How to create a quote that sells

A quote is the advance calculation of the cost that a specific project, work, service or product will have.

One of the keys to any sale is presenting a good quote to your clients. Next I’ll tell you the keys to making your quotes sell: how to set appropriate prices, the data it should include and some tricks that will help you achieve quotes that sell.

Let’s go.

What is a quote?

A quote is the advance calculation of the cost that a specific project, work, service or product will involve.

If you provide services or your products don’t have a fixed price, the quote is an especially useful and basic document for your work. It’s the tool you need to specify the services/products you offer to your client and their cost.

Furthermore, on many occasions, the quote is your presentation letter, because it’s the first thing your client sees.

Making a good quote isn’t easy, you must find the balance between being competitive and not devaluing your work so you can make a living from it. For this you must take into account expenses, working hours, the resources you’ll need and the margin you intend to achieve. Additionally, you should always have a margin for unforeseen circumstances planned, which we don’t like but they exist.

How to set prices in my quote?

This is a key and difficult point to define. It depends on your business strategy and what you’ve decided to do to differentiate yourself from your competition. But in general there are 2 characteristics that every quote must fulfill when defining prices:

• Cover costs: Calculate the hourly rate you must apply to cover your fixed and variable costs. Including your self-employed contribution, office costs, services, computers, telephone,…
• Have profit margin: If you don’t have profits, you don’t live. So you must define what profit margin you want to achieve and pass this benefit on to the price.

Considerations to take into account:

• Market price: Take into account what prices the market (your competition) is offering for the services/products you offer. And decide what pricing strategy you want to follow.
• Promotions: You can get more attractive quotes by adding offers to your quotes.

We all know that what matters most when choosing a quote is its price, but presentation and image play a more important role than we think.

What should a quote include?

Your quote should be as clear, concise and detailed as you can. This way you can avoid misunderstandings and your client knows exactly what they are going to pay.

These are the elements that any quote should include:

• Client data: Name, tax ID or DNI and address.
• Your data as service provider: Name or company name, tax ID, tax address and contact details (telephone, email, website,…)
• The concepts: it’s the detail of products/services that the quote includes: working hours, materials, associated costs, hiring other third-party services if any, licenses, supplies…
• Units and price per unit: you must specify the number of units of each concept, the unit cost of each unit (hourly rate for example) and the total cost of each concept.
• Total Price: You must break down the amount into taxable base, that is, the sum of concepts without taxes, the percentage of taxes that apply and the total amount of the quote, which results from the sum of the taxable base plus taxes.

These are other elements that can help you achieve a more attractive quote that generates more confidence:

• Legal conditions: Attach a legal conditions document to avoid abuse by either party. You’ll avoid misunderstandings and save yourself problems, time and money.
• Payment method: You can specify the payment method you’ll use to collect your invoices (transfer, credit card, PayPal, bank deposit, direct debit, cash,…). If the quote is high you can negotiate an advance.
• Planning: Attach another document with the planning for executing the quote. It’s something that will help you gain credibility with your client.
• Image: Customize your quote. In FacturaDirecta you can add your logo, modify fonts, colors, sizes, margins or even add a background image.
• Warranties and technical support: If your product/service requires warranties or technical support you can attach a document where both things are specified.
• Thank you: You can add a footer note thanking the client for asking you for a quote and wishing that you meet their expectations.
• Discount for prompt acceptance: You can add a discount if your client accepts the quote within a certain period of time.

Don’t forget that when the client approves your quote, you’re going to have to fulfill what you promised. Don’t fall into the temptation of promising something you can’t then deliver.

Don’t you have an online invoicing program yet to automate your management, create professional quotes, control your expenses, create invoices or file your taxes? Try FacturaDirecta for 30 days free. More than 60,000 businesses have already done it. It’s your turn.