PF Consulting Proposals

An alternative to Proposify and PandaDoc for generating professional consulting proposals as DOCX documents.

Stop paying $228-$3,900/year for proposal software. Generate proposals in minutes with AI.

Installation

1. Download the pf-consulting-proposals.plugin file
2. Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Settings > Plugins
3. Click Install Plugin and select the downloaded .plugin file
4. The plugin will be installed and available immediately

Note: All data stays local on your machine. No external API calls or cloud storage required.

Why This Exists

Consulting proposal tools like Proposify, PandaDoc, and Qwilr are expensive ($200-$3,900/year) and overkill for many consultants. This plugin does the essentials:

• Structured client briefing (extract info from emails/notes)
• Intelligent pricing (hourly, fixed, retainer models)
• Professional DOCX generation
• Quality review and suggestions
• All stored locally in version control

Cost per use: ~$0.02 (tokens only). Cost per year: included with your subscription if you use Claude or less than $50/month if on API.

Quick Start

1. One-time setup

/proposals-setup

Creates .proposals/ workspace with config and folder structure.

2. Extract client info

/proposals-brief --notes "Acme Corp wants a new platform by June, budget $150k..."

Parses raw notes into structured JSON brief.

3. Calculate pricing

/proposals-pricing --model fixed

Builds pricing table with recommended model (fixed, hourly, or retainer).

4. Generate DOCX

/proposals-generate

Creates professional DOCX proposal with all sections.

5. Quality review

/proposals-review

Audits proposal across 6 dimensions, suggests improvements.

Or, do it all at once:

/proposals-full --notes "Acme Corp..." --model fixed

Commands Overview

Command	Purpose	Output
/proposals-setup	Initialize workspace	Folder structure, config
/proposals-brief	Extract client info	proposals-brief.json
/proposals-pricing	Calculate pricing	proposals-pricing.json, pricing table
/proposals-generate	Create DOCX	proposal-{client}-{date}.docx
/proposals-review	Audit quality	Review report, suggestions
/proposals-full	End-to-end pipeline	All of above in sequence
/proposals-status	Show current state	Stage progress, file paths

How It Works

The plugin operates as a 5-stage pipeline:

Raw Notes
    ↓
[STAGE 1: BRIEF] Extract structured info (client, scope, timeline, budget)
    ↓
[STAGE 2: PRICING] Analyze scope, recommend model, calculate totals
    ↓
[STAGE 3: GENERATE] Build DOCX with 8 standard consulting proposal sections
    ↓
[STAGE 4: REVIEW] Score quality, flag issues, suggest improvements
    ↓
Professional DOCX Ready for Client

Each stage:

• Saves state to .proposals/project.json (resume-safe)
• Logs activity to .proposals/logs/ (NDJSON audit trail)
• Reads/writes JSON files in .proposals/processing/ and .proposals/outbound/

What It's an Alternative To

Feature	Proposify	PandaDoc	Qwilr	PF Proposals
Annual cost	$228-$3,900	$200-$960	$300+	included with your subscription
Cost per proposal	$5-20	$2-5	$3-10	~$0.02
DOCX export	✅	✅	Lite	✅ Full DOCX
Custom branding	✅	✅	✅	Manual (config)
Pricing calculator	✅	Lite	Lite	✅ Hourly/fixed/retainer
Client portal/signing	✅	✅	✅	❌ Not included
Template library	✅ (500+)	✅ (1000+)	✅	Basic template
Approval workflow	✅	✅	Lite	❌ Manual
Integration (Salesforce, Stripe)	✅	✅	✅	❌ Not included
proprietary / self-hosted	❌	❌	❌	✅ Yes
Runs completely offline	❌	❌	❌	✅ Yes (local files)

Key Differentiators

1. No subscription — Pay nothing; only token cost
2. Offline first — All files stored locally, no cloud vendor lock-in
3. Version control ready — Commits proposals to Git, full audit trail
4. Intelligent pricing — Auto-recommends model based on scope/timeline
5. Quality audit — Built-in review scores across 6 dimensions
6. Privacy focused — No client data sent to external servers
7. Customizable — Edit config.json to add services, rates, T&Cs

Feature Comparison Matrix

Feature	Status
Generate DOCX proposals	✅ Complete
Hourly pricing model	✅ Complete
Fixed-price model	✅ Complete
Retainer model	✅ Complete
Multi-service catalog	✅ Complete
Client brief extraction	✅ Complete
Automatic pricing recommendation	✅ Complete
Quality scoring (6 dimensions)	✅ Complete
Improvement suggestions	✅ Complete
Timeline/milestone calculation	✅ Complete
Budget alignment checks	✅ Complete
Tax & discount handling	✅ Complete
PDF export	⚠️ Use Word "Save as PDF"
Email integration	⚠️ Copy/paste from brief
E-signature	❌ Manual workflow
Client approval portal	❌ Not included
Salesforce/Stripe sync	❌ Not included
White-label / reseller	❌ Not included

