Quotation and Billing Software for Efficient Quote-to-Cash Processes

Struggling with manual quote creation and delayed customer responses? It’s time to polish your quotation and billing operations. Accurate and easy-to-understand quotes encourage prompt user agreements. They also eliminate the back-and-forth quote revision hassles so that you lock deals faster.

Once agreements are finalized, your quote and invoice software takes it from there. It seamlessly connects your sales and billing processes, automating invoicing, and accelerating payments.

In this article, let’s discover the leading features of top quotation and billing software. Read till the end to uncover the best software for frictionless quote-to-cash management.

Beginning from the basics…

What is Quotation and Billing Software?

Quotation and billing software automates quote generation, and converts successful quotes into accurate invoices. Quotes are formal documents sent to potential customers. They contain detailed product/service information, and corresponding prices.

In a nutshell, quotes are how a business markets its products to clients. This is the major information stated in a quote:

• product details
• transparent charges
• terms and conditions
• quote expiry date

The more unambiguous the pricing is, the more comprehensible the quote. Easy-to-understand quotes have higher approval chances. It is the job of quotation and billing software to curate effective quotes based on the pricing structures of your products.

Tailoring quotes according to a business’s services, and customer’s preferences is the first step. The second task performed by this software is to convert these quotes into invoices for billing. Invoicing takes place after customers agree to, or sign the proposed quotes.

Billing doesn’t involve invoicing alone. It sees to the entire payments cycle. When subscription businesses draft quotes, they clearly state the recurring billing terms in them. Subscriptions cannot work without recurring billing.

So once the customer agrees to get billed on a repeat basis, the billing software handles their payment cycles automatically. It saves the customer’s subscription dates and plan details, as well as their payment methods. Then it charges them accurately whenever their billing date arrives.

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What Are the Characteristics of the Best Quotation and Billing Software?

There is a variety of quote and invoice software available in the market. If you’re unsure about which software to select, this drop-down of key features is for you. It is especially beneficial for subscription-based businesses looking for streamlined quote-to-recurring revenue workflows.

1. Creation of Personalized Quotes

There doesn’t need to be a standard quote for each customer. In fact, personalizing quotes according to users’ preferences can prove more successful. It carries a stronger impact, and tells the clients how much you value them.

Quote and invoice software is the best solution for generating personalized quotes. Here’s how it works:

• First, the customer selects their desired subscription plan from the business’s website/ any official platform. They are required to enter their personal details, and preferred payment methods. Once they share these details, they get saved in the billing system securely.
• Then, the system automatically generates a quote for this customer according to the plan they chose. It breakdowns the pricing for the selected plan, clearly outlining all the relevant charges, including taxes.
• This quote is personalized as it uses the personal information provided by the customer beforehand. This factor makes it more interactive, and customer-centered.
• Customer approval in any form, such as e-signature, is required at the end of the quote. (Some quotes appear more as pricing confirmations than formal contracts, and might not require proper signatures.)
• When customer agrees to the quote, their subscription journey starts. The system generates an invoice for them.

2. Customization of Quotes

Businesses do not have to create quotes from scratch. They can rely on quote and invoice software for accessing pre-built quotation templates. They can choose the color themes, layouts, and data-fields for their quotes.

The goal is to make your quote more oriented to your business identity. Advanced software not only offers you multiple templates, but also allows you to customize those templates further. You can fine-tune a quote format according to your needs, and then save that in the system.

The next time a quote is needed, the system makes sure it follows the format that you saved. That is how it eliminates the need for manual intervention. The software reuses the set format automatically.

It also populates customer data fields, subscription plan details, and pricing onto the quote from its memory. You don’t have to go through the data entry phase manually at all.

3. Conversion of Quote to Invoice in Real-Time

Get yourself a software that generates invoices instantly upon quote approval. These invoices can be customized as well according to business or customer needs. The generated invoice is the reflection of the quote approved by customer.

It accurately captures all the details presented in the quote, and presents them in a billable format. The software also transfers each invoice to its rightful recipient automatically. These invoices contain payment links, and support one-click payments.

On the other hand, the software might also charge customers directly after quote confirmation. It may bill first, and then send customers their invoices as payment proofs. Whether invoices are sent as payment reminders (to be paid) or payment proofs (already paid) depends upon your unique business model, and recurring billing permissions.

4. Automated Recurring Billing

Businesses can enable automated billing if their customers agree to it. The software saves customers’ billing schedules in its memory, and automatically bills them on their payment dates. This process does not require manual input by either the business or customer.

Payments are processed via your preferred payment gateways. After payment processing, the software can categorize invoices as paid or unpaid. Unpaid invoices are the result of failed payment attempts. Payment collection attempts fail when credit cards expire, or have insufficient funds.

Powerful billing software like SubscriptionFlow are equipped with dunning management. They retry payment attempts, and send customers payment reminders strategically until payment is successful.

