Many businesses, small and large, frequently have to create quotes for services that they are providing for potential clients. No matter the service being provided, there are a number of similarities in any quote. While it doesn’t have to be that complex, if you’re having to create multiple quotes for each client, and then only a few of the clients you pitch actually decide to pay for your services, it can quickly get overwhelming.
Pricetag is a site that allows a user to create a custom quote for any potential client by letting you take advantage of those similarities to make the process of creating quotes a simpler and less painful process. They aim to make quotes easier by saving information that applies to all quotes, so that you only have to enter some information for each quote. Pricetag definitely makes the process easier, but read on to find out more and learn what I think about it.
Initial Steps
When you first navigate to the Pricetag website, you must sign up for an account. You are able to immediately enter payment information and use a thirty day trial for any pricing plan. If you would like to test the site without entering any payment information, you can utilize the free payment plan. This plan allows you to create one quote without any payment information having to be entered. After you choose your plan and sign up, you will see the dashboard, encouraging you to do three steps before creating any quotes.
- The three initial steps.
So, as you can see, the first step is to add team members. This can be done by clicking the button on the dashboard, or selecting the “team” tab at the top of the page. You will first see a list of all existing team members and roles. If the list is incomplete, you can easily add additional roles or team members. Each member will need a name, role, hourly rate and an acronym. You are able to add as many roles as you like, and you can always go back and add more. These team members will then be readily available to insert into the quote.
List of all team members.
The next initial step is to add additional costs. These costs are recurring costs, such as warranty costs or equipment rental, that will commonly occur on invoices. It is best to add these now, as then they will be available to insert into the quote.
It is simple to add additional costs.
The final of these initial three steps is to choose the risk, overhead and profit. You can choose a standard set of numbers and then adjust them on a per-quote basis. These numbers are explained in great detail, so if you aren’t sure what to put or even what the numbers mean, there are explanations all along the way.
Choosing risk, overhead and profit is simple and straight-forward.
Creating a Quote
Once these initial steps have been completed, it is time to make a quote. Creating a quote is significantly easier with those steps done, as it’s more a matter of selecting existing information than entering completely new information. The first part of the quote, however, involves entering the basic project info, which is all new.
Entering basic project info is the first step.
So, as you can see you must first enter a client, project name and risk level. You can also adjust the profit, overhead and risk values at this point. All areas are explained and samples are provided for many, including the next steps which are entering a project summary and a schedule. This is also the time to add additional projects to the quote if needed.
Easily add a summary and schedule to the quote.
The next step is to determine the specific items that will be delivered. These are the final products that will be presented to the client. You also assign specific team members and hours at this point. All of the team members you entered previously are saved, so all you have to do is select from those members to add them to the specific assignment. The total cost of the quote is constantly updated, so you are able to see all costs as you add to the quote.
Add deliverables and tasks to the quote.
Next, you must add any additional costs. Any common ones you might have would have already been added during the initial steps. At this point you can select them and adjust any values necessary to get the right cost and quantity. If there is an additional cost specific to this project, it can be added at this time.
Additional costs can quickly be added.
The final step in creating the quote is to enter the assumptions and terms. This can include a variety of things, ranging from copyright information to scheduling and work issues. This is the space for any miscellaneous information that must be included.
Enter miscellaneous information as part of the project assumptions and terms.
Now that all of the account information has been entered, it’s time for the most important part. Let’s check out the quote! If you have a company logo, be sure and upload it at this time.
Part of the final quote.
Account Settings and Pricing
There are not a lot of things to change in the account settings. You are able to change the logo and company name, and adjust the billing. You are also able to add multiple users to the account. You can make them limited or full users, and they can help to create quotes. This is great for teams to utilize, especially if more than one person is in charge of quotes.
Add users to the account.
The other big thing to do in the account settings is to change the billing options. This is where you can select the plan that you prefer and update any payment information. There are three different types of plans available. Basic is the cheapest, allowing three active quotes and two archive quotes per month. The premium plan allows six active quotes and three archive quotes. The deluxe plan is significantly more expensive, but allows for unlimited active and archived quotes every month.
Simple pricing options with something for everyone.
Final Thoughts
Pricetag is a well designed app that does a great job of helping to create quotes with everything they should have. As a new-comer to the world of design and quotes and invoices, having a tool that helps me remember all of the things I’m supposed to include in a quote is a great service. Pricetag did a fantastic job of walking me through step by step. There were enough explanations along the way to answer just about every question that I had.
While overall I think that Pricetag is a great app, I do have one pretty big problem with it, and that is the way that the quotes look at the end. If the design and appearance of the final quote is not a big deal for you, then you will be totally fine with Pricetag. If you desire a better-designed quote, then you might want to try it to figure out if Pricetag is right for you. I appreciate the convenience of having all of the information out there and ready for me. I was grateful to have the numbers there for me, laid out all nice and neat. I would consider buying a plan and then using their numbers in my own design, just because the convenience and beginner-friendliness factors are so great.
I’m curious to hear from you all. Does the final appearance of the quote matter to you or can you get by with a very basic design? Do you have an app you like to use for making quotes?