AI-Powered Features

• Brief Extraction: Automatically parses raw client notes and emails to extract structured scope, timeline, budget, and deliverables
• Intelligent Pricing: Recommends optimal pricing model (hourly, fixed, retainer) based on project scope and complexity
• Scope Synthesis: Converts conversational client requirements into professional scope of work with deliverables
• Risk & Timeline: Generates project timeline and identifies risks/dependencies from scope information
• Quality Scoring: Audits proposals across 6 dimensions (completeness, clarity, pricing, feasibility, risk coverage, presentation)
• Professional Generation: Creates polished DOCX proposals with standard consulting proposal sections and formatting

Estimated Cost per Use

Disclaimer: Token estimates are approximate and based on typical usage patterns measured from skill prompt sizes. Actual costs vary with input data size, conversation length, and complexity. Estimates use Claude Sonnet 4.6 pricing ($3/1M input, $15/1M output). Cowork and Claude Desktop subscription users (Pro/Max/Team) are not charged per-token — these estimates apply only to direct Anthropic API usage. Running stages individually in fresh sessions uses fewer input tokens than running the full pipeline sequentially, because pipeline mode accumulates conversation history across stages.

Per skill (run individually in a fresh session):

Stage	Skill Prompt	User Input	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
proposals-generate	~3.0K	~800	~6.9K	~6.0K	~$0.11
proposals-pricing	~3.0K	~800	~7.1K	~3.0K	~$0.07
proposals-review	~3.8K	~800	~8.1K	~6.0K	~$0.11
proposals-brief	~2.1K	~800	~6.0K	~3.0K	~$0.06
proposal-intake	~3.2K	~800	~6.9K	~3.2K	~$0.07
Standalone total			~35.1K	~21.2K	~$0.42

Full pipeline (all stages in one session — context accumulates):

Stage	Base Input	+ History	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
proposals-generate	~7.4K	0	~7.4K	~6.0K	~$0.11
proposals-pricing	~7.5K	~6.8K	~14.3K	~3.0K	~$0.09
proposals-review	~8.3K	~10.6K	~18.9K	~6.0K	~$0.15
proposals-brief	~6.6K	~17.4K	~24.0K	~3.0K	~$0.12
proposal-intake	~7.6K	~21.2K	~28.8K	~3.2K	~$0.13
Pipeline total			~93.4K	~21.2K	~$0.60

Running the full pipeline once typically costs $0.42–$0.78 in API tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.6).

Known Limitations & Workarounds

Limitation	Workaround
No e-signature	Ask client to print, sign, scan back
No client portal	Email DOCX directly or use shared drive
No Salesforce integration	Copy client data from Salesforce to brief
No PDF (only DOCX)	Open DOCX in Word/Google Docs, export as PDF
No template library (1 template)	Fork plugin and add custom templates
No approval workflow	Manual email approvals with version tracking
No client chat/collaboration	Use email or Slack for revisions
No invoice generation	Generate separately in accounting software

Context & Performance Guide

Average execution time:

• /proposals-setup — 2 seconds (one-time)
• /proposals-brief — 5-10 seconds
• /proposals-pricing — 3-5 seconds
• /proposals-generate — 5-8 seconds (python-docx processing)
• /proposals-review — 10-15 seconds (quality scoring)
• /proposals-full (all 5) — 30-40 seconds total

Token usage per stage:

• Setup: ~500 tokens
• Brief: ~2,000 tokens
• Pricing: ~1,500 tokens
• Generate: ~2,000 tokens
• Review: ~3,000 tokens
• Total: ~9,000 tokens per full pipeline (vs. 6,500 if you skip review)

Storage:

• .proposals/ folder: ~2-5 MB per 100 proposals (JSON + logs)
• Each DOCX: ~200-500 KB
• No cleanup required; safe to version control in Git

Requirements

• Python: 3.8 or higher
• python-docx: pip install python-docx (one-time)
• No other dependencies
• Works on: Mac, Linux, Windows (WSL or native)
• Storage: ~5 MB workspace + ~250 KB per proposal

Getting Started

1. Install Python-docx:

   pip install python-docx
   

2. Initialize workspace:

   /proposals-setup
   

3. Create your first proposal:

   /proposals-full --notes "Client X wants Y by Z for $$$"
   

4. Review the generated DOCX in .proposals/outbound/

5. Make manual edits if needed, then send to client

See /USER-GUIDE.md for detailed walkthrough with examples.

Important Disclaimers

• AI-Generated Content: This plugin uses AI (LLM) technology which can produce inaccurate or incomplete outputs. All content should be treated as a starting point and reviewed for accuracy before use.
• Not Professional Advice: Outputs do not constitute legal, financial, tax, medical, or other professional advice. Consult qualified professionals before making decisions based on generated content.
• No Compliance Guarantee: References to industry standards, regulations, or guidelines are for informational purposes only. This plugin does not guarantee compliance with any law or regulation. Users are responsible for verifying all outputs meet their specific regulatory requirements.
• No Endorsement or Affiliation: Mention of third-party products, standards, or organizations does not imply endorsement, partnership, or certification by those entities.