Quote-to-Cash (QTC)
Quote-to-Cash (QTC) is the end-to-end business process from the moment a sales rep creates a quote to when payment is collected and revenue is recognized. It includes pricing configuration, quote generation, contract negotiation, order processing, invoicing, payment collection, and revenue recognition.
Why Quote-to-Cash (QTC) Matters for SaaS Companies
A broken QTC process creates delays, errors, and revenue leakage at every stage. Sales reps quote incorrect prices, contracts sit in legal review for weeks, invoices go out late, and payments fail without follow-up. For Seed to Series B companies, manual QTC processes are often the hidden bottleneck that prevents sales from scaling.
An Operator's Take
I have seen QTC processes that took 6 weeks from proposal to first invoice. Six weeks of revenue delayed for every deal. The problem was not any single step — it was that each step (quoting, legal review, contract signing, billing setup) involved a different person with a different tool and no shared system. We built a connected QTC flow: CRM to CPQ to e-signature to billing. Cycle time dropped from 6 weeks to 5 days. More importantly, billing errors on enterprise deals dropped 90% because the pricing that was quoted was the pricing that was invoiced — automatically.
Common Mistakes
What I see go wrong at Seed to Series B companies.
Letting sales reps configure pricing manually. Manual pricing configuration leads to errors, discount abuse, and pricing inconsistency.
Not connecting your CRM to your billing system. Every manual handoff between quoting and invoicing is an opportunity for errors and delays.
Treating QTC optimization as an enterprise-only problem. Even at 50 customers, a clean QTC process prevents revenue leakage.
What to Do This Week
Concrete steps you can take right now.
Map your current QTC process: how many handoffs, how many tools, how long does it take from quote to first invoice?
Identify the single longest delay in your QTC process. That is your highest-leverage fix.
If sales reps configure pricing manually, evaluate CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) tools that standardize the process.
Related Resources
Try These Tools
Further Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
What is included in the Quote-to-Cash process?
QTC includes: pricing configuration, quote/proposal generation, discount approval workflows, contract negotiation and execution, order processing and billing setup, invoicing, payment collection, dunning for failed payments, and revenue recognition. Each step is an opportunity for optimization or errors.
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