In this article you'll find a step-by-step guide for creating and managing quotes in Solo. If you're still unsure about anything or have questions, please feel free to send us a message using the in-app chat.
1. Set up your quotes
The first step is to configure your quote settings. This will customise your quotes to your business and save you time from reentering business information each time you create a new quote. To set up your quotes:
Go to the Quotes page.
Click on Quote settings link in the top right of the page.
Here's a brief overview of Solo's quote settings and how each one effects your quotes:
Business details
These details will be displayed on each quote and invoice you create. Any edits you make to the business details will only be applied to new quotes and invoices or when editing old quotes and invoices.
Name: The name of your business or your name if you don't have a business name.
Address: Your business address. This could be your home address if you operate your business from home. Some companies will require that you display an address on your invoice in order to pay you.
Email: Your business email address. You can select if you want your email address to be displayed on your quotes and invoices.
Phone: Your business phone number.
Logo: Your business logo which will be displayed on your quotes and invoices. A logo is optional and the recommended image size is 600 x 400 pixels. Solo accepts JPG, JPEG, or PNG formats with a max file size of 2MB.
Quote details
Quote title: Enter the title to be displayed on quotes. Such as 'Estimate' or 'Proposal'. 'Quote' is set by default.
Days to expiry: The default number of days before a quote expires. E.g. '30' days from the date the quote is created. You can still manually set the expiry date when creating or editing a quote.
Customer note: The customer note will be shown by default when creating a new quote. You can also edit the note when creating or editing a quote.
2. Create a quote
Now that you're all set up you can begin creating quotes:
Go to the Quotes page.
Click the Create a quote button.
The form will then appear to create a new quote. The quote options are:
Client: Select an existing client to address the quote to. Or click the 'Create New Client' option in the dropdown to add a new client.
Date: This date will appear on the quote as the 'Issued' date. By default today's date will be used but you can set any date you need.
Expiry: This date will appear on the quote as the 'Expiry' date. It will be automatically suggested based on the 'Days to expiry' option in your Quote settings, however you can adjust this date as needed.
Quote number: A unique number to identify the quote. E.g. '2506'. The number of the last quote you created will be shown as a placeholder to help you remember your quoting sequence.
Enable GST: If enabled, GST will be added to the quote. If disabled, then GST will not be calculated on the quote. GST is calculated based on the quote subtotal and not each line item. This is the correct way to quote. Even if you are including GST exclusive expenses in your quote, if you are GST registered then GST still needs to be applied to the entire quote.
Currency: The currency that will be displayed for the quote amounts. New Zealand dollar (NZD) is the default currency.
Description: A short description of the product/service/item that you are quoting for.
Quantity: The quantity of the product/service/item. This could be the number of products or hours you expect to work.
Unit price: The price of a single product/item, or your hourly rate for the service.
Discount: You can add either a discount amount ($10) or a percentage (10%) to the item. The discount will be included in the subtotal of the item.
Subtotal: The subtotal is automatically calculated based on the quantity multiplied by the unit price.
Add row: This button will add another line item to your quote. You can add as many rows as you need. You can also delete rows by clicking on the trash icon at the right end of the row. To reorder a row click on the 3 vertical dots at the left end of the row and drag the row into the new position.
Customer note: If you need to add any additional conditions to the quote, you can add them to the customer note. The customer note that you created in your quote settings will be displayed here by default, but you can still edit the note per quote.
3. Click the Save button to save the quote.
You must enter a quote number as well as an item quantity and unit price to be able to save a quote.
4. Click Download PDF to download a copy of the quote to your computer.
5. Open your email program and email the quote to your potential customer.
That's it. Simply repeat the steps above to create as many quotes as you need.
What happens after a quote is created?
After a quote has been saved it will appear in the table on the Quotes page and be given a default status of 'Draft'. Remember to download the quote PDF and email it to your potential client. Quotes can be edited at any time by clicking on the Quote ID.
Quotes have four statuses to help you manage your quotes:
Draft: Quotes that have not yet been sent. New quotes are set to 'Draft' by default.
Sent: When you have emailed a quote, change it's status to 'Sent'.
Accepted: When the client accepts your quote, change it's status to 'Accepted'.
Declined: If the client doesn't accept your quote, change it's status to 'Declined'.
Creating an invoice from a quote
You can easily turn any quote into an invoice:
Click the ... icon of the quote you would like to change into an invoice.
Click Create invoice in the dropdown menu.
That's it, a new invoice will be created based on the quote and will be displayed at the top of the invoices list.
Duplicating a quote
Click the ... icon of the quote you would like to duplicate.
Click Duplicate in the dropdown menu.
That's it, the quote will be duplicated and the new duplicate will be displayed at the top of the quotes list.
How do I delete a quote?
Click the ... icon of the quote you would like to delete.
Click Delete in the dropdown menu.
Click the Delete button to confirm.
That's it, the quote will now be permanently deleted from Solo.