Approval workflows
Before a quote reaches the buyer, you may want internal approval. HubSpot offers three levels:
- No approvals. Reps create and send quotes freely. Fast, but risky if you need pricing control.
- Standard approvals. Designate one or more approvers. When a rep creates a quote, it goes into a queue. Any designated approver can approve or reject it. You can require one approver or all approvers to sign off.
- Advanced approvals (Enterprise). Build approval logic in the workflow editor. Route quotes above a certain value to the VP of sales, quotes with non-standard terms to legal, quotes for specific product lines to the relevant team lead. This is a full workflow, not just a gate.
Set approvals under Commerce > Quotes > Settings > Approvals. Start simple: if your team is small and pricing is standardised, skip approvals. If you have junior reps or complex pricing, add standard approvals first and graduate to advanced when you outgrow them.
What happens after the buyer signs
A signed quote is a trigger point. This is where automation picks up:
- Deal stage update. Move the deal to "Closed won" automatically when the quote is signed. No manual stage change needed.
- Confirmation email. Send the buyer an automated email confirming their acceptance, with a copy of the signed quote attached.
- Notify the team. Alert onboarding, account management, or operations that a new deal just closed. Use a workflow triggered by quote status changing to "Signed".
- Create a follow-up ticket. Automatically create an onboarding ticket in your service pipeline so the handoff from sales to delivery starts immediately.
- Invoice generation. If you use HubSpot invoices, trigger automatic invoice creation from the signed quote data.
Build these automations in a single workflow triggered by the quote property "Countersigned" or "Signed". The goal: when a buyer signs, the next steps happen without anyone clicking a button.
Quote activity tracking
HubSpot tracks how buyers interact with your quotes. In Settings > Quotes, set your activity thresholds: how many views count as "high activity" versus "low activity". This gives sales reps a signal: a quote with high view activity but no signature might need a follow-up call. A quote with zero views after three days definitely needs one.
Quote activity appears on the deal timeline, so reps see engagement without leaving their pipeline view.