How to sell an automation project from an audit

Time and cost each process a client repeats, see the estimated savings and payback, price the project, draft the proposal and turn it into a draft quote with a deposit and milestones.

Updated 2026-10-26

An automation audit is the record of a discovery call: each task the client's team repeats, who does it, how often, how long it takes and what an hour of their time costs. From it Otto works out an estimate of what automating it saves, suggests a price, drafts the proposal and makes a draft quote. Nothing is sent to the client until you send the quote yourself.

Where

Automation audits in the menu, for an agency business. Every figure on the page is money, so only a position that sees money can open it. A position that does not see money gets a message saying so.

Start an audit

1. Press Automation audits, pick the client and press Start audit.
2. Press Add a process for each task, e.g. "Answering inquiries". Fill in who does it, how many Times per day, week, month or year, the Minutes each time, how many People, their Hourly cost, the tools used and what is slow about it.
3. Set Automate %: the share of that process you expect the project to take over. This is your estimate.
4. Press Save processes.

A working day counts as 260 a year (five days a week).

Ask the client to fill it in

1. In Processes, press Make the questionnaire. It adds a questionnaire called "Automation audit" with room for five processes. Only an owner or admin can add it.
2. Send it from the client's card, under Client documents, like any questionnaire.
3. When the client has submitted it, open the audit and press Add answers from "Automation audit". Each process they named is added with the share to automate at 0%, for you to set.

Read the estimate

Your estimate shows, for each process, the hours a year, the cost a year, the share automated and the estimated saving, with the total saving and the payback in months at your price. These are estimates worked out from the figures in the audit, not measured results, and the page says so.

Payback is the price divided by a month of estimated savings, rounded up to one decimal.

Price the project

Price suggests a band: 25% to 50% of the first year's estimated savings, never below $10,000. Press Use on either end, or type Or your own price and press Set price. Open Change how the suggestion is worked out to change the shares and the floor for this audit.

The price becomes the client's deal value, so it counts in the pipeline forecast on Contacts.

Draft the proposal

1. Press Draft with Otto. Otto writes the scope, the deliverables, what is not included, a timeline and milestones from the audit. It uses some of your AI allowance.
2. Edit any of it. The first milestone is the deposit, and the milestones' shares must add up to 100% before Save proposal works.

Make the quote

1. Optionally pick a Contract to sign with it. The client signs it by accepting the quote.
2. Press Make the draft quote. It has the build as one line at your price, the proposal in its notes, and the first milestone's share as the deposit.
3. Press Open in Quotes to check and send, and send it from there.
4. To show the client the estimate, turn on Show the estimate, with its inputs, on the client's quote page. The quote page then shows a table of every process with its inputs, labelled as your business's estimate and not a guarantee.

When the client accepts, Otto makes the draft deposit invoice. Under Milestone billing, press Make its draft invoice for each later milestone in turn; the last one bills whatever is left. Otto records payments you enter and takes no money itself.

Case studies

1. In Case studies, type how to describe the client without their name, e.g. "A regional dental practice", and optionally how the project went.
2. Press Draft a case study. Otto writes one from the audit and its estimate. Edit it and press Save.
3. To name the client, ask them first. When they say yes, fill in Who said yes, How and Day, and press Record their yes.
4. Press Publish. Published case studies show on your website wherever you add the Case studies (from Otto) section.

A case study that names the client cannot be published until their yes is recorded. Taking their yes back while a published case study still names them is refused: take the name out first.

What happens next

The client moves through your pipeline. The AI automation agency pack sets the stages Lead, Audit booked, Audit done, Proposal sent, Won, In build, Live and Retainer. In the forecast, Won and every stage after it count as won.