I'm just starting, have a few clients. Obviously I don't need a paid software yet I don't think? What about something free? Any suggestions on what I should use for invoicing or sending a quote to customer via phone, text, email? Thanks for any help on this! I'm trying to send a quote to potential client but just not sure what to use yet?
What app to use for quoting?
rooroo
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I'm just starting, have a few clients. Obviously I don't need a paid software yet I don't think? What about something free? Any suggestions on what I should use for invoicing or sending a quote to customer via phone, text, email? Thanks for any help on this! I'm trying to send a quote to potential client but just not sure what to use yet?
Thanks!
Nice thanks!
You're welcome.
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12,484 Posts
Yardbook has a free version I believe.
Oh nice, ok!
That's one way! Lol
Thinking about this a bit more, I don't use a software or app for my invoicing, or quotes (yet). I created a form in Excel with my logo etc. and send that to the client when doing quotes. When I get onsite to give the quote, I have a pad of paper and pen and get their information: Name, Email, Phone number, and address and write down the work they want done. I usually say something like, Do you have an email address that I can send the formal quote over to you? I should get this to you by this afternoon, or first thing tomorrow morning. I usually give a range so that if I am unable to get it to them that day, I have the next morning to send it out. This lets them know you are busy, and giving that impression sets the expectations with the client. Since I have a FT job during the week, I also mention that upon first meetup. Some quotes I've done were more than what they expected, and that's ok, and some were ok with paying my price. Never EVER discount your pricing once you have given a quote to do the work. Like some have said on this site, you can never go back up from there. I haven't yet tried this out, but if someone thinks the pricing is expensive, try offering them a payment plan, but never discount your worth just to land the work.
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Same with a contractor's clipboard, it's actually how I do things.
Cellphones today can hold several items in their virtual clipboard.
So select, Copy and paste.
So you don't use any software to keep up with all the accounts and quotes etc? Or excel maybe?
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I agree, go with QuickBooks from the start. They have lndscape company templates included and it just looks more professional.
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LibreOffice
All free, why give my hard-earned money away, in fact...
Why pay someone else to do the easy work?
Isn't this the stuff owners dream of doing?
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128 Posts
I use The Customer Factor. I paid for the yearly subscription because I had enough work to take care of it. It has a ton of features that present you as a professional at whatever service-based industry you’re in. You can add customers through the app, and then send estimates right on the spot. It will notify you when the estimate was opened, so you’re not sitting there wondering if they’ve even looked at it. You can set up personal reminders that get sent out to the customers after so many days. If you are interested in a big job,…you can send out a “Big Proposal” that’s more custom and professional than the typical lawn care maintenance estimate. You can track “ALL” of your time, schedule jobs, set job frequency, itemize individual line item prices or one total price on your estimates,…send invoices when jobs are completed, track expenses, tracks your income and unpaid invoices. If you have a customer that decides that they want to write a negative review,…it’ll hide those from being seen on Google. These are just a few of the features that this CRM software has. It’s easy for you to incorporate other services with it, if you’d like. You can always give it a go and pay $45/month to see if you really like it.
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I bought multi-copy generic estimate and invoice forms from Staples when I first started out. I'll still use them on occasion. I bought a receipt book too. QuickBooks for many years now.
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