Twenty enquiries overnight, all slightly different
Your website contact form and email bring in enquiries from students around the world, often overnight. One wants eight weeks of general English from mid-June with homestay and an airport transfer from Gatwick. Another wants intensive English for twelve weeks and asks whether there is a discount. A third asks about an IELTS course, a single room and whether she can start on a Wednesday.
Each one is answered by the admissions officer in the morning. She works out the start date, the price for that number of weeks, the accommodation for those dates with the right supplement, the registration fee, the transfer and the currency the student asked about. The reply goes out at lunchtime. Some students have already had quotes from three other schools.
Why hand-built quotes are slow
Every quote is a calculation with several parts, and the rules for each part live in different documents.
- Tuition price depends on course type and number of weeks, often with price breaks.
- Valid start dates differ by course: most start on Mondays, some courses only on set dates.
- Accommodation depends on type, room, meal plan and season.
- Fees such as registration, materials and transfers are added separately.
- Students ask for prices in their own currency.
- Questions such as 'can I start on Wednesday' need a policy answer, not a number.
So each quote is really a small project, and the admissions team does twenty a day while also handling bookings.
The quiet cost of a slow reply
Direct bookings avoid agent commission, so they are among your most valuable. Students comparing schools often book with whoever answers first and most clearly. A quote with a mistake, such as a missing supplement, either costs you money or causes an awkward correction after the student has told their family the price. And your admissions team spends its best hours on arithmetic instead of on the conversations that convert students.
The quote tools we build
- Your prices, supplements, fees and start date rules are held as data in one place, so the same rules produce every quote.
- A quote form on your website lets students choose course, weeks, start date, accommodation and extras, and see a price straight away, with only valid start dates offered.
- For enquiries that arrive by email, a quote tool for your team takes the same choices and produces a quote in seconds, which the officer can adjust before sending.
- Prices can be shown in the student's currency using the exchange rate source and rounding you choose, with your base currency shown too.
- Each quote is saved with a reference and a booking link, so accepting it starts a booking with every detail already filled in.
- Questions that need a person, such as unusual start dates, are routed to admissions with the quote attached.
- Quotes that have not been accepted get a polite follow-up at a point you choose.
| Part of the quote | Rule it comes from |
|---|---|
| Tuition | Course price table with week breaks |
| Start date | Valid start days for that course |
| Accommodation | Type, room, meal plan and season |
| Fees and transfers | Your fee list and airport prices |
| Currency | Your chosen exchange rate and rounding |
Your prices and policies stay yours. The tools only make sure every quote follows them.
Answering while the student is still looking
Students who use the website form get a clear price immediately and can book from it. Students who email get a quote within the time it takes the officer to read their message. The admissions team spends more of its day answering questions about the course, the town and the accommodation, which is what helps a student decide.
Because every quote is saved, you can see which courses and durations are quoted most and which ones turn into bookings, so price changes are based on what students actually ask for.
Is quoting slowing your admissions team?
- Every direct enquiry gets a quote built by hand.
- Quotes go out hours after the enquiry.
- Supplements or fees are sometimes left off.
- Students ask for prices in their own currency.
- Accepted quotes are retyped into a booking.