s get real: Seidat is a sales presentation and document platform with some solid automation tools built in—but it won’t magically fix broken processes or turn messy content into gold. If your sales docs are chaos, fix that first. But if you want to automate the boring, repetitive parts of sharing, managing, and tracking sales documents, Seidat’s advanced features can save you a ton of hassle.
Here’s how to get the most out of it—no hype, just practical steps.
Step 1: Set Up Your Master Slide Decks (Don’t Skip This)
Before you touch any automation features, get your core sales documents sorted. Seidat works best when you’ve got standardized, up-to-date decks. Yes, it’s a pain to organize, but you only do it once.
Why it matters: - Automation is useless if your source docs are a mess. - Master decks mean everyone sends the same, accurate info. - Updates happen in one place, not a dozen old files.
How to do it: - Gather your best-performing decks, proposals, and templates. - Clean them up—remove outdated slides, fix branding, update stats. - Create “master” versions in Seidat. Use slide banks to keep reusable slides ready. - Set permissions so only trusted folks can update masters.
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate. Start with your top 1-2 sales decks and build up. Nobody needs 15 “master” decks.
Step 2: Use Slide Banks and Smart Linking
Seidat’s slide bank is a lifesaver if you’re sick of copy-pasting the same intro or product slides. It lets you store reusable slides and link them into multiple presentations. Change the source slide, and it updates everywhere.
What works: - Consistent messaging across all docs. - Easy updates—change once, update everywhere.
What doesn’t: - If nobody maintains the slide bank, it gets stale fast. - Too many “optional” slides = confusion. Keep it lean.
How to set it up: - Build a slide bank of your most-used slides: company intro, pricing, product features. - Use Seidat’s “smart linking” to pull these slides into specific sales decks. - Train your team to use linked slides, not copy-paste.
Ignore this: Don’t try to link every single slide. It’s overkill and a pain to manage.
Step 3: Automate Personalization with Variables
Personalization sells, but manually updating decks for every prospect is a soul-crusher. Seidat’s variable fields let you insert placeholders (like {{Client Name}} or {{Date}}) that you or your CRM can fill in automatically.
How to use variables: - Add variable fields to your master slides (e.g., “Proposal for {{Client Name}}”). - When creating a new doc, fill in the variables manually or use integrations (more on that soon). - Export or share the personalized doc—no manual editing needed.
What’s good: - Fast, consistent personalization. - Less room for embarrassing copy-paste errors.
What to watch out for: - Forgetting to fill in variables = awkward “Dear {{Client Name}}” moments. Set up a final check. - Don’t use variables for stuff that shouldn’t change (like legal terms).
Step 4: Automate Sharing and Tracking
Sending out decks and then wondering if anyone’s looked at them? Seidat’s sharing features let you automate sending, set access controls, and get notified when someone opens your doc.
Key automation features: - Create unique share links for each client. - Set expiration dates or password protection for sensitive docs. - Get real-time notifications when your deck is viewed (so you know when to follow up).
How to do it: - Use Seidat’s “Share” function to create trackable links. - Automate sharing via email templates or CRM workflows (see next step). - Check analytics dashboards for who’s opened what.
Works well for: - Proposals that need to expire after a certain date. - High-value deals where you want to know exactly who’s viewing.
What’s overrated: - Micro-tracking every single view. It’s easy to obsess over “engagement” metrics that don’t really mean much. Focus on key signals (did the decision maker view it?).
Step 5: Integrate with Your CRM (and Automate Even More)
Seidat plays nice with common CRMs (like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive) via integrations and APIs. This is where automation gets real—no more downloading PDFs or manually logging activity.
What you can automate: - Create and personalize docs from CRM data (e.g., auto-fill company name, deal value). - Trigger document creation and sharing based on CRM stage changes. - Log views and engagement data back to the CRM, so sales reps don’t have to.
How to set it up: - Connect Seidat to your CRM via built-in integrations or Zapier. - Map CRM fields to Seidat variables (e.g., {{Contact.FirstName}}). - Set up workflows: “When deal moves to ‘Proposal Sent’, auto-generate and send deck.”
What’s actually useful: - Automating proposal generation and sharing cuts admin time. - Keeping engagement data in your CRM helps with better follow-up.
What to ignore: - Don’t try to automate creative or strategic work. Use automation for the repetitive stuff—leave the pitch and negotiation to actual humans.
Step 6: Version Control and Access Management
If you’ve ever had a client reply to the wrong version of a proposal, you know the pain. Seidat’s version control and access management features help keep this under control.
How to use them: - Enable version tracking for your master docs. - Restrict editing rights to a small group—everyone else can only duplicate or personalize. - Use access logs to see who’s changed what and when.
What’s good: - No more “Which version is this?” drama. - Safer sharing—especially with sensitive info.
What’s not worth it: - Over-engineering permissions for a tiny team. Use simple roles unless you’re a big org.
Step 7: Reporting and Analytics (Don’t Get Lost in the Data)
Seidat gives you analytics on who viewed your docs, what slides they spent time on, and when. This can be handy, but don’t let it suck up all your attention.
How to use analytics wisely: - Watch for key signals: Did the main buyer open it? Did they share it internally? - Use “slide drop-off” data to see where prospects lose interest—fix those slides. - Share key stats with reps, but don’t overload them with charts.
Skip this: - Obsessing over every slide view. Metrics are for improving your process, not micromanaging salespeople.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Even with all these features, Seidat isn’t a magic bullet. Here’s what trips people up:
- Thinking automation fixes bad content. If your sales deck is boring or confusing, no tool will save you.
- Neglecting training. If your team doesn’t know how to use the automation features, they’ll just keep doing things the old way.
- Overcomplicating. Start simple—automate one or two key steps, then expand.
Wrapping Up: Start Small and Keep It Simple
Automating your sales document workflow with Seidat’s advanced features can save you real time and cut down on errors. But don’t get starry-eyed about full automation. Get your content right, start with the basics—slide banks, variables, CRM integration—and add complexity only when you really need it.
Most teams get the biggest wins from just a few smart automations. Iterate, keep it practical, and don’t be afraid to cut what isn’t working. Simple beats fancy, every time.