A sales quotation is a document that a seller provides to a buyer to offer goods or services at a stated price, under specified conditions.
Are you struggling to make Sales Quotations for your customers. Looking for a ready-to-use, automatic quotations/proforma invoice (PI) template? Create a quote in less than a minute with SalesBabu Online Business Quotation Maker. Take Free Demo Today.
Other terminology for quotations are quotes, sales quotes or sales quotations and are used to let a potential buyer know how much goods or services will cost before they commit to the purchase.
Is a Quotation Legally Binding?
Quotations are usually not a legal binding unless they are part of an official contract. However, sales quotes is generally accepted that a customer has agreed and committed to a sale, and a specific price if they accept a sales quotes.
Sales Quotations or Proposals are generally sent at the request of a customer who is interested and wants to know more about certain services or goods before they commit a purchase.
Send your quotation as fast as you can. But not without checking your costs.
Customers always ask 3-4 vendors for quotes. The vendor who sends a clear, professional quote first stays on top of the customer’s mind.
So the rule is simple:
Do not delay for 2-3 days. If you need time to calculate costs, tell the customer. But do not keep him waiting without any update.
Most small businesses start with Word or Excel. It works when you make 2-3 quotes in a week. When your business grows, it creates big problems.
Quotation management software removes all these issues. You work from one central database.
You do not need to be an expert. Follow these 8 steps. This is how good companies make quotes that win.
Do not start from a blank page. Use a professional quotation template.
The creation of a winning quotation is a learning process. It will help to use a quality quotation format so that you will be able to create professional-looking, a thorough and detailed quotation which your clients will love.
Make sure that you include who the quote is for, including all the information like:
And the main thing does not forget to include your contact information. That said if you are using company letterhead, you might do not need to include it.
Accounting software will automatically generate a quotation number for you, adding increments of one for each new quote.
Also add the date of issue. This is important because your quote is valid only for a limited time.
This is the date when you send the quotation to the client. This is very much important because quotes are usually limited-time offers. You will want to add “Valid for 30 days”, or you can also increase or decrease the timeline.
Add all the products or services that you are quoting as line items. Also, include a description of all the items with product numbers, total price per unit, unit price, and quantities. You can also divide the services and products according to the different stages of the project.
Here is where you account for all the possible variations in the project. For instance, you can note the project timeline for landscaping the backyard depending on having nice weather.
Small businesses will also explain how much the additional work costs. Explain under what conditions the additional work might be required, hence the quote is supposed to be at a fixed price.
This section is for if you want to add any other details. The note is the right place to detail timelines and expected completion dates. You can also summarise the scope of the project.
Here are some elements that you can consider adding to your quote:
On the other hand, you should give yourself enough time to accurately work out your costs and calculate your profit margin. As mentioned earlier, quotes are not legally binding; you should do your best to send error-free sales quotations or avoid offering a price that you can’t actually commit to.
Read more – Quotation Management: Now Easier Than Ever Before
When it boils down to writing or drafting a sales quotation, there are multiple techniques at your disposal. You may choose for an online software, a quotation with the Word-based template, an Excel-based template, or even the classic handwritten business quotations.
Multiple considerations come into focus when deciding on the strategy for drafting a quotation. Primarily, key attention on the most efficient means of interaction with your customers. Timeliness is imperative, and many businesses opt for software solutions to promptly generate quotes and send them straight away to clients via email, text, or popular messaging platforms like Facebook or Whatsapp.
Equally imperative is the factor of professionalism in your opted strategy. While there is no strict requirement for a particular sales quotation format, template, or layout, necessary to prevent sending unprofessional and subpar quotations. The impression your quotation delivers plays an important role in molding perceptions about the standard of your work and business.
In summary, the main considerations for drafting a sales quotation involve the chosen method’s communication productively and the professional appearance it delivers. Choosing a method that goes with both factors ensures that your quotation not only reaches out to your customers swiftly but also delivers a positive and professional impression.
Once you’ve opted your method for generating a quotation, possessing a professionally designed template on hand is necessary for constantly delivering polished quotes. Identical to invoice templates, a sales quotation template should comply with the certain rules to deliver potential customers with a clear understanding of their commitment. Here are the main elements to include:
Read more – Online Quotation Management Software
Sample of Sales Quotation Template
SEND YOUR FIRST BUSINESS QUOTE
To determine how a sales quotation should be formatted there are no legal regulations. However, it is advisable to follow a good idea – some basic formatting guidelines when sending quotes in business, and most businesses have quotation formats that are similar to their invoice formats.
Your quotation template should have the word ‘Quotation’ or ‘Quote’ or ‘Budgetary Quotation’ clearly visible at the top of the document so that your customers can easily distinguish the quotation from other documents. Generally, it is also common to have the quotation number, date, mode/terms of payment and customer contact address and contact details at the top of the quotation template, followed by the products details and total price. Your terms and conditions are usually at the bottom of your quotation.
Your quotations should be attractive, simple and easy to read, with a good layout and font. In case if you’d like to personalize or customize your sales quotation layout, you could add your company logo or choose colors that reflect your brand value.
Even though, you are sending sales quotations via email, be aware and ensure that how your quotes will look when they’re printed. A few customers prefer to keep physical records and they always take the printout apart from the email. Your quotation format should fit within the A4 paper sheet, and if necessary attach separate files. It’s always easy and comfortable to do this using an online quotation.
