Sometimes you need to draft several versions of a quote before deciding which to issue to a client. It’s also common for clients to request several quotes for varying scopes of work, for them to consider. Here’s how you can easily manage the generation and issue of quotes to clients in these scenarios.
You can manage Quote Versions and Quote Options in the online dashboard only.
Quote Versions
Every time you produce a quote template on a job, it creates a snapshot of the price, materials, and ‘Work Completed’ description for that specific quote. These are called ‘Versions’.
To review versions of a quote created, in the Job Diary, hover over the quote line item, and click the down arrow in the top right to reveal the Version History option:
Browse the various versions of the quote created, and click the down-arrow in the top right to Rename or Restore a version:
Renaming a version will open a text box in which you can edit the name of the PDF quote. This will also cause the version to be displayed as a separate PDF in the job diary.
Restoring a version will restore that version’s price, billable items, and description of ‘Work Completed’ to the Quotes & Invoicing tab of the job card.
Other important notes on versions:
- Invoices produced against a job are also saved in versions.
- Only Quotes can be renamed or restored. Invoices cannot be renamed or restored.
- The deciding factor of whether a Quote or Invoice PDF will display as a separate item in the Job Diary is whether its name is different to the previous version. This is why, when you rename a version of a quote, it is separated out into its own line item in the Job Diary.
If your preferences for the naming of quotes and invoices is set to include the price of the job in the name of the PDF, then if the total price changes between versions you generate, this will cause each new version to display as a separate item in the Job Diary:
However, if your quote and invoice naming preference is set to one of the options which does not include the job price (e.g. “Johns Plumbing Invoice (Job Number)"), then the name of the PDF will not change between versions, regardless of whether the prices are different, and the only way to display individual versions in the Job Diary will be to Rename them.
Quote Options
You can produce and issue multiple quotes or estimates for clients to consider, based on different scenarios or scopes of work for the same job.
To do so, each “option” you want to issue to the client for consideration must display as a separate PDF line item in the Job Diary (see instructions under Quote versions above).
Then, email or SMS the quote options to the client. For issue by email, each option will be available to attach to the email from the Smart Attachments pane.
IMPORTANT: ensure your email and SMS templates includes the special merge field for clients to view the quote online (this is already included in default email & SMS templates for issuing quotes). This creates a unique link to an online quote-viewing webpage:
The merge field should be placed somewhere in the body of the message in your email or SMS templates, exactly as follows: {document} . See this article for more information of Email & SMS templates.
Having an online quote portal makes it easier for clients to view the various quote options you’ve sent them:
You can even make further versions available for the client to view through the online portal, directly from the Job Diary, by clicking the down-arrow next to the desired option and selecting ‘Make visible to Client’.
Similarly, you can remove a version from the online portal if it’s no longer needed, by clicking 'Hide from Client':
Through their online quote portal, the client can accept the option that they’d like to proceed with:
This will automatically update the job status from a Quote to a Work Order, restore the job’s billable items, price and description of ‘Work Completed’ to the version which was accepted, and add a note to the Job Diary stating which quote option the client accepted.
However, if the client calls or emails to accept one of the options, you can find the relevant version in the Job Diary, click its down-arrow, and select ‘Apply to job’.
