It is not an easy task to sustain your business for a long period of time needs, and one really needs to be on their toes to upscale every activity of their activity to retain a competitive edge.
Any business that remains committed towards serving its customers in every possible manner obviously needs to understand their innate requirements first and then submit a suitable proposal enlisting a portfolio of their (the company’s) service offerings to better address their concerns.
This estimation and qualitative task is a pretty vexing one which needs a ‘quote software’ that allows entities to spend less time on making elaborate quotations, allowing them to focus more on their core competence.
The advantages of incorporating a quoting software package into your promotional activity are manifold.
Finding a suitable quoting software
Before deciding upon a feasible quote software, you would do well to consider all issues surrounding it from all possible angles.
While you do require something which is very easy to use, the software must also be extensive enough to accommodate all pertinent features required by modern enterprises.
Let’s face it; no one wants to spend countless hours battling their brains out while trying to figure out complicated configuration and software settings at a time when they only need you to tell them about your unique expertise and price quotations!
An accurate estimator builders quoting is a case in point here.
Good products quoting software should allow you to dispatch a professional, fool-proof quote in as less as 5 minutes.
Meanwhile it must also be able to accommodate customisation features like color schemes, custom templates, and product catalogue editing, among several others.
Great products these days even allow you to make and transfer quotes even while you’re talking on the phone with them so as to exemplify a real-time experience.
In conclusion, an ideal quote software package should be able to deliver a quote that provides your potential customers with all that they require at their disposal, be it cost per unit, service description, quantities and the overall price of the product.
How to go about selecting a technology based quoting software
With a wide gamut of quoting software packages being launched, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the intricate differences between various packages.
To that end, here are a few tips that you may find helpful in locating the best suited quoting software for your own purpose.
Money-back guarantee
This is an absolute must have. A money-back guarantee program is a manufacturer's way of assuring that they stand by their product and are so confident about it that they are willing to offer a money-back guarantee.
Technical Support
The availability of a professional product technical support is very important, especially those pertaining to voice support. We all understand how annoying it can be to purchase quoting software in good faith, only to find out later that the seller is not even picking up the phone toanswer a technical question about quoting software configure.
While many entities do have the provision of accepting voice mail messages and answering back at a later date, a genuine company would see to it that they offer 24/7 voice or email support to address the concerns of their customers at all times.
Distinguishing between a software company and a consulting company
You should ask yourself this, ‘What is the prime focus of this company? Is product development their primary source of revenue generation?
Or is software product development something that they do in addition to another core task?
Getting a clear answer to this question would let you know valuable information about their reputation and expertise in software generation.
Always seek a demo version
This is a very important step that would reassure you about the functional utilization of the product. You would be able to know that the company is able to deliver what it promises while advertising.
Sales support
It is no rocket science that if you cannot contact the entity’s sales team by phone, you are also unlikely to establish contact with their technical support team.
Sales support via phone is the minimum basic level of support that you should expect and if the company is found wanting, it’s time to raise a red flag.
Software cost details
This is also one of the most important steps you’d do well to take. There are many quoting software that cost way more than what they advertise or their peer products.
You should ideally do your background research well in advance and study the price of various products to ensure that the cost of all products with comparable features is not too dissimilar.
Does the software need any other software to operate
Most quoting software are written either in Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel.
This in turn may need you to procure licensed copies both these applications in your system before you can proceed. Ensure if there is any such requirement and if so, are you up for it?
A lot of quoting software packages claim that they manage quotes integrate with ACT!
For Web, GoldMine, Autotask, Maximizer, Outlook, ConnectWise, Saleforce.com, Outlook BCM, SugarCRM, etc.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are integrated with the above. Make sure that the integration is in place should things go awry.
The software should be in sync with your entity’s pricing method
Always ensure that the quoting software is able to support the specific pricing method used by your company while selling its products. In case it does not, obvious conflicts would arise.
Customization of the quotes
You should also ensure that the software lets you customize the look of your printed quotes.
The presentation of these printed quotes represents your company in more ways than one; hence, it is imperative that it looks organized and professional.