You sell to other businesses. An enquiry comes in on the phone or WhatsApp, someone prepares a quote in Excel or Tally, and it goes out as a PDF. Then it sits in a sales person's inbox. A month later you cannot say how many quotes are open, which ones are close to an order, or who was meant to call back.
Signs you need this
- You only learn that a buyer went elsewhere when you finally call them.
- Two people send the same buyer two quotes with different prices.
- When a sales person leaves, their open quotes leave with them.
- You cannot answer a simple question: how much business is waiting on our reply, or on theirs?
What a good system records
Keep it small. A quote is your priced reply to a buyer’s request for quotation, so each one needs only a few fields:
- Buyer, contact person and what they asked for.
- Quote number, version, amount and valid-till date.
- Who owns it, and the date of the next follow-up.
- Status: sent, under discussion, revised, won or lost. If lost, one line on why.
Revisions should be new versions of the same quote, not new files. When a buyer says yes, the quote should turn into a pro forma invoice or order without typing it again. Over a few months, the "why we lost" notes tell you more about your pricing than any meeting will.
Follow-ups that actually happen
The system should list each morning which quotes need a call today, and flag quotes close to their valid-till date. Reminders can also go to buyers on WhatsApp. Business-started messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform must use approved message templates, and they are charged per message, so keep them for real nudges like "your quote expires on Friday".
What it costs you
The software is the easy part. The real effort is habit. Every quote must go through the system, including the quick ones sent from a phone. If even one sales person keeps a side sheet, the numbers stop being true. Start with one team or one product line for a month, then widen it.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Can we import our open quotes from Excel on day one?
- Does it keep every revision, with who changed what?
- Can a won quote become an invoice in Tally or our accounts without retyping?
- Can sales people update a quote from their phone in two taps?
How we can help
We build quote tracking around how your team already sells, with reminders and a link to your accounts. See how we work at our services page. If your quotes live in inboxes today, we are happy to look at a few with you. Do talk to us.
