What is a quote?

ou work hard to generate new leads for your business. But are your quotes pulling their weight and actually closing jobs?

No matter where your customers come from, you need to know how to make a quote that’s timely and professional. How you present quotes and price estimates is a direct reflection of your brand, your professionalism, and your business.

If your quote is sloppy, handwritten, or missing information, prospective clients will assume your business runs the same way.

recent post about Free Quote Templates .

On the flipside, a good quotation will show your attention to detail, how you listen to the customer’s needs, and the value of the service you’re pricing.

In this article, we’ll break down why providing professional quotes to your clients is one of the most important aspects of running your business, how to write a quote for a job, and how to send a quotation to your customers to win you the job.

A price quote, service quote, or sales quote is an agreement between a customer and a service professional to provide a service at an agreed-upon price and within a specific time-frame.

The quote shows a breakdown of the individual charges that are added together to create the total cost of a job. A quote cannot change once agreed upon between the service provider and the customer unless both parties agree to the change in writing.

Quotes for service-based businesses, like lawn care, landscaping, HVAC, cleaning, or general contracting, are different from quotes for goods. It’s usually more difficult to compare services than it is to compare products, and prices vary from business to business.

A business quote is also often the first impression, or the first step to securing a contract, so you need to make a positive impact. That’s why writing a professional quote that clearly explains the value of what you are charging for is crucial to winning more (and bigger) jobs.