Quoting 101: Best practices every field service business should follow

The importance of quoting in a field service business

Quoting is critical as it sets the tone for your entire service process. A well-prepared quote can help you win your customer's trust and set clear expectations for the service.

On the other hand, a poorly executed quote can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and even loss of business. That's why it's crucial to follow best practices when creating job quotes.

The quoting process is not only about providing a price for a service. It's an opportunity to showcase your professionalism, attention to detail, and commitment to customer satisfaction.

Best practices for quoting

Let's look at the best practices you can follow to create professional quotes that will help you win over customers:

Understand the scope

Before you start working on quotes, have detailed discussions with clients to understand their requirements and expectations. The more details you have, the more accurate your quotes will be. Accuracy is important as it shows clients you're a professional they can trust with their projects. If your quotes meet your clients' expectations, they can accept them without requesting changes, and you can start and complete projects faster.

Calculate costs

Calculating costs is a critical step in your quoting process, as miscalculations could negatively affect your profitability. When creating a quote, include all direct costs, such as materials and labour, and indirect costs, such as utilities and rent. Determine your desired profit margin and add it to the quote to ensure you're fairly compensated for your time and effort.

Account for contingencies

Include a contingency in your quotes to account for unexpected costs. Contingencies protect you and your clients. For your business, they ensure unexpected costs don't eat into your profit margins; for clients, they prepare them for costs that may be outside their budgets. Including a contingency shows clients you've considered the potential risks and put a plan in place to handle them. It also helps avoid disputes if unexpected costs arise.

Research competitor pricing

Research what competitors are charging for similar services. Market analysis ensures you offer services at competitive rates while covering costs and remaining profitable. Competitive pricing is crucial because it can help you attract and retain clients and compete with other service providers in your industry.

Be transparent

Provide a detailed breakdown of costs to clients. Transparency builds trust and helps clients understand where their money is going. It also prevents miscommunications that could lead to conflict or hurt customer relationships. It only takes one bad experience for you to lose a customer or for them to share a review that could damage your reputation.

Consider your expertise

When quoting, don't undercharge for your services. It undervalues your expertise, skills, and time. It can also put a financial strain on your business. If your prices don't cover your costs and provide a reasonable profit margin, you might struggle to sustain your business in the long run. Set your prices based on your team's skills and experience, market demand, and the value you provide to your clients.

Use Quoting Software

Consider using Quoting Software to simplify your quoting process. Instead of manually calculating costs and inputting data, you can use the software to generate accurate quotes quickly. The software saves you time and lets you focus on sales and service delivery rather than admin tasks. Getting accurate quotes to clients faster can also help you enhance your customer experience.

Include payment terms

Outline your payment terms, including deposit requirements and final payment dates, so your clients know what's expected regarding payments. If they know when and how payments should be made from the get-go, you can avoid misunderstandings and disputes later. Clear payment terms can also help you plan your finances, as you know when to expect payments.

Set expiry dates

Include expiry dates on all quotes. Prices of materials and labour can fluctuate over time due to market conditions, inflation, or seasonal factors. Setting an expiry date protects your business from unexpected price increases. Expiry dates also encourage clients to make decisions quickly. If they know the quoted price is valid for a limited time, they are more likely to make a decision soon, helping you streamline your sales process.

Review and revise

Regularly review your quoting process. Analyse your quotes and their outcomes. If your quotes are constantly being rejected, assess your pricing strategy, follow-up process, and the content of your quotes. Implement changes to improve the process and get more clients to say yes to your services.

Legal protection

A job quote isn't binding until a client has accepted it, but including terms and conditions is a good idea. Terms and conditions protect your legal rights and ensure clients know what is expected from both parties. They can prevent disputes that could lead to legal action, which can be expensive, time-consuming, and hurt your reputation.

Follow up

If a quote isn't accepted, follow up with the client to find out why. Understanding why a prospect has rejected a quote can help you improve your service offerings or quoting process to secure more sales in the future. When following up, remember that it's not enough to collect feedback. Use what you learn to improve quoting and get more clients to sign up for your services.

A quick look at Quoting Software

Let's explore Quoting Software and how your field service business can use it to simplify quoting:

What is Quoting Software?

Quoting Software is a digital tool you can use to create professional and accurate quotes for your company's products or services. The software streamlines quoting to make it more efficient and error-free.

A guide to using our Quoting Software

Our cloud-based Quoting Software was designed to meet your field service business's daily needs and challenges. Here's how you can use it to simplify quoting:

• Create a template: With a custom template, you can create professional quotes in half the time. Add your logo, terms and conditions and other mandatory details to the template to ensure every quote includes vital information.
• Automate reminders: With our software, there's no need to follow up on every quote you send. Set up automatic reminders to reduce your busywork and ensure you follow up with every prospect.
• Set up recurring quotes: Make creating and managing quotes for regular customers easier. Set up recurring quotes, and our system will automatically generate and send quotes to these clients.
• Get status updates in real-time: View the status of every job quote created and sent to prospects to see how close you are to securing sales.
• Manage all quotes in one place: Store all your quotes in one place to make it easier to follow up with prospects. Keep track of quotes that have been accepted or rejected, those you need to follow up on, and your potential sales figures.

Want to try our Quoting Software?

Sign up for a 14-day free trial, which includes access to our system and support team to help you get the most out of your experience.

Have a question you'd like to ask before you start your free trial? Book a demo, and we'll answer all your questions.