Revenue & Sales Systems
Proposal and quote automation: from draft to signed job
Which version did they sign?
Quotes live in too many places: a PDF in an email, a revised one in another, an approval in a text message, a signature on a photo. When the customer signs, someone retypes the job into the scheduling system and the deposit into accounting, and sometimes it's the wrong version. Nobody can say which quotes were opened, or how long a signed quote waited before work started.
Quote automation keeps each quote as one record across its life. Discounts and margins are approved by rule before sending. Every version is kept, and each send, view and reply is on the record. When the customer signs, the signed version becomes the job, the deposit invoice and the won deal, each linked back to it.
Today, and with quote automation
Today
- 01Quotes are PDFs attached to emails.
- 02Discounts are approved by text, if at all.
- 03Revisions overwrite the last file.
- 04Signed quotes are retyped into the job system and accounting.
Work starts from the wrong version, or waits a week after the signature.
With quote automation
- 01One record per quote, from draft to signature.
- 02Approvals by rule, before anything is sent.
- 03Every version kept; the customer sees the latest.
- 04Views and replies tracked on the CRM.
- 05The signature creates the job, the invoice and the won deal.
What's signed is what's scheduled, invoiced and reported.
One quote under the floor, end to end
Events
Quote · Q-734
- Status
- draft
- Version
- v1
- Margin
- 24%
- Approval
- —
- Viewed
- —
- Signed
- —
- Job
- —
Event 1 of 7: quote.drafted
What it does, and what it leaves to people
On its own
- Sends quotes your rules allow
- Tracks every version, view and reply
- Creates the job and invoice when it's signed
- Keeps the CRM up to date
Asks a person
- Discounts beyond the limit
- Margins under the floor
- Scope changes after sending
- Terms the customer wants changed
Never
- ✕ Sends a quote under the floor without approval
- ✕ Overwrites a version the customer has seen
- ✕ Starts work before a signature
- ✕ Changes a price after it's signed
What changes from one business to the next
A common starting point is your field service or quoting tool for the quote itself, e-signature through the portal or a service such as DocuSign or Dropbox Sign, n8n or Trigger.dev for approvals and the hand-off to jobs and accounting, and the CRM for the deal. These are starting candidates, not requirements.
Is quote automation the right fit?
Good fit
- You send many quotes, some with discounts or revisions.
- Signed quotes are retyped into the job system or accounting.
- You can't tell which quotes were opened, or which version was signed.
Avoid when
- A few quotes a month, all accepted on the spot.
- Your quoting tool already does all of this for you.
How we'd approach it
01
Understand
As much as the problem needs
We map how the work runs today: who does what, which systems hold the records, and where it breaks.
02
Design
Decided before it's built
Ownership, rules, integrations and exceptions, agreed with you and written down with acceptance criteria.
03
Build
Connected to what you use
We build the scoped system, connect it to the tools you already run, and test it on the cases that matter.
Questions about quote automation
Do we need a new quoting tool?
Usually not. If your tool builds quotes well, the system adds the approvals, version history and the hand-off on signature around it.
Can customers sign on their phone?
Yes, in the portal or by e-signature link. What counts as accepted is your rule, written down.
What happens if they sign an old version?
They can't. Once a new version is sent, the old one is kept for the record and can no longer be signed.
Does it work for multi-option quotes?
Yes. The customer chooses an option and signs it, and the job is created from the option they chose.
Get from draft to signed job without retyping
Tell us how a quote travels from draft to job today. We'll show you where it gets retyped and what we'd connect first.