Things to Consider When Creating Sales Quote
Sales quote plays a crucial role in losing or winning a sales deal. You can seal the deal if the customer is impressed with your sales quote. Following are the things that you need to consider when constructing a sales quote.

Customer Research
Find out whether the customer you are dealing with is a decision maker. In simple words, you need to find out who is in charge of closing the deal. So before approaching the organization you will have to do some homework in order to know the key decision maker.

Requirement Analysis
The way wholesale office supply distributors knows the requirements of a reseller, similarly as a reseller you should know the requirements of your customer. After analyzing the requirements, you can accordingly get accurate estimation of stock availability from the distributors. Depending upon how much stock is available, it is possible to evaluate whether the products will be delivered on time. So after getting a sales order from your customer, carefully go through the requirements and check if the inventory is available with the distributors.

Profit Margin Analysis
As a reseller, your aim is to increase the profit margin as much as possible whenever closing a deal. However, when pitching a deal, you need to understand that the customer also does not find the products excessively high. Keep in mind that the customer is likely to contact other resellers about purchasing the products. So when you create a sale quote, ensure that the profit margin is good enough for you but at the same time is not a heavy burden on customers.

Content Rich Proposal/ Quote
Whenever a client asks you for a sales quote, make sure to include all the necessary specifications in detail. It has to be constructed properly so that the customer knows exactly what products he is going to buy. A sales quote that is haphazardly prepared is unlikely to turn into a sales order. So apart from the price, make sure you mention all the technical specifications of the products in the sales quote.

Add Product Image
Inserting product images in sales quote can certainly increase the likelihood of it getting accepted. Product images enhance the visual appeal of the quote and moreover your customer knows how the product exactly looks that he is willing to purchase. However, blurry or small product images can make the potential customer disinterested in buying the product. So in order to grab your customer’s attention to what is being sold and to increase the chances of sales, ensure that you incorporate relative large images into the sales quote.
Look & Feel of Quote/Proposal
Whenever giving a sales quote to your customer, make sure it is properly organized. For instance, it should be divided into relevant sections horizontally and vertically so that the customer can view the related information easily. The sales quote should be presented in such a way that it appeals to your client. If the sales template is attractive, it can definitely help to draw more customers to your products.

Add Sales Tax, Freight Tax, Discounts
Ensure that the total pricing of your products is including the freight tax, sales tax and discounts if any. Clearly mention the amount of tax that will be added during the transaction. It is very essential that you keep the customer in loop about the sales tax obligations that need to be followed while purchasing any products.

Add Upsell, Cross-sell Suggestions to the Quote
In an attempt to increase sales revenue, do not forget to add upsell and cross-sell products to your sales quote. So inform your client about the related products or services (through sales quote) that you client might be interested in purchasing. For instance, if your customer has accepted a sales quote, say of laptops, you can provide your customer with the option of another laptop with a more powerful processor. A cross-selling strategy involves completely showing another product, say a printer, which can also be valuable purchase along with a laptop. These two selling strategies often work to make a sale more profitable.

Close with Clear Call-to-Action
Including a compelling call-to-action into the sales quote can work wonders to translate a sales quote into a sales order. It is one of the best marketing techniques to induce your customer to buy the products. For instance, an engaging call-to- action such as ‘buy now and get 30% off on the product deal’, can strike a chord with your customer. So once you give a compelling reason for accepting the sales quote, your customer is sure to execute the desired action. In short, a killer call-to-action in the sales quote will definitely attract the customer to purchase the product.

Accounting, CRM, ERM, PSA Update
After you send your quote to the customer, make sure to update your work in the systems that are used by your organization. This can be achieved by sending the quote to the accounting, CRM, ERM, PSA system of your organization. This update is important so as to keep the concerned authority in the loop. Salesforce CRM integration or QuickBooks accounting integration is easy if your organization is using a cloud-based system. You may have to seek the services of a developer to configure Autotask or Connectwise PSA integration into your system

Automate and Add Some Eye Candy
The amount of time you spent in creating and sending a sales quote also influences the chances of sale. For instance, if you take a week’s time in sending a quote, there is a high probability that the customer might have got a new quote from another reseller in much lesser time. The point is, delay in giving a quote to your customer can considerably reduce your chances of getting a sales order. So you need to send the sales quote as early as possible in order to get a positive outcome.

An easy way to immediately send quotes is to use web based quote software. The software automates the sales quoting process, which means you devote very less time in creation of quotes. So as soon as a customer asks for a quote, within minutes you will be able to generate it once you know the requirements.
So if you want to increase the chances of sale, do not forget to take into account the aforementioned things when generating a sales quote.