The sales call goes well. The customer hears the price and says "send me a quote". The quote goes out two days later with a different number than the one discussed. The customer notices, and trust is damaged.
The reason for both the two days and the discrepancy is usually the same: the quote is prepared by hand, independently of the call.
The path from call to quote
The chain worth automating is this:
- Products, quantities and any discount discussed on the call are recorded.
- When the call ends, a draft quote is generated from that information.
- The sales rep opens the draft, checks it, corrects it if needed and sends it.
The third step belongs to a human. A quote is a commitment made on behalf of the business; an automatically sent quote cannot be withdrawn once wrong.
What the draft must contain
- Customer details. Legal name, address and tax information. An empty address field makes the quote incomplete; that field has to be collected during the call.
- Line items. Product, quantity, unit price.
- Validity period. Without a stated expiry, an order arriving three months later creates a dispute.
- Call reference. Which conversation it came from. That link answers "what did we discuss?" in one click later.
The discount question
Whether the agent discusses discounts is a policy decision. Three options:
- The agent never discusses discounts and quotes list price.
- The agent may offer a discount within a predefined range.
- The agent records the discount request and leaves the decision to a rep.
For most businesses the third is right. Letting the agent negotiate spends the human rep's strongest card before they enter the conversation.
Quote versus proforma
Quotes and proformas are often conflated. A quote is a proposal; a proforma is a more binding document containing a payment request. They should have separate templates and approval flows — the right to issue a proforma belongs to a narrower group.
How documents should be sent
Sending the quote as a PDF is standard, but the channel choice affects outcomes. Email is archived but may go unread; WhatsApp gets read but gets lost.
What works well is doing both: the document goes by email, and a WhatsApp note says "we have sent your quote". That second message measurably raises the open rate.
Follow-up
The record does not close when a quote is sent; it takes a follow-up date. A short call three days later — "did you get a chance to look, any questions?" — is the cheapest and most effective step in the sales process. The agent can make that call; because it knows the contents of the quote, the conversation stays concrete.
Tomorrow we move to appointments: conflict-free slots, reminders and cancellations.