How to write a quote: the 8 sections of a quote customers say “yes” to

A customer writes in the evening: “Can I get a price?” The next morning you export a PDF from Excel and send it, and then you hear nothing for a week. When you call, the customer says: “We’ve had other quotes too — what exactly did yours cover?” The quote didn’t say what was included, how long it was valid or whose approval it needed; there was only a figure. The figure is only one part of the decision. A quote is the document that turns that figure into something the customer can defend inside their own company.

A quote is a written document in which a seller states which product or service it will provide for a specific need, in what scope, at what price and on what terms. This article covers the eight sections of a quote, practical tips for the quote template, the quote presentation and the quote email, and where you should keep the quote.

The 8 sections of a quote

1. Summary of the need: Describe the customer’s problem in two or three sentences, in their own words. When customers see their own problem in the quote, they read it to the end.
2. Proposed solution and scope: What will be done, what will be delivered and what is out of scope. An out-of-scope line cuts down on later “we thought that was included” arguments.
3. Line items: A description, quantity, unit and unit price for each item. Show discounts and VAT on separate lines.
4. Price and payment terms: Grand total, currency, VAT treatment and payment plan. Paid upfront or on credit terms, and how much at which stage?
5. Delivery and implementation schedule: The delivery date, or the start and finish steps; the preparations expected from the customer.
6. Validity: The date until which the quote is valid. Write a calendar date instead of relative phrases such as “from the date of sending”.
7. Terms and assumptions: Assumptions that affect the price (exchange rate, raw materials, additional requests), maintenance and support terms, cancellation and change rules.
8. Next step and contact: What to do to accept, whom to write to and the name of the person who prepared the quote. A quote should never leave the question “what do you want me to do?” unanswered.

How to build a quote template

A quote template is the fixed framework in which the eight sections above repeat in the same order in every quote. Think of the template in two layers: the part that stays the same (company details, general terms, payment policy, maintenance terms) and the part filled in for each quote (customer, summary of the need, line items, price, validity). If you keep the fixed part in one place, no old copies are left in circulation when a term changes.

• A quote should not go out while required fields are empty; the validity date and the name of the person who prepared it are the fields most often forgotten.
• Quote numbers and dates should be generated in sequence; a number typed by hand will one day turn up on two quotes.
• The total should not be typed by hand but calculated from the line items; discounts and VAT should appear in the same order on every quote.

How to prepare a quote presentation

For large quotes or quotes with many items, sending the document alone is not enough; you also need a short presentation. The presentation does not read the quote out again; it answers the decision-maker’s questions: What was our problem? How does the proposed solution solve it? How much does it cost and what does it cover? What are the risks and assumptions? How long do we have to decide? If you build the presentation around these five questions, each slide answers one of them.

Do not go beyond the figures in the quote during the presentation; if the price customers hear in the meeting differs from the price they read in the quote, they will doubt both. Add any questions and objections that come in after the meeting to the quote version.

How to write a quote email

The quote email is the customer’s way into the quote. Customers read the subject line and the first two sentences before they open the attachment. The outline below works for most B2B quotes; replace the text in square brackets with your own details.

Subject: Quote for [Company] – [Quote no.], valid until [expiry date]. Hello [Name], following our meeting on [date], please find attached our quote for the [summary of the need] you described. In it you will find the scope, line items, price and payment terms. I would like to call you on Thursday to answer your questions; if another day suits you better, just let me know. Kind regards, [Full name]

• Include the quote number and validity date in the subject line; this makes the quote easier to find later.
• Mention the customer’s need in the first two sentences, not an introduction to your own company.
• The attachment’s file name should show the version, so that a customer who receives two files knows which one is current.
• End with a concrete step: which day you will call, or by which date you expect a reply.

Final check before sending the quote

Correcting a quote after it has reached the customer is both tedious and damaging to trust. Before sending, read the quote once more through the customer’s eyes and ask these questions:

• Are the customer’s name, contact person and quote number correct? A name left over from the previous customer is a common mistake.
• Do the total of the line items, the discount and the VAT add up when checked by hand?
• Is the currency the same on every line and in the total, or is it mixed?
• Is the validity date written as a calendar date, and is it in the future?
• Can someone reading the quote for the first time find the answer to “what should I do now?”
• Has the necessary approval been obtained, and is the attached file the approved version itself?

If a manager or colleague also checks the answers to these six questions, the chance of errors drops noticeably. For large quotes, make this check part of the approval step.

What to do after the quote has been sent

The work on a quote does not end when it is sent. On the day you send it, enter a follow-up date on the opportunity, so you have a reason to call even if the customer stays silent. In the first follow-up, ask whether the quote has arrived and whether they have any questions. If the customer raises an objection, record it; if a revision is needed, open a new version. As the validity date approaches, send the customer a reminder: renegotiating the price once the quote has expired drags things out for both you and the customer.

Preparing quotes with Excel, Word and email: where it works and where it struggles

In a business that sends a few quotes a week, with a fixed product range and simple pricing, a Word or Excel template does the job. As the number of quotes, line items and people preparing quotes grows, these problems appear:

• The template multiplies as it is copied; when a term changes, only one copy gets updated.
• Which version went to the customer is guessed from the file name; revisions pile up under names such as “final” and “final2”.
• The quote and the customer’s meeting history sit in different places; when the salesperson changes, the context is lost.
• Manager approval is given by email or in a messaging app; the quote does not document which approval was obtained.

Keeping the quote in the same record as the customer and the opportunity

The Sales / Quotation & Customer Management module manages customer records, opportunities, meetings, multi-currency quote revisions, approvals and closed sales in a shared flow. The flow has five steps: record the customer, open the opportunity, prepare the quote, complete the approval, add the sale to the reports. Quotes can be prepared in different currencies, each revision is saved as a separate version, and the quote goes through an approval process before it is presented to the customer. Because every quote is kept together with the customer record and the related opportunity, the sales team sees in one record which customer received which quote.

In YazSis CRM AI, a quote moves through the stages draft, awaiting approval, sent, accepted and rejected, and manager approval is built in. The quote printout presents the line items, discount, VAT and grand total, with the validity date and the name of the person who prepared it, as a print-ready page. YazSis CRM AI is in use today in YazSis’s own support and sales centre; for a setup adapted to your company, we work out the scope with you after a needs analysis.

You can see how a quote is kept together with the customer record, the opportunity and the approval on the Sales / Quotation & Customer Management module page.