Quotes - An Introduction

In sales, providing customers with clear and comprehensive information about products is essential. Membrain supports this by allowing users to create and share Quotes—specialized documents for presenting products and services with details such as descriptions, quantities, pricing, and discounts. As a subtype of Documents, Quotes in Membrain offer both structure and flexibility, helping sales teams deliver professional, personalized proposals while also tracking client engagement.

What Quotes Are Used For

Quotes enable sales representatives to:

• Present product and pricing information in a clear and structured format.

• Customize quotes with rich content, including headers, footers, and images.

• Share professional documents externally via email or secure links.

• Track when and how recipients engage with the shared Quote.

Permissions

Quotes access is managed through dedicated permissions in System Setup > Users > Permission Groups and under the Other > CRM section, ensuring appropriate control and governance.

Toggle these buttons based on what quotes related actions you'd like your user(s) to be allowed to perform.

Creating a Quote

1. Navigate to the Sales Project you'd like to send a quote for and scroll all the way down and to the right where you'll find the Documents section.

2. Click on the +Add Document button and then select Quote (Preview) from the list.
   
3. Select a Document Category - this will make it easier to organize and find your quotes within the related sales project itself and in the Documents List view. Additionally, the Document Category you choose will determine which Document Custom Fields will be available to use inside the quote itself. Read more about Document Categories and Document Custom Fields here.
   
   Example. Here, we have created a document category named "Quotes" that include the "Contract Length" and "Payment Terms" document custom fields. 
   These will display under the Details section on the left menu. 
   
   Now, if you'd like these fields to show up in the externally shared quote, you can use the Personalizations tool to reference these, inside the Top/Bottom Rich-Text Sections.
   
4. Enter Basic Details such as a Name and a Date (e.g., the date of creation or intended delivery).

5. Add Products - Insert Product Rows to specify products or services and include details such as description, quantity, price, and discounts as needed.

   There are 3 approaches for adding product rows, and you can choose either of them or even combine them.
   
   A) Add new products rows - This option allows you to add new product rows, pulling data from the Product List you have previously configured in the Process Capabilities tab in System Setup.
   
   
   B) Add product rows from Sales Project - This option lets you pull products that are already listed in the Sales Project's Products tool and add them directly into your Quote. In practice, this saves time and ensures consistency by reusing existing product details—such as names, quantities, and prices—without having to enter them manually.
   
   Example: Use it when products discussed with the customer are already recorded in the Sales Project and you want to quickly bring them into the Quote you're about to send them.
      
   
   C) Load a Quote Template - A Quote Template is a reusable framework that pre-populates your Quote with standard content such as product rows, headers, footers, and presentation settings that you or your team commonly use. Quote Templates are useful for frequently used product bundles, standard terms, and/or company-branded messaging.
   
6.  Add a Top and/or Bottom Rich-Text Section to include additional information. This may include introductions, project, company and/or stakeholder information, terms, disclaimers, links or images such as logos. 
   

7. Adjust Presentation Settings - Configure the appearance of your Quote using the available options to align with your company’s branding.
   
   Add product table fields as columns, arrange these in your preferred order, and toggle on/off what product details should be shown.

   Tip: Use the Preview tab on the top of the quote, to see what your quote will look like for the prospect after being shared.
   
8. Create the Quote - Once you're ready, click on the Create button and select one of these 3 options:
   
           Save - This option is useful when you want to save your Quote and keep working later. For example, you may draft the Quote with basic details and product rows, save your progress, and return to finalize and share it once all information is confirmed.
   
          Save & Copy n Products to Sales Project - This option is particularly helpful when the Quote has been finalized and accepted by the customer, and you need the agreed products reflected in the Sales Project for accurate forecasting, reporting, ad/or handover to delivery teams.
   
          Save & Copy Quote - Use this option to quickly duplicate quotes for different regions with adjusted pricing or to test alternative versions, such as standard vs. premium offers.
   
         

Sharing a Quote

1. Open the completed Quote.

2. Click on the Share button.

3. Select the contact you want to share your quote with. At the top will appear stakeholders from your sales project, following by contacts on the company. All contacts that you select will then appear in the Share With list inside the sharing dialogue.

   

4. Then, choose your preferred sharing method:

• Share via Email – Generate a personalized shareable link and send it via Membrain's email composer. The link will by default display as a graphical item, and you'll be given the possibility to convert it to a text link if desired, by right-clicking on that.

• Share and Notify – Generate a personalized shareable link and let the system automatically alert the recipient(s) that the quote has been shared with them.

• Share - Generate a personalized shareable link that you can distribute through any channel, such as chat, phone message or email.
  
  
  Regardless of the option you choose, you will always have the possibility to send a non-personalized link, in which case your recipient(s) will receive an email notification. For security reasons, they will then be prompted to authenticate, and then they will receive a personalized link giving them access to the quote itself.
  
  Once shared, Membrain tracks recipient engagement and notifies you in Membrain Guide when the Quote is viewed.

Downloading a Quote

You may also download a Quote as a PDF file if you'd prefer to share it in a different way than the shareable links.

Click on the 'More' icon on the top right of the quote and press on Export to PDF.

Note: This option will appear only after you've saved your quote.

Viewing Quotes

Inside Membrain, Quotes can be viewed directly from the Documents section within a Sales Project or from the Quotes List View by navigating to CRM > Documents. Additionally, you may create customized dashboards with graphs.

Tracking Quotes Engagement

When a Quote is shared externally, recipients can access it through a secure link. Each time your recipient(s) open the link, Membrain tracks the interaction and displays a notification in Membrain Guide, giving you insight into client engagement.

Membrain Guide Notification                      Membrain Guide notification hover dialog with more details 

Additionally, the recipient(s)' engagement with your quote will be visible beside the recipient name inside the quote itself. Open the quote in question, and click on the "Share" button.

Quote-related actions in Activity Stream

Quote-related actions are clearly logged in the related sales project's Activity Stream, giving you visibility into how Quotes are being used and received. Entries are displayed when a Quote is created, shared, and opened from your recipient(s) for the first time.

From the Activity Stream, users that have the right permissions can open the Quote directly, view details in the hover dialog, or add comments for team collaboration.