We spent months building Quote.ly as a native Salesforce quoting solution for government contractors. Beautiful UI. Clean integrations. Purpose-built for handling the complexity of GSA schedules, SEWP contracts, and distributor pricing.

Then we started actually talking to VARs and MSPs who sell to the government.

One out of ten used Salesforce.

Not "one out of ten are happy with it." One out of ten have it at all.

That realization changed everything about how we think about government contracting tools and why most CRM implementations fail in this market within six months.

The Salesforce Assumption (And Why We Made It)

Here's how we ended up building the wrong thing first:

Our founder Devin runs a GovCon VAR named DH Technologies. His team used Salesforce. It made sense. Enterprise-grade CRM, huge ecosystem, everyone in B2B sales talks about it.

When we started building Quote.ly, the logic seemed bulletproof:

• Government contracts are complex → You need sophisticated tools

• Sophisticated companies use Salesforce → Government contractors must use Salesforce

• Salesforce has a huge AppExchange ecosystem → Build native, leverage the platform

We built a killer Salesforce-native quoting tool. The integration was tight. The workflow was clean. Government contractors could finally quote complex deals without spreadsheet hell.

Then we started our go-to-market.

The Cold Reality of 200+ Conversations

I won't sugarcoat it: the first three months of outreach were brutal.

Call after call, meeting after meeting, the same pattern emerged:

Me: "We've built a quoting solution that integrates directly with Salesforce to help you—"

Prospect: "We don't use Salesforce."

Me: "Oh, what CRM are you using?"

Prospect: "We tried Salesforce three years ago. It lasted four months. Now we're back to Excel and Google Sheets."

Or:

Prospect: "We use HubSpot. Well, technically we have HubSpot. Marketing uses it. Sales doesn't really log anything."

After about 50 conversations, we started tracking this more carefully. The numbers were undeniable:

• ~10% actively used Salesforce

• ~40% had some CRM (HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive, homegrown)

• ~50% used spreadsheets, email, and tribal knowledge

And here's the kicker: The ones with CRMs? Half of them weren't actually using them. They had the subscription. They went through the implementation. Then they quietly went back to Excel.

Why CRM Adoption Fails in Government Contracting

At first, I thought this was just a training problem. Or a change management issue. Or that contractors were being cheap.

I was wrong on all counts.

After months of conversations, a pattern emerged. CRM implementations fail in government contracting for very specific reasons that have nothing to do with the CRM being "bad."

1. CRMs Are Built for Lead-to-Close Sales. Government Contracting Is Relationship + Relationship + Compliance.

Traditional CRM workflow:

1. Lead comes in

2. Qualify the lead

3. Demo/proposal

4. Negotiate

5. Close

6. Done

Government contracting workflow:

1. Build relationship with end user (6-12 months)

2. Build relationship with contracting officer (6-12 months)

3. Track RFP release (might be 2 years out)

4. Respond with quote that requires:

   • Finding the right contract vehicle

   • Pulling pricing from 3 distributors

   • Checking GSA schedule compliance

   • Building complex configurations

   • Getting all pricing approved by contracts team

   • Version control across 15 iterations

5. Submit and wait (sometimes months)

6. Maybe win

7. Navigate post-award compliance

The CRM thinks you're closing deals in 30-90 days. You're nurturing relationships for years while trying to quote complex deals with compliance requirements the CRM has no idea exist.

2. The Sales Team Isn't the Problem—The Quote Process Is

Here's what we learned: Government contractor sales teams would use a CRM if it actually helped them close deals faster.

But traditional CRMs don't help with the real work:

• Where's the current pricing from Ingram Micro vs. Tech Data vs. D&H?

• Which contract vehicle should I use for this agency?

• Is this product on our GSA schedule?

• What's the UNSPSC code for this item?

• Did the manufacturer just update pricing?

• How do I track 12 versions of this quote across email threads?

The CRM asks them to log calls and update stages. But it doesn't help them do the actual job of managing complex government deals.

So they log a few things for a month, realize it's adding work without adding value, and quietly stop using it.

