Picture a decorator who has just got home after a long setup. A message is waiting on her phone: "How much for 200 guests, garden wedding, on the 14th?" She types a price, sends it, and goes to sleep.
By morning the client has three other prices and no easy way to compare them. Hers was one number in a chat bubble. The others came with lists.
A quote is more than a price. It is the first thing a client sees of how you work. When it is clear, they start to trust you before you have met. When it is vague, they fill the gaps with worry, and worry usually ends in a polite "we have gone with someone else."
Here is what a good quote holds.
What is included. Write each item the way the client will see it on the day: 200 chairs with covers, the head table, the arch, setup from morning, teardown after. When things are named, nobody argues later about what was promised.
What is not included. Transport beyond a certain distance, extra hours, damaged items. Saying this early saves you an awkward call on the wedding morning.
The deposit and the balance. Say how much confirms the date, when the rest is due, and how the client can pay. A date is only held once the deposit is in.
How long the price stands. Costs change. A line like "this quote is valid until the 30th" is fair to you and fair to them.
One next step. End with a single action. Reply to confirm, and the date is yours.
Browncord has a quote tool made for this. You pick the items, add your terms, and it makes a tidy quote the client can read comfortably on a phone. A copy stays with that client's record in your CRM, so when they come back six weeks later you do not have to scroll through old chats to remember what you offered.
It will not win every job. Some people are only asking around, and that is fine. What it does is make sure that when someone is ready to book, your quote is the easy one to say yes to.
Take the last quote you sent in a chat and rebuild it properly. Read it as if you were the client. Is it clear what they are paying for?
Next step: Open your Browncord dashboard and start your next quote there.
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