With a digitalised offer management, you can optimise your offer processes. Our quotations module facilitates this process with uniform quotation templates, effective management and flexible positions. Learn more now!
Table of contents - What you can expect:
Structure of an offer
Writing an offer with ZEP
7 steps to the perfect offer
Enter an offer as a small business
Creating a detailed offer letter requires time and therefore financial resources. It is therefore important to carefully consider for whom and to what extent a customised offer makes sense. While a short, informal email or a verbal offer over the phone is often sufficient for smaller orders from trusted regular customers, larger and more financially significant orders require a more comprehensive approach - with these advantages:
A carefully drafted offer letter therefore not only offers legal security, but also contributes significantly to customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Unlike invoices, which must contain various mandatory details, the regulations for writing quotations are less strict. Nevertheless, your quotation should contain the following information to be legally compliant:
| Element | Content and purpose |
| Cover letter with salutation | Your offer letter should be Business letter with personalised salutation of the recipient be designed. This can be included directly in the offer or as a separate letter. Avoid impersonal forms of address such as "Dear Sir or Madam". |
| Offer date | The offer date is the day on which you send the offer. |
| Offer number | The offer number is a Unique, consecutive number. It makes it easier to allocate and access the offer in the event of queries. |
| Introduction with reference to the recipient | Start with a thank you phrase and refer to the recipient's enquiry, e.g: "Thank you for your enquiry / your interest in our services. Based on your e-mail / telephone call of XX.XX.XXXX, we would like to make you the following offer..." Adapt the wording to your style and your industry. |
| Detailed service description | Describe the services offered in detail. One Precise description such as "Strategy workshop incl. market analysis and competitive analysis for your company" is more important than a general statement. |
| Prices, value added tax and exemption clause, if applicable | Run the Net price, the sales tax and the gross price e.g. "Strategy workshop: 3,000 euros net plus 570 euros VAT, totalling 3,570 euros gross". If the price is variable, use release clauses such as "Price subject to change" or "Price subject to change". |
| Scope/quantity | Make sure that the Scope of the service is clear and unambiguous in order to avoid misunderstandings. |
| Validity | Specify, Until when the offer is valid e.g. "Offer valid until...". If you do not want to make a binding offer, use release clauses such as "Delivery while stocks last". |
| Duration of service | Estimate the Duration and start of the work off. This is particularly important if the work has to be carried out in a specific order. |
| Additional costs | If additional costs such as travelling expenses, accommodation or other fees are incurred, these should be explicitly mentioned in the offer. |
| Discount | Name the Discount explicitly on offeras this has a positive effect in terms of sales psychology and pleases the recipient. |
| Conclusion with greeting | Close with a friendly greetinge.g. "We look forward to your feedback and are always available to answer your questions". |
| Terms of payment and discount | If a discount is granted, state this clearly, e.g. "Payable within 30 days net, 2 per cent discount for payment within 10 days". |
| General Terms and Conditions (AGB) | Make sure that the general terms and conditions are completely available ideally as a separate PDF document with an e-mail offer. The GTCs should contain important contractual conditions such as place of jurisdiction, place of fulfilment and retention of title. |
A professional offer letter can consist of several parts: the cover letter, the actual offer with all mandatory information and your general terms and conditions. However, a good offer goes beyond these mandatory details. With a customised offer text, you stand out from your competitors and convince the recipient.
Write your offer text clearly and comprehensibly and convey to the recipient that they are making the right decision with your offer. Always signal that you are open to queries and requests. Even if creating an offer seems complex at first, it becomes easier with practice. Use suitable software such as ZEP to create your Offers and invoices in a GDPR-compliant and efficient manner and send them directly from the system.
Effective quotation management is essential for your company, especially as the number of quotations increases. The challenge is to maintain an overview and make all documents quickly accessible. This is where our Quotations module for ZEP Professional comes into play. In addition to creating quotations and templates, it offers comprehensive functions for managing your quotations.
Which functions are particularly advantageous and how does the module support your quotation management? Let's take a closer look at the Quotations module:
An efficient quotation process is crucial for the success of future projects. Our Quotations module allows you to standardise quotations to ensure a consistent presentation to your customers, which strengthens your brand image. The use of templates and text modules speeds up the quotation process considerably, as standardised content can be adapted and reused. This saves time and effort.
