Creating and Using Quotes
What is a quote?
A quote in TransMaS is a priced offer of work for a customer. Each quote has its own quote number and holds everything needed to describe the job: one or more consignment lines with collection and delivery points, the products being moved, the rate for each line, the total distance, and any terms or supporting documents you want the customer to see.
Once built, the quote is emailed straight to your customer from TransMaS as a professional PDF, and the system keeps a record of exactly who it was sent to and when. Customers with portal access can also see their quotes online at any time.
Creating a quote
Build a quote from the Quotes screen, or create one directly from an email in your TransMaS add on - ideal when a customer emails asking for a price. Rates can be pulled from the customer's rate table or entered by hand, and you can attach terms and other documents to go out with the quote.
There are two styles of quote:
- Standard - a defined job with its collection and delivery points, products and rates.
- Product list - acts as a price list, with the specific products chosen when each order is created from it.
Sending a quote
Email the quote to one or more recipients in a couple of clicks. TransMaS records who received it, so there is never any doubt about what was sent and to whom. Need to send it again later? Use resend - no need to rebuild anything.
Converting a quote into an order
When the customer says yes, the quote becomes a live order in one click. The lines, rates, distance and (if you choose) the quote's documents all carry across, so there is no retyping and no risk of the order being priced differently to what was agreed.
Reusing quotes
Unless a quote is marked single use, it can be converted into orders again and again - perfect for repeat work at an agreed price. TransMaS tracks how many times each quote has been used, when it was last used, and which order it created, and the conversions view shows you which quotes are winning work.
Expiry and archiving
Give quotes an expiry date so old pricing cannot be used by mistake, and archive quotes you no longer need without losing the history.
The benefits
- Consistent pricing - the agreed rate travels from quote to order untouched, so invoicing matches what the customer accepted.
- Faster order entry - converting a quote takes seconds, with no retyping of addresses, products or rates.
- A clear paper trail - who created the quote, when it was sent, who received it, and every order it produced.
- Repeat work made easy - one quote can power months of orders at an agreed rate.
Things to keep in mind
- A quote is a snapshot. The price is fixed when the quote is created - if your costs or rate tables change later, existing quotes keep their original pricing until you update them.
- One customer per quote. Quotes are tied to a single customer, so the same work for a different customer needs its own quote.
- A quote is not an order. Nothing is scheduled and no resources are allocated until the quote is converted - a sent quote does not reserve capacity.
- Editing does not re-send. If you change a quote after sending it, the customer will not see the changes until you resend it.
- Expired quotes stay expired. Once a quote passes its expiry date it should not be converted - set a new validity period or raise a fresh quote instead.
Any questions about setting up quotes for your team, get in touch at support@transmas.net - we are happy to help.