A quotation format that wins work does three things: it prices something specific, it says how long the price stands, and it tells the client exactly how to accept.
A quotation format is not a smaller invoice. An invoice records work already done; a quote is an offer that the other side can accept, and that difference decides what belongs on the page — a validity date, a clear scope, and an unambiguous way to say yes.
Most quotes that go unanswered are not too expensive. They are too vague to approve: the reader cannot tell exactly what they would be buying, or how long they have to decide.
Give the client one number, not a range. A range communicates uncertainty and is read as the higher figure anyway. If the scope is genuinely unknown, quote a fixed price for a scoping phase and quote the rest afterwards.
An estimate is an informed guess and can change. A quotation is a firm offer at a fixed price for a defined scope, and once accepted it forms a contract. A proforma invoice is a request for payment before delivery, often used for prepayment or customs, and is not a tax invoice.
Mixing them up is expensive in both directions: label a guess as a quotation and you may be held to it, label a firm offer as an estimate and the client will treat your price as negotiable.
Ettex Invoices handles the document side of that loop: line items with quantities, rates, multiple tax rates and discounts, notes and terms fields where validity, exclusions and acceptance instructions belong, sequential auto-numbering with your own prefix, your logo and colours on every document, a client book so entity names and addresses stay identical between the quote and the invoice that follows, statuses from draft to sent to paid, duplication so a quote becomes the invoice without retyping, and export as print-ready PDF or as CSV and XLS for the books. When a quote needs a signature to count as accepted, Ettex Sign turns it into a signature request with reminders and an audit trail.
A quotation offers to do work at a stated price before it happens. An invoice requests payment for work already delivered. The invoice should reference the quote it came from.
Fourteen to thirty days suits most work. Shorter where your costs move; longer only if you can absorb the risk of price changes.
Once accepted by the client on its stated terms, a quotation generally forms a contract. That is why the scope, exclusions and validity date matter so much.
Show the tax as its own line and the total including it, unless you are quoting business-to-business in a market where net pricing is the norm — in which case say so explicitly.
You can issue a revised quote with a new number and mark the previous one superseded. Editing the original silently is how two versions end up in circulation.
A quotation format that converts is boringly complete: one price, a defined scope, an expiry date and a way to say yes. The rest is presentation.
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