Preparing Successful Sales Quotes: Experts Weigh In It can take a lot of work to get a lead to the quoting stage. Don’t throw away all the effort you have put in managing your sales pipeline by preparing a sub-par sales quote. Providing a successful sales quote can often determine if you win or lose a deal. To help you sort through it all, we’ve reached out to a panel of sales and small business experts and asked them all a single question: “What are the keys to preparing successful sales quotes? ”

1. PREPARING SUCCESSFUL
SALES QUOTES
PRESENTED BY

2. My secret to a successful proposal is to never send it to someone over
Julie Steelman
email. Make sure your salespeople schedule a time to discuss it with a
Julie Steelman’s former clients read like a Who’s Who of big-name
corporate giants with Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, CBS, Sony Studios
and Universal Pictures in her rolodex. She generated more than
$100+ million in sales during her 30-year sales career. Julie is the
author of The Effortless Yes! and is known as The Sales, Success
& Bankability Mentor.
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customer and send it AFTER they are on the phone with them. That way
they get to explain live why the pricing is what it is. If the customer balks
at the quote, and your sales people aren’t there to address it, your
customer will do business elsewhere.

3. Never provide a quote unless the sale is firm! I’ve walked into a company
Harlan Goerger
where each salesperson had 100 quotes on their desk. Only 5% actually
Harlan Goerger has spent the last 25 years leading hundreds of his
client’s companies to expansive revenue growth. He is the author of
“The Selling Gap” and “Bypassing NO in Business” and spent 20
years as a sales leader with Dale Carnegie Associates.
ended up as an order. What is the cost of all that quoting? The key is to
train people to ask the right questions, qualify the buyers and assure a
purchase will take place. Now the quote is a verification of information,
not a pathetic attempt to sell something. Simply supplying a quote is not a
sales process, it’s a paper process where the seller gives up all control
and influence over the purchase.
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5. Successful sales quotes are clear, concise, and in the language of the
Liz Strauss
customer. They’re not cluttered with extra bells and whistles that distract
Liz Strauss is a Brand Strategist, Community Builder, Founder of
SOBCon. She blogs at LizStrauss.com and Successful-Blog.com
from the deal. They are visually easy to read and well-labeled. And the
pricing and size of the quote is in line with the amount of trust that has
been established with the prospective client or customer.
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6. At the risk of sounding facetious, the secret is to have won the deal
Ian Brodie
before you get to the quote.There are lots of books you can buy that’ll tell
Ian Brodie helps consultants, coaches and other professionals to
attract and win more clients. He writes the award winning More
Clients blog, and recently released his Pain Free Marketing
approach to getting more clients without the pain and expense of
traditional marketing.
you how to prepare an effective quote. They’re all good. They’ll tell you
more than I could about that formal side. But my experience is that 90%
of the time, the deal is decided before the quote.SMBs don’t have the
resources or the experience to win deals at the quote stage. They need to
focus on winning the sale in principle and emotionally long before they’re
asked to do a quote.
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7. Providing successful quotes always comes down to asking the right
Alyssa Gregory
questions. If you don’t ask the questions that get to the specific problems
Alyssa Gregory is a small business collaborator and the founder of
the Small Business Bonfire, a social, educational and collaborative
community that provides small business help to entrepreneurs.
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of the client, you will never be able to prepare a quote that offers the right
solutions.

