Today, I want to break down simPRO’s quoting feature to ensure all users are making the most of this invaluable part of the software!

Below, I’ve created a mini guide to quoting in simPRO. It’s perfect for beginners who are just introducing themselves to the software and its main features.

This level of learning is considered baseline, but once you’re armed with this, you’re ready to dive deeper into simPRO and see what other brilliance the system has to offer you!

First things first, what exactly is ‘quoting in simPRO’?

 simPRO allows its users to store potential customers as leads within the system. Once leads are ready to be converted into clients, they are presented with an option to create a quote.

There are two quoting options available:

• Service quotes (predominately used for small service quotes that can be quoted and priced easily)
• Project quotes (used for larger quotes that has a need to be split into Sections for stages or cost)

Okay, so what do I NEED to know about quoting in simPRO?

There are FIVE key tabs that are used when creating a quote in simPRO, and every user should make sure they understand them during the initial build/implementation process.

They are:

• Quote Details Tab
• Project Overview Tab
• Summary Tab
• Attachment Tab
• Forms Tab

Taking the time to understand what these tabs are, what information they use, and how they work, will be enough for you to create a quick and simple quote in simPRO. Just a reminder – these are not all of the quoting tabs, but once these are mastered, the others will seem simple!

Let’s take a closer look at what each of these tabs represents, and what data goes into them.

Quote Details Tab

This is the central hub of information for a quote, it has all the important details, like:

• Quote Name
• Customer Information (including primary contact)
• Site Information
• Job / Project Description
• Assigned Technician

Project Overview Tab

 The Project Overview tab in a project quote is a place where you can make adjustments to materials and resources (or both at the same time!) that you’ve listed for the project.

This function is enabled by three sub tabs, under the Project Overview tab, which are:

• The Materials Tab

This has a list of all the materials that have been added to your quote and is organised by Sections and their relevant Cost Centre. In this tab you can adjust sell prices or markups across your materials as well as create a Supplier Quote to request for project specific pricing for all materials included in your quote.

• The Resources Tab

This is where you’ll find a list of all labour rates that have been added to your quote that is organised by Section and relevant Cost Centres. In this tab you can adjust total required hours and labour markups across all Cost Centres, or adjust estimated times, markup percentages and sell prices for certain Cost Centres.

• The Adjustments Tab

This tab brings it all together, allowing you to adjust materials and resources across the entire quote. Here, you can add flat rates, percentage fees or discounts across all items and view a summary table and graphs of estimated costs and markups.

Summary Tab

The summary tab dives deeper into the description of the job being quoted and includes a breakdown table of parts and labour required.

This description will be what’s included on the quote that is sent to the customer.

It’s important to be aware that even the Notes Section of the description will be able to be seen by the customer if they log into the Customer Portal that simPRO also offers. Make sure you utilise the ‘Private Notes’ Section of the Quote for any internal notes that shouldn’t be shared externally.

The breakdown table of parts and labour will have a lot of data, including:

• Material Costs (this is generated from catalogue items, pre-builds or take off templates)
• Resources Costs (this is all labour costs, including employee rates and costs, and overhead costs entered in the system)
• Gross P&L / Gross Margin & Net P&L / Net Margin (a critical part of any quote as it allows you to see how much money you can make with the job or project being quoted!)

Attachment Tab

The attachment tab is a simple, but critical, feature of quoting in simPRO.

It is where any attachments that should be sent with the quote will need to be uploaded - this can be anything from contracts that require signatures to pricing breakdowns and more.

Forms Tab

This tab is where you pull everything you’ve created together to build the final quote that will be sent to the customer.

You’ll find the primary contact details here, as well as the option to select from any templates for the design of the quote form that is to be sent.

simPRO does offer some pre-designed templates for companies to use, however, you can also customise the form to better suit your business branding if need be. Make sure you reach out if you’d like to see some of the amazing quote templates we’ve built for our clients!

The customer’s email address will be pre-filled if their contact card has that information, and you’ll also see a subject and body field, where you can write the email to go with the quote.

Psst, here are some of our most popular tips and tricks for quoting in simPRO!

1.You can review the quote email after it has been sent, in the ‘Quote Log’ which can be found under the Logs tab. It can also be found in the Summary tab under ‘Activity’

2.The subject and body fields in the Forms tab have an autofill function for any words that are placed in square brackets.

For example, if you put [FIRSTNAME] in the subject line, simPRO would automatically replace that word with the customer’s first name according to their contact information.

3.In simPRO, the difference between Gross and Net P/L is that Gross P/L does not include overheads, whereas Net P/L does include overheads (remember this is the overhead rate you entered against each Employee card and on the Labour Rates Settings in System Setup.

So, reckon you’re ready to start quoting? Or do you still have questions?

While this is designed to be a mini guide to quickly get you on your feet and into quoting in simPRO, I know a new system and new workflows can be daunting.

It can also be hard if your business has particular processes that you’re not sure fit exactly into the quoting procedure already set up in simPRO.

That’s where my team and our customised approach to software builds come in. We’re trained to mould simPRO to suit your business, and not the other way around.

We’re more than happy to set up the best quoting workflow in simPRO for your operations, and train your team in how to use the software, to ensure you get the most out of your investment.

To learn more on how we can help, click here to visit our website. Otherwise, give us a call on 07 2102 1455, we’re always happy to chat!