Quotation (Sales Quote)

A quotation (or sales quote) is the commercial document a company uses to present a prospective customer with the details of an offer: which products or services are included, in what quantities, at what unit price, with which discounts, taxes, payment terms, delivery time and expiration date. It is not an invoice and does not obligate anyone to buy: it is the formal proposal the buyer uses to decide, compare and, eventually, approve.

In a B2B sales process, the quotation is the piece that turns a conversation into a concrete, traceable offer. It lives on the opportunity in the CRM and, once the customer approves it, it usually triggers a purchase order or the move to close. Structuring quotes well (consistent pricing, discount rules, approvals) is part of what a sales CRM like Sellium brings order to, keeping quotes connected to the pipeline instead of scattered across spreadsheets and email.

When building quotes gets complex (many products, combinations, volume discounts or approval rules), the discipline of CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) comes into play, automating the configuration, pricing and generation of the document so it is fast and error-free.

A note to avoid confusion: in finance, a quote also means the market price of a currency, a stock or a bond, such as a stock quote. This entry covers the sales quotation, the one a seller sends to a customer.

What a well-built quotation includes

A professional quotation is not just a price: it is a document that reduces friction in the buying decision because it answers all of the buyer's questions up front. The elements that should almost never be missing are:

• Issuer and customer details: legal name, tax ID (in Argentina, the CUIT) and contact information and, in Argentine B2B, the company's VAT status (registered VAT taxpayer, *monotributo* simplified regime, or exempt).
• Line items: each product or service with its code or SKU, description, quantity and unit price.
• Subtotals, discounts and taxes: line-level or overall discount, taxable net amount, VAT and, where applicable, provincial gross income tax (IIBB) withholdings.
• Commercial terms: payment method and terms, currency (critical in inflationary environments), delivery time and freight costs.
• Validity: the date until which the price holds. Without an expiration date, a quote loses force because the buyer assumes they can negotiate indefinitely.
• Number and date: so the document is traceable and can be linked to the opportunity and, later, to the invoice.

How to prepare a quotation step by step

1. Qualify the request: confirm what the customer needs, how much, by when and who makes the buying decision.
2. Pull prices from a single price list: the price comes from the company's list, not from a spreadsheet each rep copied on their own.
3. Apply discounts within the rules: if the discount goes beyond the allowed margin, get approval before sending.
4. Add taxes and terms: VAT, any tax perceptions that apply, currency, payment method and terms, delivery time and freight.
5. Set the validity: the date until which you hold the prices and terms.
6. Number it and log it: a unique number, the issue date and the link to the opportunity in the CRM.
7. Send it with the follow-up already scheduled: the next contact is set before the quote expires.

Sample quotation with example data

This is what a complete B2B quotation looks like. The data is illustrative: what matters is that no field is left to the rep's memory.

Why it matters in the sales process

The quotation is a turning point in the conversion funnel: it is the moment interest becomes measurable purchase intent. That is why it is one of the metrics that says the most about commercial health. The share of quotes that turn into sales is, in practice, a direct reading of the final-stage conversion rate, and it feeds the sales forecast: if I know how many quotes are open, for what amount and with what probability of closing, I can project revenue far more accurately than by looking at the pipeline as a whole.

A slow or inconsistent quote quietly costs money. If a rep takes two days to build a quote by hand in a spreadsheet, the customer has already asked the competition. And if every rep uses their own template, with outdated prices or uncontrolled discounts, the company loses margin and brand consistency.

How it works inside a CRM

In a modern sales CRM, the quotation stops being an isolated file and becomes a live, connected record: it starts from an opportunity, pulls products from a centralized catalog or price list, applies automatic discount and approval rules, and stays tied to the customer's full history. Once approved, nothing has to be re-entered: the information flows to the order and to invoicing. This eliminates double entry, guarantees that the quoted price is the invoiced price, and leaves a complete audit trail of who offered what, to whom and when.

A concrete example (LATAM / Argentina)

A wholesale distributor in the Buenos Aires area receives a request from a regional supermarket chain for twenty Consumer Goods SKUs. Without a system, the rep opens a spreadsheet, copies prices from a list that may be outdated after the latest price increase, estimates volume discounts by eye and emails a PDF. With a CRM, the rep builds the quote from the opportunity in minutes: the system pulls the current price in pesos, automatically applies the agreed volume discount, adds VAT and withholdings, and sets a seven-day validity because of the inflationary context. The supermarket approves it from a phone and the order is generated without re-entering any data.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the expiration date, especially in inflationary economies: the price stays "open" and margin erodes.
• Outdated prices from working with spreadsheet price lists that each rep copies on their own.
• Discounts without control or approval, which destroy profitability without anyone noticing until month-end.
• Quote and forget: not following up on open quotes leaves sales on the table. A quote without follow-up is an opportunity going cold.
• Inconsistent documents across reps, which hurt the brand's perceived professionalism.

Quotation vs. purchase order vs. invoice

These three documents are often confused, but they sit at different moments of the commercial cycle. The difference is the level of commitment:

In short: the quotation proposes, the purchase order confirms and the invoice collects. Understanding that sequence helps you avoid treating a quote as a firm commitment, or invoicing before the customer has accepted.