Quote Template
A Price Quote, Sales Quote, or Service Quote can be a legally binding agreement between a vendor and a customer to deliver products and/or services at a predefined price. When the quote is accepted by the customer, the quote is then normally converted to an invoice. If you are looking for an easy yet professional way to create a price quote, download our free Price Quote Template below.
One of the easiest ways to create a price quote template for your business is to first start from an appropriate invoice template. For example, the first quote template on this page was created from our free invoice template. The second was created from our billing invoice template. The main differences between an invoice and a quote are explained below. So, if you need a more specific format such as a sales quote for the sale of goods or a service quote for hourly work, you could download the Sales Invoice or Service Invoice and convert them into a quote template with just a few minor changes.
Price Quote Template
for Excel
Description
This free Price Quote Template is almost exactly the same as our free invoice template, with just a few minor modifications. The new Excel 2007+ version gives you 2 different designs to choose from (on separate worksheets). The second design lets you enter unit costs and quantities.
The following points explain the difference between the quote template and the invoice template:
- Some of the labels have been changed from "invoice" to "quote".
- We've added an example "New client discount" line to show how you can include discounts on your price quote.
- The Comments section has been changed to a Terms and Conditions section with a place for the customer to accept the quote by signing. You can remove the signature line if you don't need that, and add your own terms and conditions.
If you would like to provide your customer with a work estimate that is not a binding contract, you can try our job estimate template.
Quotation Template
for Excel
Description
This quote template is based on the billing invoice and job estimate designs, and is general enough to be used for many types of service businesses.
How to Use the Price Quote Template
A price quote is almost exactly the same as an invoice except for the following 5 points:
- Expiration Date: A quote should include an "Expiration Date" or "Valid Until Date", after which the quote is no longer valid (meaning that the vendor is not bound to the prices quoted after that date).
- Quote #: Depending on your quote and invoice tracking system, the quote # and the associated invoice # might end up being the same thing. But on the quote, you should label it "Quote #" to avoid confusing the customer into thinking that the quote is an invoice.
- Prepared By: Your customer will want to know who they can contact if they have questions. Unlike an invoice which is a bill for a sale that has already taken place, a price quote is a tool for completing a sale. You want your customer to know that they have a real person they can contact. You could include a "Prepared by:" field below the address, and/or use the comment at the bottom of the template. If you were converting a sales invoice into a sales quote, use the "Salesperson" field list who prepared the price quote.
- Terms and Conditions: Instead of comments that just specify payment requirements, you might need to spell out other terms and conditions. This could be done within the body of the invoice (underneath the description of an item) or in a separate "Terms and Conditions" section.
- Customer Signature: A price quote often has a place for the customer to sign their name to indicate their acceptance of the quote, but not always. It is common for businesses to email their customers a quote and then ask for an indication of acceptance via email. The higher the price, the more likely that a signature is or ought to be required.
New Client Discounts
New client discounts are a common way to help entice a new customer to purchase from you. Your customer might be requesting price quotes from multiple businesses, so your "new client discount" might be the thing that makes the sale. You can include discounts by entering the description for the discount on a separate line and entering a negative price.
You also might want to specify in an email that you will give the client an additional discount of $XX if they accept your quote by [the date]. People love discounts, and offering a discount to a client if they accept your quote with 7 days might encourage them to decide to go with your company instead of just delaying indefinitely or continuing to seek quotes from other businesses.
How to Print and Send a Price Quote
When it comes to price quotes, most interactions these days occur via email, by sending the customer a PDF of the quote. You shouldn't be sending your customer the actual Excel file that you use to create the price quote, especially if you also store a list of customers or prices within the file.
I would strongly recommend that you get a tool that will allow you to print an Excel document to a PDF. Adobe Acrobat includes a PDF print driver, but there are free tools as well.
How to Manage Your Price Quotes
There are great online services these days for managing sales quotes and invoices, but if you only occasionally send out quotes, a simple Excel spreadsheet should suffice. You can keep track of your price quotes and create special quote templates for specific clients the same way you might do this for invoices: see our Invoicing article.
