Service quote template: what to include, what to leave out and text to copy

BOTrento Team8 October 20269 min read

What belongs in a quote template: 7 required blocks

A template has one job: every quote contains the same things in the same order, so the customer never has to hunt for anything. These seven blocks should always be there, even for a small job.

1. Header and identification. Quote number, date, customer name and a contact person on your side. The number is especially useful when you send a corrected version.
2. Summary of the brief. Two or three sentences on how you understood the enquiry: date, venue, scope, goal. The customer sees immediately whether you got it wrong.
3. Scope of work. What exactly you will deliver, ideally as bullet points. For services this matters more than the price, because this is where most disputes start.
4. Itemised price. Item, quantity, unit, unit price, total. Always state whether the price is including or excluding VAT.
5. Assumptions and exclusions. What the price depends on (site access, event length, materials from the customer) and what it does not include.
6. Validity and terms. How long the quote is valid, how the date is reserved, deposit and cancellation terms.
7. Next step. One sentence on what the customer should do: confirm by email, choose an option, book a short call.

For a detailed pre-send checklist, see our article on a sales quote that doesn't come back with questions.

Quote template to copy

Paste the text below into your own document or email draft. Replace the square brackets with specifics and delete whatever you don't need. The template assumes the quote is sent as an attachment with a short cover email.

Quote no. [number] dated [date]
For: [company, contact person]
Handled by: [name, phone, email]

How we understand the brief
[Type of event / service] on [date] at [venue] for approximately [number of people / scope]. The goal is [customer's goal in one sentence].

What we will deliver
– [scope item 1]
– [scope item 2]
– [transport, installation, operation, dismantling]

Price
[table: item | quantity | unit | unit price | total]
Total: €[amount] excl. VAT / €[amount] incl. VAT

Optional extras we can add
– [optional item] — €[price] excl. VAT
– [optional item] — €[price] excl. VAT

The price assumes that
– [site access from … to …]
– [event length does not exceed …]
– [you provide materials by …]
Not included: [e.g. accommodation, power connection, venue hire].

Validity and terms
This quote is valid until [date]. We hold the date once you confirm and pay a deposit of [amount]. Cancellation terms: [brief].

Next step
If the quote suits you, simply reply “I confirm option [X]” and we will send the deposit details.

Keep the cover email short: a one-sentence summary, the total price, the validity and the same next step. Everything else is in the attachment.

Options and optional extras: how to present them so they help the decision

Options and optional extras are two different tools. If you mix them up, the quote becomes needlessly complicated.

Options: three at most, each with a clear difference

An option is a different solution to the same brief. It works when the customer hasn't named a budget, or when there is a sensible cheaper and a better route. The rules:

• Two or three options, no more. More choices mean a longer decision.
• Give each option a short name based on the outcome, not “A, B, C” — for example “Basic sound”, “Sound + lighting”, “Full production”.
• Say in one sentence who each is for, and mark which one you recommend and why.
• Show the differences in one table, so the customer doesn't have to compare three documents.

Optional extras: add-ons with their own price

An optional extra can be added to any option: extending the event by an hour, a backup microphone, a weekend surcharge for installation. List them separately below the main price, always with a price. “On request” with no amount only leads to another round of emails.

Don't include optional extras in the total. The customer should see the clean price of the chosen option and, below it, how much it rises if they add something.

What to leave out of a quote

Templates tend to bloat. Everyone who uses them adds something and nobody removes anything. These things do not belong in a quote:

• A full-page company introduction. The customer has already contacted you. One sentence or a link to references elsewhere is enough.
• Internal calculations and margins. Purchase prices, subcontractor hourly rates and notes for colleagues belong in an internal spreadsheet, not in the PDF.
• “Approx.”, “indicatively”, “by agreement” on main items. If you really don't know the price, state the assumption it rests on and what happens if it doesn't hold.
• The full terms and conditions in the text. Include only the essentials (validity, deposit, cancellation) and attach the rest.
• Several next steps. “Call, write, fill in a form or drop by” means the customer does nothing.
• Old text from another job. A pasted paragraph with someone else's venue or date undermines trust more than a typo.

How to maintain the template: 5 steps

A template only works if the team trusts it. This routine takes a short meeting now and then and saves a lot of corrections in individual quotes.

1. One master version in one place. Not five copies on different laptops. Whoever wants a change proposes it, and one person implements it.
2. Keep the price list separate from the template. The template holds structure and wording; prices come from one current table. How to connect the two without losing control of your prices is covered in our article on faster sales proposals.
3. Collect the questions your quotes come back with. Every repeated question is a missing line in the assumptions or the scope.
4. Review the template after each season. Delete blocks nobody fills in and add exclusions that proved contentious.
5. Sending the quote isn't the end. For every quote you send, record the date when you will contact the customer again. To make sure every deal has a next step, see Pipedrive follow-up: a next step for every deal.

How BOTrento works with quotes

A template settles what goes into a quote. It doesn't settle whether someone prepares it on time, whether it carries current prices and whether anyone follows up after it is sent. That is a job for a managed process, not another document.

BOTrento Chief of Staff reads enquiries from your mailbox, compares them with your records (CRM or spreadsheet) and prepares a draft reply and quote based on your template and your price list. Nothing is sent without human approval — a salesperson checks the draft, edits it and only then sends it. The process also tracks the next step, so a quote never goes without a reminder.

• Pilot on one process: a fixed scope of one mailbox, one record system and one type of business case, for example equipment hire enquiries. What is measured is agreed process indicators, not promises of revenue.
• Your own API keys: you pay for AI directly to the model provider you choose, with no markup. Keys are encrypted and you can remove them at any time; setup is described in the help page on your own API keys.
• Data: we store it on servers in Germany (EU). The text needed for the task is processed by the model provider through your API key. This is a call to an external AI API, not a closed computation.

In an internal pilot, the process handled 35 enquiries in 7 days, prepared 18 emails, 24 quotes and 15 actions. How such a run looks step by step is shown in the process demo from enquiry to quote. For the plans, see pricing.