8. There are several things to consider when preparing a quote and “closing
Kenneth Darryl
Brown
the deal”. First, you must build rapport. People don’t do business with
people that they don’t like. Find what you have in common with your
prospective client. Second, seek to build trust and credibility.
Kenneth Darryl Brown is President and CEO of eWeb 2 Sales and
Profits, a sales, profit and business development company that
Demonstrate your experience and expertise. Share your
shows companies how to leverage the web to increase sales and
accomplishments and achievements, testimonials and success stories
improve profitability. Kenneth was selected as one of the Top 25
with that specific prospect industry. Show them that you know what you
Influential Sales Leaders by InsideView this year. Last year, his
show, “The Passionate Entrepreneur“ was picked as one of the
are doing and can produce results. Third, you must strive to connect with
best podcasts for small business by Anita Campbell’s Small
people on a more personal level — and not just to “make the sale”. A
Business Trends. Ken is called, “The Sales, Web and Profit
Evangelist”.
successful sales professional must learn and listen to the prospective
client’s dreams, goals, wants, needs, concerns and challenges. With this
new information, you can create a customized solution. The focus should
be on the prospect and not the seller’s company, products and services.
Fourth, become a strategic partner and not a sales person trying to “close
the deal” and “make the sale”. Focus on helping and supporting your
future client on how your company can help them achieve their long and
short term goals that impact the bottom-line. Last, you must ask the five
following questions during a first call appointment: Why? What they are
currently doing to fix the problem? What are their results? What is it
costing in time and money not to have the solution in place? What is the
budget and investment commitment? These questions will help you to
better understand the problem, challenge your prospective client though
positive confrontation, create a solution and position you as a strategic
partner.
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9. Engaging the buyer and presenting a draft proposal. It is about their
Bob Urichuck
needs and budget, not your products, services or costs.
Bob Urichuck is an International Professional Speaker, Trainer and
Author of two best selling books “Up Your Bottom Line” and
“Disciplined for Life: You are the Author of Your Future.” Bob has
been recognized as Consummate Speaker of the year and ranked
#7 in the World’s top 30 Sales Gurus.
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10. First, listening to what the customer really wants – not what you have to
Lori Richardson
push their way. If your product or services are not a good fit, don’t try to
Veteran Sales Detective Lori Richardson sifts through sales clues
and business practices to uncover hidden problems and assets,
then delivers creative tactics with a fresh approach so you can
Score More Sales. She is a sought after speaker, prolific blogger,
sales trainer and multi-million dollar producer, and President of
Score More Sales – a sales strategy firm.
make the wrong solution fit. Once you really understand what they want,
give them 2 or 3 options. If you can do that, they have control in
determining their best strategy. Don’t do more than three – that will
overwhelm most anyone. Present in person – if you are not within driving
distance, use Skype or other video conferencing. It can increase your
chances ten-fold because you will go over everything and get their input
as you go along. If the opportunity is big enough, make sure to have all
the deciders together on the call or in the meeting.
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11. Do not prepare a written quote until the prospect or customer has verbally
Jacques Werth
agreed to everything that will be in the quote.
Jacques Werth is President of High Probability Selling, Inc – a
sales consulting and training company founded in 1989 . The
company specializes in sales process improvement. They have
trained salespeople, sales managers, consultants, and business
owners in over 70 industries.
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12. Make sure that your quote is based around the prospects requirements. It
Sean McPheat
might sound common sense but you need to do a full and thorough fact
Managing Director of MTD Sales Training, Sean McPheat is
regarded as a thought leader on modern day selling. Sean has
been featured on CNN, ITV, BBC, SKY, Forbes, Arena Magazine
and has over 250 other media credits to his name. Sean’s latest
book “eselling® – How to use the internet & social media for
find via effective questioning and listening and then you put your quote
together using the same language that the prospect used. In a formal
proposal first talk about the situation and what it is costing the company
prospecting, personal branding, networking and for engaging the c-
and then present your solution.Remember, selling is about solving
suite decision maker” is a #1 Amazon bestseller.
problems so you need to articulate the problem or challenge first before
you can solve it with what you offer.
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13. The most important part of preparing a quote is really understanding the
Diane Helbig
need of the client. You get this understanding from asking a lot of
Diane Helbig is an internationally recognized business and
leadership development coach, author, speaker, and radio show
host. She is the author of Lemonade Stand Selling and founder of
Seize This Day Coaching.
questions during the sales call and REALLY listening to the answers. The
questions you ask should include those about budget, timeline, decision
making, process, etc. You want to know as much as you can about the
prospect, their mindset, their business practices and the project/need at
hand. This helps you craft a proposal that not only answers the need but
shows you’ve done your homework. It shows the prospect that you are
very interested in doing business with them and have really paid attention
to who they are. This kind of preparation shows your level of
professionalism and commitment to excellence.
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14. Making sure that you have the customer’s requirements clear, and that
Sue Watkins
you are quoting them pricing on what they are asking for. Don’t pitch your
Sue Watkins has spent the last 20+ years developing marketing
strategies and campaigns. She also founded SMBmarketer.com
and authors the blog Smart Marketing Basics and tweets regularly
about small business marketing topics at @SMB_marketer
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standard pricing/packaging if that is not a good fit for their business.

15. The most important aspects a business should consider when creating a
Ken Thoreson
bid/quote are: Include a brief “Executive Summary” that describes the
Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group, Ltd. president, is a
sales leadership professional who “operationalizes” sales
management systems and processes to pull sales results out of
thedoldrums into the fresh zone of predictable revenue. His blog,
Your Sales Management Guru, has been rated in the top 10 sales
blogs in the United States
problem you are solving and describes how your product/service will
solve the problem. Next is to include a “bundled price” for the entire
project, do not list each item with separate pricing. Place a date when you
can deliver the product/service if you “gain approval today”. Make sure
your salesperson follows up on the bid within a specific date.
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