5. Application of Discounts and Taxes

Offering discounts and other types of promotional pricing is no longer complicated. You can rely on your billing software to apply taxes automatically, and calculate them correctly. Discounts can be extended to specific customers in their quotes too.

That is an effective method to make your offerings personalized and appealing. When discounts are offered in quotes, they are applied in invoices clearly as well.

Additionally, the software helps businesses handle tax compliance. Taxes can be calculated according to the regions the business operates in. Every region has its unique taxation requirements. Manually managing these requirements is a daunting task.

Tax compliance becomes much more organized and hassle-free when automated.

6. Multiple Currency, Payment Gateway and Payment Method Support

The software’s ability to bill in multiple currencies makes it of great value to international businesses. These businesses have subscribers from around the world. If they are billed in a standard currency, their charges might not seem as transparent.

That is because currency conversion rates are always fluctuating. Advanced billing software offers competent conversion rates, and converts service prices accordingly.

Moreover, such software connects businesses with a variety of payment gateways. These include global gateways that are accepted throughout the world, or regional gateways that cater to the needs of local communities better.

Multiple payment method support is equally valuable. Gone are the days when only credit/debit cards used to dominate the transactions market. Alternative payment options such as digital wallets, direct debit, ACH, etc. have gained immense popularity now.

Offering a choice of payment methods is necessary to attract diverse customers.

7. Smart Reporting and Analytics

Quote and invoice software lets businesses access customer data in real-time. This data contains customer activity, preferences, transaction history, and more. It is pivotal in planning effective marketing strategies, and appealing quotes.

Moreover, businesses can generate and customize financial reports as well. These reports are important for evaluating business performance, and for maintaining accurate financial records. They give insights into your revenue, sales performance, trending products, and more.

How Quotation and Billing Software Streamlines Sales?

These are some ways in which this software refines your sales process:

• Faster Deal Closures and Reduced Errors

When quotes are created automatically, it saves you a lot of time. Automatic quote creation is fast and accurate. Generated quotes can be reviewed once, and then sent to the customers without delay.

The faster the customers receive their quotes, the quicker their responses will be. Software such as SubscriptionFlow enable you to review your quote before it is finally sent to the customer. This step is crucial for identifying any mistakes, and rectifying them from the get-go.

Otherwise, if customers identify mistakes in quotes, it can cause credibility issues. Unclear quotes require back-and-forth revisions as well, which further delays deal finalization.

The same applies to customer invoices as well. Manually created invoices are error-prone. And, if customers are charged inaccurately based on those, it can rightfully lead to frustration, and disputes.

Your quote and invoice software eliminates errors, and automates invoicing, so that you can focus on enhancing your sales strategy.

• Better Customer Experience

Automated software makes customer subscription and payment experiences smooth and convenient. For example, if customers agree to automated recurring billing once, they don’t have to put any effort in payment again.

Additionally, since the billing is always conducted timely and accurately, it further builds customer trust. Billing software can be used to personalize customer quotes, invoices, payment reminders, subscription offers and more. Personalization is key to boost customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, flexible invoicing systems carry out automatic billing adjustments for customers. For instance, if a customer downgrades their subscription plan, the software would accurately prorate their charges, and issue them the correct refund amount.

Quick and precise proration, and discount application is key to winning customer trust, and boosts chances of retention.

• Improved Cash Flow Visibility

Quotation and billing software improves cash flow visibility by informing you exactly when you can expect cash, and how much. It generates invoices from quotes in real-time, keeping track of paid, unpaid, and overdue invoices.

You can also clearly monitor the number of your accepted, unaccepted, or pending quotes. Additionally, the software tracks each customer’s billing cycle and notifies you of any upcoming renewals beforehand.

Such insights help you get a clear financial picture. You cannot only monitor the incoming cash from different channels, but can also predict cash flow based on your subscribers’ renewal dates.

And, of course you can always keep an eye on your MRR and ARR figures for more convenience.

These insights also help you identify high and low sales periods, so that you can optimize your business efforts accordingly.

SubscriptionFlow Offers the Smoothest Quote-to-Cash Processes

SubscriptionFlow is a quotation and billing software tailored to the needs of subscription businesses. We offer you everything you need for seamless subscription sales and invoicing.

You can create quote templates that are easy to populate with pricing from your product catalogue. Once quotes are approved, the system creates a termed subscription contract tied to the quote. It can be programmed to auto-renew, or get flagged close to expiration.

The system automatically bills, invoices and collects payments from your clients in the payment methods of their choice. With frictionless quote-to-cash automation you seal deals faster, maximize the value of your contracts and enjoy high visibility over contract lifecycles.

Here’s a quick look at our smart features:

• Quote drafting through customizable templates
• Secure quote exchanges and easy revisions
• Automated subscription activation tied to contracts
• Automated recurring billing
• Detailed document histories
• Legally binding e-signatures via integrations like DocuSign

Sign up with SubscriptionFlow to automate quote generation, close deals fast, and grow revenue.