3. The Tool Stack Becomes a Frankenstein

Here's the typical government contractor's "system":

• CRM for... something (mostly unused)

• Spreadsheets for actual quoting

• Email for version control (sort of)

• Distributor portals for pricing (3-5 different logins)

• Contract vehicle databases (GSA Advantage, eBuy, etc.)

• Manufacturer configurators

• A folder somewhere with old quotes to reference

No single tool connects these pieces. So the sales team builds their own workflow that is usually centered on spreadsheets because at least spreadsheets are flexible.

The CRM becomes another login to maintain, another place to copy-paste information that's already in three other places.

4. Implementation Assumes Clean Data. Government Contracts Are Chaos.

CRM implementations always start the same way:

• "Let's import your existing opportunities!"

• "What's your standard sales process?"

• "How do you categorize your deals?"

For a SaaS company selling subscriptions, this works. For a government contractor juggling 47 open opportunities across 8 different contract vehicles, 12 agencies, and 200 line items per quote?

Good luck getting that into standard CRM fields.

The implementation consultant tries to force-fit government complexity into standard objects.

The contractor tries to make it work. Three months later, they're drowning in custom fields, confused picklists, and workflows that don't match reality.

Excel starts looking pretty good again.

What We Built Instead: The CRM-Agnostic Realization

That "9 out of 10" realization could have killed Quote.ly. We'd built the entire product around Salesforce integration.

But it also clarified something important: Government contractors don't need another CRM. They need tools that solve actual problems in their quoting process regardless of what CRM (if any) they use.

That insight became Virtual Dojo.

Instead of being Salesforce-native, we built CRM-agnostic:

• Use Salesforce? Great, we'll integrate.

• Use HubSpot? We'll work with that too.

• Use spreadsheets and prayer? That's fine. We'll be your system of record for quoting.

More importantly, we focused on solving the problems CRMs ignore:

• Quoting complexity: Handle contract vehicles, GSA schedules, distributor pricing, and compliance in one place

• CMMC compliance: Because that's now table stakes for DoD work

• Version control: Because email threads are not a workflow

• Actual integrations: Pull pricing from distributors, push to contract vehicles, export to whatever format the agency needs

We stopped trying to replace Excel and started trying to make the quoting process actually work.

What Actually Works for Government Contractors

After hundreds of conversations and watching what actually gets adopted, here's what we've learned works:

1. Purpose-Built Tools That Solve Specific Problems

Government contractors will adopt tools that demonstrably save them time on their most painful tasks:

• Pulling current distributor pricing → They'll use it

• Checking GSA schedule compliance → They'll use it

• Managing quote versions and approvals → They'll use it

• Generic "relationship management" → They won't

The tool has to solve a concrete problem, not just organize information.

2. Flexibility Over Rigid Process

Government contracting is too varied to force into standardized workflows. Some deals are:

• Single-line-item quotes to existing customers (15 minutes)

• 500-line-item responses to RFQs (2 weeks)

• Competitive bids requiring technical proposals (2 months)

Tools that force everyone through the same process get abandoned. Tools that adapt to different deal types stick around.

3. Integration Without Replacement

Government contractors already have systems. They're not going to rip everything out and start over.

What works:

• Integrate with their existing CRM (if they have one)

• Pull pricing from their existing distributors

• Export to their existing contract vehicles

• Work alongside their existing processes

What doesn't work:

• "Just move everything into our platform"

• "You need to change your entire workflow"

• "We'll replace 5 of your current tools"

4. Built by People Who Actually Do This Work

The best tools in government contracting are built by people who've lived the pain.

Our founder Devin runs a VAR. We've lived these problems. That perspective shapes everything about how Virtual Dojo works.

The Bottom Line

Building Quote.ly taught us what not to do. That "9 out of 10" moment was painful, but it forced us to really understand this market.

Government contractors don't need another CRM that promises to "transform their sales process." They need:

• Tools that solve specific problems (quoting complexity, compliance requirements)

• Flexibility to work with their existing systems

• Products built by people who actually understand government contracting

• Solutions that save time instead of creating more work

Virtual Dojo is our answer to what we learned. It's not perfect yet. We're still learning, still building. But it's built on real understanding of what government contractors actually need, not what we think they should need.

And yeah, it works regardless of whether you use Salesforce. Turns out that matters.