Handle a quote request
The daily job in the Innendienst: a request arrives, you price it, you send it. This is that job, in order, with the places people lose time marked.
quotes.draft, and quotes.send to send it yourself.1. Open the request
Go to Sales › Quotes › Requests. The queue shows the account, the contact, the requested lines, the buyer's note and — the column to sort by — how long it has been waiting.
Work oldest first unless something is genuinely urgent. The number that decides your reputation is the slowest request, not the average one.
2. Draft from the request
Select Create quote. The quote is created with the requested lines already in it, in the buyer's currency, with prices resolved for that buyer — their contract price if they have one, their scale rung at the requested quantity, or "on request" where nothing prices the article.
The request and the quote stay linked. That link is what makes the response-time report possible, so do not start from an empty quote when a request exists.
3. Check what the platform priced
Before you touch anything, read the lines. The prices you see are the ones the buyer would have got in the shop, resolved through the normal chain — see How pricing works.
Three things to look for:
- Lines showing "on request". Nothing prices them. That is why the buyer asked. Get the number — supplier enquiry, calculation, configurator — and type it in.
- A price that surprises you. If a line is lower than you expected, an old contract list is probably still resolving for this account. Fix the list, not the quote line. See Check which price a buyer sees.
- A quantity that crosses a scale rung. The buyer asked for 480 metres and the ladder breaks at 500. Say so in the quote. It is the cheapest upsell there is.
4. Adjust prices and add lines
Edit unit prices directly on the lines, or apply a discount percentage to the whole quote. Each edit records who made it and what the resolved price was before, so the concession stays visible afterwards.
Add the lines the buyer did not ask for but needs: the fittings for the hose, the seal kit for the pump, the freight line. Two-thirds of quote value growth in B2B comes from the lines the buyer did not think to request — the same mechanic described in Raise order value, applied by a person instead of a product page.
If your discount exceeds your authority, the quote moves to pending_approval
when you submit it. Name the reason in the internal note; an approver deciding
with context decides in minutes.
5. Set validity and terms
- Valid until defaults from your settings. Shorten it on volatile material, lengthen it on a project where the buyer needs a board decision.
- Delivery and payment terms come from the account. Override them here only when the deal genuinely differs, and expect the customer to treat the override as the new normal.
- Freight: price it, or state explicitly that it is quoted separately. A quote silent on freight becomes an argument at invoicing.
6. Send
Select Send. Three things happen at once, and they are the point of the state:
- Every line's price, currency, tax basis, tax rate and rounding is frozen.
- The document is generated from the template for that market and language.
- The buyer is notified and can open, accept or decline it on the storefront.
After this the quote is not editable. If something is wrong, revise it — see Negotiate and revise.
7. Track it
The quote appears on Sales › Quotes in state sent, with days-to-expiry.
The buyer's opening of the document is recorded, which is a better follow-up
signal than the calendar: a quote opened three times in a week is a live deal,
and one never opened is usually the wrong contact person.
What to check
- The quote's number came from the quote range, not the order range.
- The document's totals match the lines. If your first template test is still outstanding, do it now — see Quote templates and documents.
- The request in the queue is now marked as answered and shows the quote number.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Cause | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Line shows "on request" and you expected a price | No list prices that article for this buyer, or an explicit on-request entry outranks the amount | Price the line by hand for this quote; fix the list separately |
| Send is not offered | You hold quotes.draft but not quotes.send | Submit for approval, or ask for the permission |
Quote sits in pending_approval | A discount or value ceiling was breached | The breach is named on the quote; the approver's queue is Sales › Quotes, filtered on that state |
| The buyer never sees it | The contact has no storefront login, or a wrong email | Check the contact on CRM › Contacts — see Contacts and roles |
Next
- Negotiate and revise — when the answer is "what about 600?".
- Convert a quote to an order — when the answer is yes.