With ZEP, you can customise quotation items to meet your customers' requirements. In addition, the dual control principle promotes error prevention and ensures professional quotations. After checking, you can send your quotations directly by e-mail and add additional attachments. When the order is placed, the quotations can be seamlessly transferred to projects or processes, which ensures a smooth handover for project realisation.
Managing quotations can often be a major challenge - true to the motto: you can't see the wood for the trees. But: With the additional module Quotations, ZEP offers you helpful functions for quotation management that ensure organisation and clarity. All your quotations are stored in a central database, which makes Document management and search information considerably easier. For quick search results, you can also add categories and keywords to your offers.
And how do you find out which employee is responsible for which offer? Our software provides you with an overview of all quotations that need to be processed by each employee. This makes it easier for those responsible to assign tasks and track the progress of quotations.
With the different types of quotation items in ZEP, you can respond flexibly to different customer requirements. Expense items allow you to invoice labour by the hour or day, while flat-rate prices ensure clear price structures. Standardised products or services can be easily integrated as article items. The module also offers the option of individually displaying or hiding the calculation for each quotation item in order to offer your customers maximum transparency.
Creating a compelling proposal is crucial to the success of your projects, especially in project-orientated industries. A well-structured proposal can make the difference between winning or losing a business opportunity. How exactly do you go about it?
To capture the interest of potential customers, it is crucial to communicate clear benefits and the advantages of your service or product from the outset. A concise introduction that addresses the customer's specific problems or challenges can help establish a connection.
Before you start preparing the quotation, make sure that you have collected all the relevant information. This includes details of the customer requirements, project objectives, timeframe, budget and any special features that need to be taken into account.
Creating standardised quotations for certain types of projects can be a time-consuming task. With the quotation templates in ZEP, this process is considerably simplified and accelerated. For example, you can create quotation templates that can also include attachments such as general terms and conditions. Existing quotations can be saved as templates for later reuse.
Do you have project enquiries that are very similar? Then you can use automated text modules in the Quotations module to speed up the quotation creation process while still ensuring consistency.
As soon as the quotation is ready, send it to the customer promptly. Make sure the quote is clear and understandable and includes all relevant details. A professional cover letter can help to emphasise the most important points and underline your willingness to work together.
After you have sent the offer, wait a reasonable amount of time and then proactively enquire with the customer. This shows your commitment and interest in a possible collaboration. Be polite and respect the customer's time.
If the offer is accepted, draw up a clear sales contract that includes all agreements and conditions. In the event of a rejection, it is helpful to seek constructive feedback to improve your future offers and understand any concerns.
Upon successful completion of the project, you will provide a professional invoice which transparently lists all agreed services and costs. This contributes to the clear and efficient processing of the transaction and strengthens the customer's trust in your professionalism.
Effective quotation management is crucial for the success of any company. With the ZEP Quotations module, you can not only write your quotations in a legally compliant and detailed manner, but also save time and improve the quality of your quotations. The use of standardised templates, the flexible design of items and clear administration make ZEP an indispensable tool for any company that wants to strengthen its customer relationships in the long term.
Take the opportunity now to test ZEP for 30 days free of charge and without obligation. Digitise your quotation management and increase your efficiency with a system that is specially tailored to the needs of modern companies. Request your Trial version today and take the first step towards a more professional quotation process!
Yes, an offer can be changed retrospectively. It is important to communicate changes clearly and transparently, especially with regard to price changes or adjusted scopes of services. This helps to avoid misunderstandings and maintain a basis of trust with the customer.
As a small business, it is important that offers are formulated clearly and comprehensibly. Particular attention should be paid to compliance with legal requirements such as the indication of prices, the validity period of the offer and, if applicable, the inclusion of general terms and conditions (GTC). In addition, the offers should be professionally designed in order to leave a serious impression.
There are different types of quotations depending on the type and scope of the service or product. These include, for example, flat-rate offers that include a fixed price for a specific service, hourly or daily rate offers for services, and itemised offers for standardised products. The choice of offer form depends on the specific requirements of the customer and the industry.
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