There's a war happening inside your company right now.

It's not loud. Nobody's yelling (usually). But it's costing you deals, slowing down your response times, and burning out your best people.

It's the Sales vs. Contracts war. And if you're a government contractor or VAR, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The Problem From Sales' Perspective

Walk into any sales team meeting and you'll hear some version of this:

"We're losing deals because we can't turn quotes around fast enough."

They're not wrong. When a customer needs a quote for a SEWP order and your competitor gets back to them in 4 hours while you take 2 days, guess who has the advantage?

Sales reps are trying to move fast. They're building relationships, responding to RFQs, and managing multiple opportunities at once. Speed matters in their world.

So they build the quote as quickly as they can, send it to Contracts for "final review," and move on to the next opportunity.

The Problem From Contracts' Perspective

Now walk down the hall to the Contracts team and you'll hear this:

"Sales keeps making mistakes. Wrong part numbers, missing line items, bad margins. Then WE have to fix it."

They're not wrong either. That "quick quote" from Sales? It's missing mandatory CLINs. The UNSPSC codes don't match the solicitation requirements. The pricing is off because they pulled from the wrong distributor.

The Contracts team isn't being difficult. They're preventing your company from submitting quotes that will get rejected, disqualified, or accepted at a loss.

So they spend hours rebuilding what Sales already built, verifying every line item, correcting every compliance error, and reformatting the entire thing to match government standards.

Both Teams Are Right. That's the Problem.

Here's the thing: Sales IS moving too slowly. And Contracts IS fixing too many mistakes.

But neither team is the problem.

The process is the problem.

Your sales reps shouldn't be expected to memorize every code, GSA contract vehicle requirement, and compliance rule. That's not their job. Their job is to build relationships and close deals.

Your contracts team shouldn't be doing manual data entry and reformatting spreadsheets that were already 80% complete. That's not their job. Their job is to ensure compliance and protect the company.

But when your quoting system forces Sales to be procurement experts and Contracts to be data entry specialists, everybody loses.

What This War Actually Costs You

Let's talk about what this internal conflict is really costing your business:

Lost deals: While you're spending 2-3 days getting a quote "right," your competitor with a better process already won the business.

Wasted time: Your sales team spends hours building quotes that your contracts team has to rebuild from scratch. That's double the work for every opportunity.

Burned-out teams: Sales feels micromanaged. Contracts feels like they're cleaning up messes all day. Neither team feels respected or supported.

Margin erosion: In the rush to turn quotes around faster, mistakes slip through. Wrong pricing, missing line items, compliance gaps. You win the deal but lose money on the contract.

Damaged relationships: When customers wait days for a quote or receive incorrect information, they start looking for VARs who have their act together.

The real cost isn't just the time or the mistakes. It's the opportunity cost of having your best people fighting each other instead of winning business together.

Why Your Current Tools Create This Problem

Most government contractors are using one of these approaches:

Option 1: Commercial CRM + Spreadsheets

Your CRM (if you even have one) wasn't built for government contracting. It doesn't understand CLINs, TAA Status, or contract vehicles. So Sales builds quotes in Excel, emails them to Contracts, who rebuilds them in a different spreadsheet, which creates version control nightmares and constant back-and-forth.

Option 2: Custom Access Database from 2005

Someone built a database years ago that "works." Except it's held together with duct tape and prayers, only two people know how to use it, and it can't integrate with anything modern. Sales avoids using it, Contracts insists on it, and the war continues.

Option 3: Enterprise Software You Can't Afford

The big GRC platforms and contract lifecycle management tools cost $30K-$100K per year and require a dedicated team to operate. They make you conform your process to their platform. Small and mid-size VARs can't justify that investment, so they stick with Option 1 or 2.

The common thread? None of these tools were purpose-built for small government contractors who need speed AND compliance.

How to End the War

Here's what actually solves this problem: Guided quoting with real-time compliance.

Instead of Sales building a quote in a vacuum and hoping it's right, they build it inside a system that guides them through the process:

• Real-time pricing from your distributors (no more guessing or using outdated catalogs)

• Auto-mapped SKUs and codes based on the solicitation requirements

• Built-in compliance checks for CMMC, CUI handling, and contract vehicle rules

• Line item templates for common government requirements

The system catches errors BEFORE the quote gets to Contracts.

Sales still moves fast but now they're moving fast in the right direction.

When the quote reaches Contracts, it's not a mess to untangle. It's a clean, formatted, compliance-ready document that needs review, not reconstruction.

Contracts can focus on the strategic stuff—margin analysis, risk assessment, contract terms—instead of fixing UNSPSC codes and reformatting spreadsheets.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Let's say a customer sends an RFQ for a SEWP VI order.

Old process:

• Sales spends 2-3 hours building a quote in Excel

• Sends it to Contracts

• Contracts finds missing CLINs and wrong UNSPSC codes

• Spends another 2-3 hours rebuilding it

• Total time: 5-6 hours, plus back-and-forth emails

• Customer gets quote in 2 days

• You lose the deal to a faster competitor

New process with Virtual Dojo:

• Sales opens the RFQ in Virtual Dojo

• System pulls real-time pricing and provides correct product codes and statuses

• Guided workflow ensures all required line items are included

• Compliance checks run automatically

• Sales completes quote in 15-30 minutes

• Contracts reviews clean, formatted quote in 15 minutes

• Total time: Less than 1 hour

• Customer gets quote same day

• You win the deal

That's not theoretical. That's what happens when your quoting process actually supports both teams instead of creating conflict between them.

The Real Winner: Your Customers

When Sales and Contracts aren't fighting each other, your customers notice.

They get quotes faster. The quotes are more accurate. Fewer mistakes mean fewer change orders and delays later.

Your responsiveness becomes a competitive advantage instead of an excuse you're making to angry buyers.

And here's the thing: Your competitors are dealing with the same Sales vs. Contracts war you are. Most of them aren't fixing it. They're just accepting it as "the way things are."

The VARs and contractors who figure this out first? They're going to eat everyone else's lunch.

It's Time to End the War

Your sales team isn't incompetent. Your contracts team isn't being difficult. They're both trying to do their jobs with tools that create conflict instead of collaboration.

The solution isn't more training, more meetings, or more "communication." The solution is a quoting process that supports both teams by design.

Because the Sales vs. Contracts war is expensive. It's slowing you down, costing you deals, and burning out your people.

And in a market as competitive as government contracting, you can't afford it anymore.