The quote everyone forgets about
A consultant asks for a quote to test soil samples from a development site: a particular suite of metals, some organics and asbestos screening, with a discount for volume. Your sales person builds it in a spreadsheet from the price list, emails a PDF, and the client accepts by email a week later.
Samples arrive a month after that. Reception registers them against the client's standard account, with standard prices. Nobody links them to the quote. The invoice goes out at list price, the consultant complains, and finance issues a credit note.
Why quotes and work drift apart
- Quotes are documents, not records in any system the lab uses.
- Quote references are not requested on sample submissions, or are written illegibly.
- Reception cannot see which quotes are open for a client.
- Suites on quotes are written in sales wording rather than LIMS codes.
- Invoicing uses the LIMS price, not the quoted price.
Quotes also carry conditions that matter at the bench: a particular detection limit the client needs, a rush turnaround agreed for one batch, a specific reporting format. When the quote is a PDF in a sales inbox, those conditions reach the analyst only if someone thinks to pass them on.
What the disconnect costs
Credit notes and re-invoicing take finance time and irritate clients. Samples are sometimes tested for the wrong suite because the quote specified something different. Sales cannot see which quotes turned into work. And your lab cannot forecast incoming workload from accepted quotes.
| Stage | Separate documents | Linked quote to order |
|---|---|---|
| Quote built | Spreadsheet from a price list copy | Built from your live test menu |
| Quote accepted | Email reply | Accepted online, becomes an open order |
| Samples arrive | Registered at standard prices | Matched to the open order |
| Tests assigned | From the submission form | From the quoted suites |
| Invoice | At list price | At the quoted price |
Expired quotes cause their own friction. A client submits samples against a quote from last year, the lab's prices have changed, and nobody at reception knows whether the old quote should still apply. A quote with a recorded validity date answers that question before it becomes a dispute.
How we build it
- A quoting tool built on your test menu and price list, so sales choose suites by LIMS code with the familiar names beside them.
- Discounts, volume pricing and validity dates are recorded on the quote.
- The client accepts online, and the quote becomes an open order with a reference, expected sample numbers and dates.
- The client's online sample submission form offers their open orders, so they link samples at source.
- Reception sees open orders for each client when registering samples, and links them with a click.
- Order details flow into the LIMS registration, and quoted prices flow to invoicing in your accounts system.
- A pipeline view shows quotes sent, accepted, and samples received against them.
We do not set your prices. The tool applies what your sales and finance teams decide, consistently, from quote to invoice.
What changes
Quotes, samples and invoices agree. Clients are billed what they were quoted, so credit notes become rare. Reception assigns the right tests because the order says what they are. Sales and lab managers can see accepted work coming, which helps plan staffing and consumables.
Quote conversion becomes visible. Sales can see which quotes were accepted but never produced samples, which is often a sign of a client who went elsewhere or a project that stalled, and a good reason for a call.
Signs your quoting needs connecting
- Quotes are built in spreadsheets or Word.
- Invoices often need correcting to quoted prices.
- Reception does not know which quotes apply to incoming samples.
- Samples are sometimes tested for a different suite than quoted.
- You cannot see how many quotes turn into work.