Turn a deal request into a branded proposal PDF and CRM deal
Starts when a rep fills the deal form or pastes notes into the chat page. Ends with a branded proposal PDF and a CRM deal with a review task.
Bring the step you are stuck on: 30 minutes, a straight answer and the next step. If you would rather have it built, a reply within 5 working days.
The route
8 steps: 4 rule steps, 1 AI step and 1 person step
Copy, share, discuss
- Copy
Available once this workflow passes its checks.
- Share
todkett.com/automations/sales/proposal-generator/
- Discuss
Opens when the first workflow passes its checks. No GitHub account? Ask about this by form.
How the library, the tracks and the talk work: the community page.
At a glance
- Starts when
- A rep fills a 3-page web form, or pastes deal notes into a chat page.
- Input
- A rep fills the deal form, or pastes deal notes into the chat page.
- Output
- A branded proposal PDF and a CRM deal with a review task.
- AI
- AI in one step only: reading pasted deal notes (chat version only)
- Rule checks
- 6 checks around the AI
- Tools
- n8n forms, A chat page served by n8n, HubSpot, PDF.co, Google Drive, Slack, Google Sheets, n8n data tables, OpenRouter
- Last stress test
- No recorded run yet
01Steps
The steps
8 steps: 4 rule steps, 1 AI step and 1 person step. Every proposal is a copy of the last one, with old prices. Reps rebuild proposals by hand from old decks, pages go missing, and deals never get logged in the CRM.
01Trigger
Deal form or pasted notes
A rep fills the deal form, or pastes deal notes into the chat page.
02AI step
AI reads pasted notes
Chat version only: AI reads the pasted notes into the deal fields. The form version skips this step.
03Rule step
Find or create the customer
Find the customer in the CRM, with an exact then a broad search, or create it.
04Rule step
Ask for missing details
Ask only for the deal details this deal type needs, three at a time.
05Rule step
Price, pages and PDF
Apply the pricing rules, pick the pages, render the quote page and merge the branded PDF.
06Rule step
Save, deal and review task
Save the PDF to Drive, create the CRM deal with a review task and attach the PDF.
07Person step
The rep reviews
The rep reviews the PDF and the review task before anything goes to the customer.
08Output
PDF to the rep
The PDF in the rep's Slack, and a run log.
Rep's Slack
02Where AI is used
Where AI is used, and what stays with you
AI reads, judges or drafts. Fixed rules check, decide and route. A person approves anything that goes out.
AI step
Step 02Reading pasted deal notes (chat version only)
Lets reps paste an email instead of filling a form. Pricing and page choice stay in code.
What the model reads
- Chat version only: the deal notes a rep pastes in, read into the deal fields.
What it never sees or decides
- The price, the term or the pages: rules in code decide them.
- The customer: the PDF goes to the rep, with a review task.
- Anything at all in the form version, which has no AI step.
Model calls: 1 model call per deal. Chat version only. The form version makes no model call.
Fixed rules
They check, decide and route. 4 rule steps.
- 03Find or create the customer
- 04Ask for missing details
- 05Price, pages and PDF
- 06Save, deal and review task
A person
- 07The rep reviews the PDF and the review task before anything goes to the customer.
03Checks
Checks around the AI
What runs before the model, and what checks its answer after, in plain words. Build these into your version too.
- 01Pricing, deck routing and the page plan are rules in code.
- 02A rules step asks for missing fields, three at a time.
- 03Only priceable contract terms are allowed: 3, 6, 12, 24 or 36 months. Anything else goes back to the rep.
- 04The owner and the template come from the workflow's own checks, not from the page.
- 05Review-first mode skips deal creation and logging.
- 06A page self-check alerts the owner if the chat page breaks.
04The 8 checks
Stress test
The 8 checks we run on every workflow, and you can run too. A check marked Not needed says why.
