A quote is a helpful tool for communicating and negotiating with potential customers and planning your internal operations. Quotes can be emailed to customers and used to track ongoing negotiations over rates and other shipment details. Once a quote is agreed upon, it can easily be converted into an Order.

To create a new Quote, select the ‘Quote’ module on the left navigation. A list of existing Quotes will appear; if this is your first Quote, this list will be empty. Next, click on the ‘Create’ button on the top left of the list. This will bring up the Quote Create screen.

You will want to start by selecting the Customer to whom the quote will be sent. Clicking the ‘Customer’ field will bring up a drop-down menu of the customers in your database. If this is a new customer, you will need to create a Customer record for them before continuing.

Selecting the Customer will automatically populate most of the General Information fields, including the customer contacts and your account and sales reps. Double-check that these defaults are correct for this quote; if any need to be changed, select the proper name from the drop-down.

The General Information also includes a set of dates you can use to manage the quoting process. Set a Follow-Up or Expiry date if desired.

Next up, the Shipment tab contains any information about the load you will be moving. You might not have all this information yet, or some of the fields may not be necessary – no worries. Just enter the information you feel is important to the quote. You can always come back and fill in more details later.

Finally, you will want to add the Origin and Destination addresses for the shipment you will be moving. Click on the Shipment Locations tab. If the Location is already in your records, use ‘Existing Location’ and select it from the drop-down ‘Ship Location’ or ‘Consignee Location’ menu.

If this is a new location, you will have to choose ‘Custom Address’ and enter the location details. The custom address may also be useful if you have not yet confirmed the final details, e.g. if your potential customer has only given you a destination city but has not yet provided an actual address. If you do have all the details and you expect to be using this location again, you can click the ‘Create Location’ button to add it to your records – don’t forget to give it a name you will be able to recognize later!

Now that you have filled out all the information give your Quote a once-over and then click the ‘Create’ button at the bottom to continue.

While at this point, your Quote record is technically complete, you will almost certainly want to add some Revenue to the quote before you send it to the customer – that’s the number you're quoting them, after all!

To do so, click on the Revenue tab and the ‘Add Receivable’ button. This will open up a pop-up which you can use to enter the charge details you want to quote to the Customer.

The ‘Charge Type’ field will default to a type based on your configuration, and the Description and Tax fields should automatically populate based on the charge type. First, ensure the appropriate type is selected, then enter the Units and Unit Rate. Then click ‘Create’ to add this charge to the Quote.

You should now see a line in the Revenue section containing the charge you added. If there are any additional or accessorial charges, you can add them using the same process.

Once you have added the Revenue and checked over all the quote details, you'll most likely want to send it out to the Customer. To do so, click on the ‘Print’ button at the top right of the page. This will bring up the two printing options.

‘Quote - Print’ will open a PDF file of the quote in a new browser tab. You can then print the quote or save the file for your records.

‘Quote - Email’ will open, allowing you to email the quote directly to the Customer. If you have a contact email set for the Customer, it will be selected as the default destination -- if not, you will need to enter the destination email manually. You can also add any notes or comments for the customer to the body of the email. The quote itself will be attached to the email as a PDF (the same one you would see if you chose the ‘Quote - Print’ option.) Once you have filled out the necessary information, click the ‘Email’ button to send the quote.

Now that you’ve sent out the Quote, you’re most likely done with it for now.

If you hear back from the customer with more details, or if you want to send out an updated quote, check out Modifying an Existing Quote.
 If you're looking for Vendors to move your load, you may want to read about Using Load Boards.
 If the customer agrees to the quote, you will probably want to Convert a Quote Into an Order.