What are the workflows for approval?
An approval workflow sends a file or other thing to one or more people so they can approve it or not. The workflow’s approval steps set up standard automation that makes communication easier and cuts down on the stack of approvals that need to be given.
Your sales and quoting processes can be made better with automated workflow reviews. This will also help your sales team close more deals faster by reducing mistakes. Automation will also help team members work more efficiently, reducing wasted time and money, improving internal relations, and ensuring everyone is accountable and on time.
Other words for the approval process:
- Approval process
- Automated approvals
- Approval workflow engine
Different types of approval processes
Regarding sales, approval workflows can help keep internal communications moving and speed up contact with deal stakeholders. Here are a few examples of processes for sales approval:
Workflow for discount approval: When a customer asks for a deal, a salesperson can start a discount approval workflow to ensure everyone is on the same page with the new contract.
Workflow for billing approval: When changes need to be made to bills, this process cuts down on mistakes and speeds things up.
Workflow for legal or safety approvals: As part of the sales process, contracts must be reviewed and approved to ensure they follow standard business rules and government regulations.
Parts of the Approval Process
This is the order of steps that make up an approval workflow process:
Step 1: Pick a workflow type that lets you get approval or collect feedback.
In this case, a salesperson wants to give a customer a deal on a product.
Step 2: Choose a file to pass.
Choose a file and “Get Approval” from the Workflow menu. Reviewers can then accept your file, ask for changes, reject it, or pick a different choice. You can track how long it takes to finish things using due dates. Assigning each new reviewer to your paper is how you add them.
Step 3: The necessary papers are sent to reviewers, who will either accept them or request that they be kept for further discussion.
Step 4: The seller who started the workflow will get an email telling them if it was approved and what to do next. If the customer agrees to the deal, the sales rep can proceed.
Problems with the approval process
When someone is supposed to accept a document but instead changes it, this is one of the most common problems. This can make the approval process confusing and slow, and it can also lead to decisions that are wrong or missing parts.
Another common problem is that people who approve a document can’t get to it. This could be because of security concerns or because the person approving the request doesn’t have the proper rights.
Another problem is if someone signs off on a document but realizes they were wrong. This could be because of wrong information, a misunderstanding of the paper, or forgetting to check something.
Finally, another common problem is when the person who needs to accept a document doesn’t get a message about it. Several things could be causing this, such as the approver’s email address being wrong or a spam blocker blocking the message.
These problems can be fixed with automated approval workflows that set off events as papers go through the approval process. This makes the sales process smooth.
How to Choose Software for Approval Workflow
If you already use a CRM tool like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics CRM, automated approval workflows should be able to connect to it.
The following should be present in the approval process tools:
- Automated approval alerts: Any business can make its approval processes more efficient by alerting the right people when they need to do manual work or reviews.
- Code-free workflow apps: The best workflow apps let people who aren’t tech-savvy automate parts of their workflows, like sending emails, filling out forms, and making schedules for chores.
- Access online and off: Authorized workers can use cloud-based workflow software from any computer with an internet connection. Offline access makes it easier for them to finish their work when they’re not at a computer connected to the network.
- Automated distribution: Workflow software lets people share papers with others by letting them see them, make changes, and keep track of who made what.
- Collecting signatures: Workflow management software can make getting legally binding signatures on papers easier by automatically capturing and verifying signatures.
How to Set Up a Workflow for Approval
An approval process is a list of steps that must be taken to accept or reject a request. The steps may differ for each type of request, but they usually involve getting information from the right people, making a choice, and telling everyone what happened.
Some things to think about when making a review workflow process are:
- Who needs to be involved?
- What kind of information do you need?
- How are you going to make the choice?
- What will be done to share the results?
It’s essential to be clear about who is responsible for each job and each step in the workflow. There should also be a way to keep track of the request’s progress through the system so everyone knows where it is in the process.
Breaking the workflow into a list of tasks and processes is the first thing needed before choosing and setting up workflow management software.
Set the starting points for approval.
Documents like sales proposals or quotes, invoices, buy orders, and contracts must be sent in before they can be approved.
Set up the workflow.
The different kinds of processes can be put into one of these two groups:
- In parallel: When using this method, you work on several steps simultaneously to finish the job. For example, when new people start working, they usually have to do many things at once.
- Going in order: In a sequential workflow, a rules-driven workflow moves along a path in a particular order based on which rules are activated. One example of a sequential process is a loan application. Each step is finished before moving on to the next one.
Describe the conditions for approval.
The approval conditions are among the essential parts of the approval process. These are the standards that are used to accept or reject a result.
This is an example of a holiday workflow. Approval conditions could include whether the employee is available, whether they will be needed immediately, or how many other people will be on vacation simultaneously. Correct grammar and spelling, meeting the word count requirement, or meeting the task request could be conditions for approval in a content approval workflow.
Describe the Results
The action that was taken based on the process results is what is in the results part of an action item. When it comes to a sales quote approval process, it could be whether a contract is accepted or not.
Finding out the steps in the workflow will give you the information you need to automate your review processes.
Why using approval workflow software is a good idea
The steps for getting approval are laid out in a workflow, which also sets up a structure within the team and lets everyone know who has it. It helps everyone keep their mind on the job. Some other benefits are:
Better efficiency
Approval workflow software is made to make it easier to approve papers or other things. This software can make things faster and more accurate by automating the approval process and lowering the need for human involvement.
One good thing about approval process software is that it can help ensure that all the necessary approvals are given quickly. This is especially important when there are tight dates or things that need approval from more than one person.
Another good thing about approval process software is that it can help make mistakes less likely. With this kind of software, the approval process can be automated, which can help ensure that all approvals are entered correctly and that no information is missed. When it comes to fixing mistakes, this can save you time and stress.
Automating the approval process can also help people talk to each other better. This kind of software can make it easier to keep track of the status of things and ensure that everyone is updated on the latest news by giving approvals a central place. This can help keep things clean and cut down on delays.
Keeping up
For any company to be consistent, approval workflow software is a must. By automating the approval process, you can be sure that all decisions are made in line with business policy. Automating the approval workflow also eliminates the need to review and sign off on papers by hand, which can lead to mistakes.
Cut down on traffic jams.
When things get stuck, it can be very frustrating. They can slow things down, make people less productive, and cause money to be lost. By automating the approval process, approval workflow software helps keep business operations going smoothly and reduces bottlenecks. For instance, the software can send requests to multiple approvers simultaneously, so it’s unnecessary for just one person to approve each request.
You can also change the program’s approval workflow to fit your business’s needs. For instance, you can say how many approvers are needed for each kind of request and set up alerts to let you know when a request is ready to be approved. This customization ensures that the approval process works as quickly as possible.
The Places Limits on Deals
Thanks to sales approval workflow software, companies have safety nets that set up deal approval methods. This ensures that the prices, discounts, and product configurations align with business policy and that no deal is finalized until approved. Companies can avoid mistakes that cost a lot of money and ensure all deals are checked out before they are finalized by automating sales approval processes.
It makes the sales process go faster.
Approvals are usually dull and take a lot of time. People must review papers, sign them, and then send them out. But if you make it easier for people to agree, the sales cycle goes faster, and more money is made. A shorter sales cycle also means the salesperson and the customer are happier.
Boost the way you approve deals to the next level.
For your business to be more productive and make more money, it needs a deal review process that is standardized, optimized and works well.