- Status
- Not yet0 of 8 that apply have a recorded pass
- Last run
- No recorded run yet
- Model review
- Still open
Checks marked Not yet are still open. 2 of them were seen in the workflow design on 23 Oct 2026; a check shows Passed only once its test run is recorded.
ST7Human sign-off
Status: Not yet
Seen in the workflow design on 23 Oct 2026. The recorded test run is still open.
ST8Rules around the AI
Status: Not yet
Seen in the workflow design on 23 Oct 2026. The recorded test run is still open.
0 passed · 0 not needed · 8 not yet
What we testWe show what we tested, never the test data. The example below is made up.
05Test replay
How to test it
Before you trust a workflow, try to break it. The sample record runs the route step by step. Each break test below gets its own replay once its recorded run exists.
- Record
- DEAL-0096
- Data
- Sample run, made-up data
01Deal form or pasted notes
Form filled: a 12-month term for 20 seats
Done02AI reads pasted notes
Form version: no AI step
Skipped03Find or create the customer
Customer found in the CRM
Done04Ask for missing details
No details missing
Done05Price, pages and PDF
Price and pages set by the pricing rules; PDF merged
Done06Save, deal and review task
Saved to Drive; CRM deal created with a review task
Done07The rep reviews
Held for the rep's review
Waiting for a person08PDF to the rep
PDF in the rep's Slack; nothing sent to the customer
Rep's SlackArrived
DEAL-0096 reached the last station: Rep's Slack. PDF in the rep's Slack; nothing sent to the customer.
Sample run on made-up data. No stress-test run is recorded yet, so this plays the example, not a test. Nothing runs live.
The break tests for this workflow
06Example
The example, in and out
Made-up data, written to show the steps; no recorded run stands behind it yet. Fernway is a made-up small software company, and its address ends in .example, so it cannot belong to a real business.
InputExample
Example on made-up data: a Fernway rep fills the form for a made-up customer, a 12-month term for 20 seats.
OutputExample
Customer found in the CRM. Price and pages set by the pricing rules. Branded PDF merged and saved to Drive, CRM deal created with a review task, and the PDF sent to the rep in Slack. Nothing sent to the customer.
07Limits
When not to automate this
- Only priceable contract terms: 3, 6, 12, 24 or 36 months. Anything else goes back to the rep.
- Not for one-off custom proposals with no repeatable pricing.
08What you need
What you need to run it
| Tool | Access |
|---|---|
| HubSpot | Search and create companies and deals, attach files and create tasks |
| PDF.co | Merge the proposal pages into one PDF |
| Google Drive | Save each proposal PDF |
| Slack | Send the PDF to the rep |
| OpenRouter | Chat version only: one API key with a credit limit |
- Where it runs
- In n8n, self-hosted or n8n cloud.
- Model calls
- 1 model call per deal. Chat version only. The form version makes no model call.
- Running costs
- Yours, paid to each service directly. Scope in writing first. A quote before any build. No prices on the site yet.
How to adapt it
Changes we have made or tested on this workflow.
- 01Take deal details from a chat page instead of the form: AI reads pasted notes into the same fields.
- 02Turn on review-first mode, which skips deal creation and logging.
What changed
- ContentFirst version, written from the 23 Oct 2026 catalog.
09FAQ
Questions people ask about it
Does AI set the price?
No. Pricing, deck routing and the page plan are rules in code. AI is used only in the chat version, to read pasted deal notes into fields.
Which contract terms can it price?
3, 6, 12, 24 or 36 months. Anything else goes back to the rep.
Does the proposal go to the customer?
No. The PDF goes to the rep, with a review task on the CRM deal.
10Related
Where to go next
Use cases
6 steps
7 steps
Stuck on your version of this workflow?
Bring the step that does not work. In 30 minutes you get a straight answer and the next step. If you would rather have it built, tell us your tools and the rules you already follow. Scope in writing first. A quote before any build. No prices on the site yet.