How approvals work

Approvals hold a quote until the right person signs off, so risky discounts and terms never reach a customer by accident.

Overview

An approval is a gate that holds a quote in Pending approval until a designated approver approves or rejects it. Until that decision happens, the quote can’t be published or sent — so the deals that need a second set of eyes always get one.

Approvals are driven by your Quote Rules. When you give a rule the Approval outcome, any quote that meets the rule’s conditions is routed for approval the moment a rep submits it. A quote that doesn’t trigger an approval rule publishes right away.

How a quote moves through approval

A rep builds a quote and submits it. Quotivity checks your rules.
If an approval rule’s conditions are met — say, a discount above your threshold — the quote moves to Pending approval instead of publishing.
The assigned approver gets a notification with a link to review the quote.
The approver approves or rejects the quote:
- On approval, the quote publishes and continues down the normal path — rendering, sending, and signing.
- On rejection, the quote’s approval state is cleared and the rep can revise and resubmit.
The rep who submitted the quote can also recall it while it’s pending if they need to make changes before a decision is made.

A clear audit trail

Every approval keeps a running history so you always know who did what and when. The review screen records submitted, requested, approved, rejected, recalled, and published. Quotivity also writes matching cards to the HubSpot deal timeline for submitted, requested, approved, rejected, and published — recall stays on the review screen only. See Quotivity events on the HubSpot timeline.

Using HubSpot workflows

Use a quote-based workflow whenever your HubSpot portal supports quote workflows. Use an app event workflow triggered by Quote Submitted for Approval only if the portal cannot create quote-based workflows. Use Request Quote Approval (v2) and put Publish the Quote after every approval request. On a quote workflow, enroll when Internal quote status is Pending approval and leave Quote ID blank — the enrolled quote is used. On an app event workflow, map Quote ID from the event — the enrolled record is the deal. The older Request Quote Approval action is deprecated and remains quote-only.

See Setting up an approval process for the full HubSpot steps.

What approvers see

Approvers don’t need to be admins — any Quotivity user with the Admin or Sales Rep role can approve. They open the review link, see the full quote along with the rule (or rules) that triggered approval, any explanation the rep provided, and the approval queue the request came from, then make their decision.

Tips

Approvals are only as good as the rules behind them. Start with one clear rule — like discounts over a set percentage — and expand from there.
Use the rep explanation prompt when context matters. A one-line “why” from the rep speeds up the approver’s decision.