Quote prices to customers

A quotation is the offer you make before a customer commits: the items, the prices and the terms, valid for a set number of days. It holds no stock and books nothing. When the customer agrees, you turn it into a sales order with the same lines and prices.

Create a quotation

1. Go to Sales ‣ Transactions ‣ Quotations and click New quotation.
2. Pick the Customer. The currency, payment term, sales rep and subsidiary fill in from the customer, so check them rather than retype them.
3. Check the Date. Enter Expiry (days) to give this offer its own validity, or leave it empty to use the subsidiary’s default.
4. Pick the Warehouse the goods would ship from, so the quotation can become an order later.
5. On the Lines tab, pick the item in Item / description and enter the Qty. Click Add line for each further item.
6. Click Save draft.

The quotation is saved as Draft with its own number, and its Expiry date is worked out from the date and the days.

Prices come from the customer’s price list: the listed price shows faintly in Unit price, and the quotation uses it unless you type another. Disc. % and Disc. amount give a line discount, and Tax group sets the tax. Under the lines, a discount can be taken off the whole quotation. The Notes tab holds Customer notes and Internal notes, which only your staff see.

Note

Unit price can be typed only by roles allowed to change prices. For everyone else the price list decides, and the field shows the listed price, locked.

Mark a quotation as sent

Once you have given the offer to the customer, mark it as sent, so your list shows which offers are waiting for an answer.

1. Open the draft quotation and click Send.
2. In Mark as sent?, click Send.

The quotation shows Sent. Axon Suite does not email or print it: send the customer the figures yourself. A sent quotation can no longer be edited or deleted on screen.

Convert a quotation to an order

When the customer accepts, turn the quotation into a sales order instead of typing the order again.

1. Open the quotation with the status Sent and click Convert to order.
2. Click Convert to order again to confirm.

The quotation shows Converted, and its Related tab links the new order. The order is a Draft dated today, with the quotation’s customer, warehouse, sales rep, lines, prices and discounts. Confirm it as you would any order; see Confirm an order.

The order keeps the quotation’s lines and discounts as agreed: you can change its dates, warehouse or notes, but not its lines. If you delete that order while it is still a draft, the quotation comes back as Accepted and can be converted again.

Example

A furniture maker quotes a hotel for 40 chairs at a negotiated price, valid for 14 days. The hotel agrees on day 10. The sales clerk converts the quotation, and the draft order carries the agreed price, even though the price list went up in the meantime.

Reject a quotation

When the customer turns the offer down, record it so the quotation leaves your open offers.

1. Open the quotation and click Reject.
2. Click Reject again to confirm.

The quotation shows Rejected and can no longer be changed or converted.

When a quotation expires

Once a day, every quotation still Draft or Sent whose Expiry date has passed is marked Expired. An expired quotation cannot be converted; create a new one at today’s prices.

Status	Meaning
Draft	Being prepared. You can edit or delete it.
Sent	Given to the customer, waiting for an answer.
Accepted	The customer agreed, and the order raised from it was deleted. It can be converted again.
Converted	Turned into a sales order.
Rejected	Turned down by the customer.
Expired	Past its expiry date without an answer.

A draft quotation you no longer need can be deleted: open it and click Delete.

Messages you may meet

Message	What to do
The quotation names no warehouse, so an order raised from it has nowhere to ship from.	Pick a Warehouse on the quotation before converting it. A sent quotation cannot be edited on screen, so create a new one with the warehouse.
The quotation is not in a state that allows this.	The quotation has already been converted, rejected or has expired.
The customer account is on credit hold.	The order would take the customer past their credit limit. See Credit hold.