Winning Guidelines For Quoting Customers

Although fundamentally every business understands the value of providing a good Quotation to a customer, we would like to dive further into this topic and cover some of its basics.

Establish An Excellent Sales Process

Excellent sales mean going beyond meeting your customer’s basic needs. It involves much more than providing support in a timely and pleasant manner.

More importantly, it means doing everything possible so your customers are not merely satisfied – they’re actually happy with your quotation, and information and moreover in your ability to deliver products and services with satisfaction. You need to arm your front sales with excellent tools like Jacktrade if you want your business to stand out and succeed.

Quote In Writing

Providing digitally created and saved quotes to your customer avoids confusion. Like written quotes, verbal quotes are legally binding but they can be prone to communication errors and misunderstandings. A digitally written quotation is good and even better software platforms that provide integrated solutions to your Quotation are important for the efficient digital transformation of a business.

Look Professional

Making your quotes look professional makes you look better, and here are things you can do to your invoice and outgoing emails.

Using your company logo.
Embedding a greeting and thank your customer for the opportunity to quote.
Carefully check your spelling and punctuation.
Add images to products or materials if applicable to your business.

Add Value

On average, your customers tend to get at least 3 quotes for expensive products or services. Think about your unique selling proposition, and how you can distinguish yourself from the competition. There are a few ways you can add value:

Add a promotion offer – possibly within the expiry date.
Add customer testimonials.
Offer to provide references for the check.
Offer a network of resources that may be required for a job (if applicable).
Add Online review statistics (services like Google) to your value add.
Make payment terms or ways to get paid conveniently for the customer.
Offer a post-service care package that could be free leading up to a paid package.
Add a promotion for returning back for additional service or providing a referral (this can be done post service complete).

Every business is different, and you probably add specifics that add value for customers in your business.

Meet Your Customer’s Needs

Your customer will know they can rely on the promises or guarantees in your quote if you:

Assume Nothing – make sure you’re very clear on your customer’s exact requirements, and make sure your customer is equally clear on what you’re offering.
Make a Profit – Always ensure that the quoted price is sufficient to get the job done and return a profit to your business.
Guarantee Satisfaction – Provide quotes only if you are certain you can deliver to their satisfaction. Going above and beyond is much appreciated and you will learn how Jacktrade makes it easier to increase your overall customer satisfaction.

Follow-up

Follow-ups are a huge part of providing excellent customer service. They show that you care enough to ease your customers’ concerns, even after the first encounter.

Follow-ups prove that your business isn’t only about making sales. It shows that you’re serious about making sure your customers are happy.

Checking back in is a great way to turn a previously unhappy customer into a loyal one. This is your chance to make things right and it could definitely make a difference in how a great number of people perceive your brand.

Be guided by your quote’s age and expiry status when following up on a Quote. Don’t be too pushy, but make sure you give your customer a friendly reminder before the expiry date. You can automate follow-up in Jacktrade before and after specific events that occur.

Confirm Arrangements

If your Quote is accepted, get your customer’s confirmation before starting any work. You may ask directly or start indirectly with confirmation around scheduling, expectations, the accuracy of contact, etc

Revise And Resubmit

If the job changes substantially, provide a revised quote and ask your customer to confirm the quote before continuing work. We know a simple walk-through of the invoice with your customer also brings your prospect closer to making a deal.

Identify Your Business Risks

Consider your ability to manage the job. If you are concerned about the feasibility of the job, consider the impact of a worst-case scenario and propose including a clause in the quote that protects both parties from any undesirable outcomes.

Know Your Obligations

Quotes are legally binding statements of the terms and costs you commit to in providing goods and services. Seek recommendations from your industry association and information on preparing quotes and contracts.

Both in sales and customer service, the first impression is often the only impression that matters. It’s essential to make it a good one, or you could risk losing customers before they even make a purchase. But, it goes without saying that it’s essential to make a good impression on every encounter.

Move Faster

Fast-moving businesses need to accelerate work processes to stay competitive. When you move faster — you can say yes to more ideas, more customers, and more revenue. Jacktrade offers many options so you can accelerate your team’s rate of achievement as they run through their day managing customers and business operations.

Service Estimate Templates – Building a customer quote does not need to be a time-consuming task. Build scalable templates so you can quickly respond to sales inquiries with ease and professionalism. Service templates can build your estimates, and insert your products and materials. You can save different variations of your most usable invoices, and then quickly use them to create new Quotes for a new customer.
Communication Templates – Communication is key to any relationship. But, it’s especially crucial between your business and your customers. There’s no need for you to keep reinventing the wheel for every basic and common question. You can pre-build all your sales and customer service scripts so your team can use them as necessary. Your business can keep your standards high and your response times low.
Automated Emails – Be informed about your products, services, and anything else that builds your trust with your potential customer. Sometimes, excellent customer service is simply being informative, and you can achieve sending the targeted information you desire through Jacktrade’s Smart Notification.
Auto Charge – Automatic charges, or auto charges, can be applied after your first charge. You can auto-charge the remainder of your payment based on the auto-charge policies you establish in your terms. For example – charge when the service is complete, or charge on the day of Service starts. Additionally, following your customers to pay up can be a pain and waste of time – the comfort of auto-charge removes your need to deal with it. In addition, Email is an incredibly effective tool for credit control. Here at Jacktrade, we’ve seen that approximately 80% of unpaid invoices can be successfully collected through email chasing alone.
Subscription Services – Jacktrade supports a subscription model called ‘Recurring Services. Customers are charged on a recurring basis for a product or service. You can choose for how long (number of cycles) and how often (time period like daily, weekly, or monthly) they want to receive each offer.

Customer Service Is Everyone’s Job

Everyone in your company should understand the customers’ pain points. When your whole company is encouraged to be involved in ensuring a great customer service experience, each team finds a faster way to make amends and drive your business forward. It’s simple, yet often overlooked. Jacktrade provides you and your team with a collaborative and controlled platform so work can be distributed across the team to manage your customer experience.