How to write a sales quote that increases your hitrate

Find the right sales quote template for your business

After a quick search online you can find quotation templates for all kinds of businesses. Which ones are useful and which ones should you avoid using? Here are some helpful questions to help you find the right one for you.

• Do you sell services or products?
• Do you use one or multiple VAT rates that need to be itemised?
• How do your payment terms and/or payment options work?

Your offer determines what your sales quote should contain. If you are using a template, you should always ensure that it is up to date with current rules and legislation. This is especially true if the sales quote contains general terms and conditions, as a quote is a binding contract for both parties if the customer accepts it. With a CPQ addon for your CRM system you can make sure all your sales quotes are updated with all the information needed.

Complete the offer with the right content

A sales quote can be one or several pages long, the most important thing is that the customer clearly understands what you are offering and at what price. Your offer should be easy to compare with other offers. There is no legal requirement for what a sales quote should contain, but you will increase your chances of getting a deal if the sales quote meets a certain standard.

Your sales quote should always include:

• the company name and/or the sales person’s name
• description of the product or service to be delivered
• price and potential discounts
• specific VAT and tax rate
• date of delivery
• terms of delivery and payment
• the validity period of the offer.

In addition to the offer itself, many companies add a page about themselves. Even if the offer is for a minor service or product, this is a smart opportunity to tell the customer briefly what other services you can offer in the future.

Dress the offer in your graphic design. This makes your brand a clear sender, which is particularly important in competitive situations. So how do you write a crystal clear sales quote?

How to write a sales quote that people will read

We’ve all been faced with sales quote that dedicate the first three pages to upselling or explaining how incredibly good the supplier is. Sure, it’s great to hear, but to a potential customer it can feel both redundant and pushy.

A great sales quote is clearly written

Your sales quote should show what you are offering and at what cost to the customer, in the simplest way possible. Of course, if you are selling packaged solutions, it is important to highlight the customer value and USPs (Unique Selling Points), so the customer can easily compare and see that you deliver more than your competitors.

… selling

The sales process doesn’t end after you hang up the phone or leave the meeting room. Your quote must be written in a way that makes the customer still want your services. For example, you can start with something that will catch their eye: “Our solution X has saved our customers over 15% of their running costs”. Dare to stand out – then the customer will remember you.

… starts from the customer’s perspective

What questions does the customer have at this point? Be sure to answer all of them in the sales quote. Describe how your solution creates value for the customer, and why you are a better choice than your competitors. It’s not about denigrating anyone else, but highlighting your own strengths. Do you have a great support department? Then explain what kind of help the customer will get. Feel free to include one or more testimonial citations in the quote to strengthen your case.

… and is not too long.

Your sales quote specification should never be too long or complex. The page specifying the offer should, in most cases, be no more than one page long. In addition to the specification, most offers include a description of your business, any contractual terms and conditions, a page on services or products with references and, of course, a neat front page. Keep the pages airy and use a text format that does not require magnifying glasses to read.

Did you know that Lime CRM gives you access to multiple sales quote templates at no extra cost? Ready to be downloaded, customised for your offer and sent out to customers directly from the system.

Read your offer carefully before you send it

Ask yourself: is all of the content relevant? In a sales quote, you should work from the customer’s perspective. What are the customer’s needs, and how can you meet those needs?

Once you’ve gone through the above points and created a sales quote that’s clear and selling – without being too long – it’s time to read it through.

Mistakes and misspellings quickly give a bad impression, but the good news is that they’re easy to avoid with the help of a simple word processing program. Or why not have a colleague read it through before you hit ‘send’? Nobody wants to lose a deal because of sloppiness.

Once the customer signs the offer, it is a binding contract

Your sales quote has been successfully sent to the customer. In most cases, there are now three options:

1. “Yes” The customer accepts the offer.
2. “Maybe” The customer accepts the offer with some changes that the customer sends as a counter-proposal. This is called Conditional acceptance.
3. “No” The customer rejects the offer.

A ‘Yes’ means that the sales quote becomes a binding contract. Even a verbal reply is considered binding in many sectors. If the customer says no, or makes a conditional acceptance, the contract is not binding.

For the sake of all parties, we recommend that you still request a written response or additional agreement after the offer has been accepted. Agreements often contain more detailed terms than the offer and should be signed digitally or in writing.

With an electronic signature, simply forward the sales quote to the customer. You will receive a notification as soon as the quote is signed, the document will be saved in Lime CRM and the customer will receive a copy. The easiest, fastest and, above all, most secure way to manage contract signing!

Start sending high quality sales quotes today

With the help of a CPQ addon for your CRM system you can easily create stylish and selling sales quotes. CPQ is short for Configure Price Quote and is a system solution used to easily generate complete sales quotes. With a CPQ in place you save time when creating sales quotes and can be assured they’ll always look the way you intended. With Lime CRM and Lime CPQ you get a complete system that helps you become a more efficient sales person, so you can focus on closing more deals instead of doing administrative tasks.

Do you want to know more about CPQ and what it can do for your business?