Many business owners get confused. Let us clear it in simple words.
| Document | When You Send It | Is Price Fixed? | Is It Legally Binding? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate | When customer asks for a rough idea and your costs are not final | No, it is an approximate price | No |
| Quotation / Sales Quote | When customer wants a firm price before buying | Yes, price is firm for validity period | Not directly, but if customer accepts, it becomes a commitment |
| Proforma Invoice (PI) | After customer says yes, but before final sale details are ready. Often needed for advance payment or import/export | Yes, with detailed breakup | Treated as a confirmed order for payment purpose |
| Invoice / Tax Invoice | After you deliver goods or services | Yes, final amount customer has to pay | Yes, it is a legal demand for payment |
Simple rule to remember:
Estimate = Rough guess. Quotation = Firm offer. Proforma Invoice = Confirmation for advance payment. Invoice = Final bill.
In many trading businesses in India, customers ask for a PI to release advance. SalesBabu online quotation maker lets you convert a quotation to a proforma invoice and then to a sales order and invoice without re-entering data.
You do not type product names again and again. You select from your product catalogue. The system picks the price, tax, and HSN automatically. Just change quantity and discount if needed.
Manual GST calculation causes many errors. The software calculates tax, discount, total amount automatically. You get 100% data accuracy.
A clean, branded PDF with your logo, proper terms, and clear breakup wins trust. Customers feel you are an organised company.
You see all quotations in one list – Open, Sent, Accepted, Lost, Expired. You know who followed up last and what the customer said.
The system reminds you – “Follow up for QT-1023 today.” You create tasks and activities. Studies show that 80% of sales need 5 follow-ups, but most salespeople stop after 1. The software helps you follow up regularly.
When customer accepts the quote, you convert it to sales order in one click. No need to re-enter customer details, product details, prices. This saves hours every week.
All quotations are in a central cloud database. If one salesperson is on leave, another can handle his quotes. No data stays in personal laptops.
How many quotes did you send last month? How many were accepted? What is your win ratio? Which product gets quoted most? Which salesperson closes most quotes? You get answers without making Excel reports.
Let us take Sunil, who sells industrial packaging machines in Pune. He has 4 salespeople.
Before software: Customer calls Sunil for price of 2 machines. Sunil tells his junior to make a quote. Junior opens an old Excel file, changes price, but forgets to update delivery time. He sends it from his personal email. After 4 days, customer asks for update. Sunil does not know if quote was sent. He calls junior, junior is on leave. Deal is lost.
After SalesBabu quotation software: Customer enquiry comes, it is entered as opportunity in CRM. Sunil’s salesperson creates a quotation from opportunity in 2 minutes. Product details, price, GST, HSN come automatically. He adds delivery terms and sends PDF from the system email with company signature. The system creates a follow-up task for next day. Manager sees in dashboard that 12 quotations are open this week. He asks team to follow up. Out of 12, 5 become orders. Sunil converts accepted quotes to sales orders in one click.
This is how you save time and sell more.
Do not just look at price. Look at these 6 points:
1. Is it easy to use?
Your sales team should learn it in one day. If software is complex, they will not use it. Ask for a live demo with your own products.
2. Does it handle Indian needs?
GST, HSN, CGST/SGST/IGST, multiple units, INR currency – all must be there.
3. Does it connect with your sales process?
Good quotation software is not standalone. It should connect with lead, opportunity, sales order, invoice, and payment follow-up. SalesBabu CRM does this.
4. Can you access it anywhere?
It should be cloud-based. You should create quotes from office, home, or customer site using mobile.
5. Does it help you track and follow up?
Creating a quote is only 50% work. Tracking till closure is the other 50%. Check if it has activity, reminders, and reports.
6. Is support available?
You need quick support on phone or email when you get stuck. Check if company provides training and support in Indian time zone.
SalesBabu built its quotation software after working with many manufacturers, traders, and service companies in India.
Here is what makes it different:
In short, it helps you sell more and manage less.
Before the final details of a sale are confirmed a proforma invoice that is treated to be a non-official document (invoice) is sent to a customer . Proforma Invoices are generally used at the same point in the sales process as a sales quotation. However, quotations and proforma invoices present slightly different purposes.
A quotation would normally be sent if there is a customer inquiry, or if they require to know more about a service or product. Finally, a proforma invoice is sent to a customer if they have finalized to purchase, but cannot be sent a final copy of the invoice because the final details of the sale are not certain.
Similar to quotations, an estimates shared with the customers who enquire about a product or service. However, a sales quotation needs clear paraments (man power, time, raw materials, etc.) and relatively stable costs. This means that some businesses cannot give quotations because it simply isn’t possible to give a fixed price.
Instead of releasing a sales quotes, these businesses would prefer to issue an estimate, which is a non-binding approximation of what a work is likely to cost.
Send personalized and professional sales quotations with Online Quotation Software in SalesBabu CRM Quotation Module. With our online business quotation templates, creating and sending sales quotes is quick and easy. From drop-down option pull your customer’s details, add your products and prices, then click the send button. Additionally, you can send quotes anywhere, anytime with the Android app.
A quotation is more than a price list. It is a sales tool.
When you send quotes fast, with clear details and professional look, you win customer confidence. When you track every quote and follow up on time, you win more orders.
Stop wasting time on Word and Excel. Use a simple online quotation maker that does calculations, formatting, and follow-up reminders for you.
If you want to see how SalesBabu quotation management software can work for your business, take a free demo. Upload your products and customers, create your first quote in 2 minutes, and see the difference yourself.
Ready to create professional quotations that close deals? Try SalesBabu Online Quotation Maker today.
In today's competitive landscape, maximizing sales efficiency is more crucial than ever. This is where… Read More
In today's business world, being efficient and productive is a really big deal for success.… Read More
In today's fast moving business, sitting at a desk is no longer the only way… Read More
Customer relationship management is important for all sizes of companies. It helps businesses to track… Read More
The future of CRM software is bright. CRM is growing more powerful and user-friendly as… Read More
Now days, companies use different types of app and software for different purpose to keep… Read More
This website uses cookies.