Sign quoting software: manual quoting vs automated quoting
Updated
Win more sign jobs by letting customers buy the routine work without waiting for you. A stranger on your website prices it, pays, and staff see the order. That is automated sign quoting.
The done-for-you automation platform for sign and print businesses: your customers price, order and pay on your own website, and we connect it all for you.
Sign quoting software comes in two kinds: manual, where staff price every job, and automated, where customers price on your website. We automate the routine 80%. The bespoke 20% stays with you, quoted in the same system.
Key takeaways
- Sign quoting software comes in two kinds: manual systems where staff price every job, and automated quoting where customers price and order on your website.
- With SwiftSignQuote, a stranger on your website prices a custom sign, pays, and your staff see the order.
- For tenders, your team drops the tender pack in and a priced quote comes back.
- Pricing the quote requests that arrive by email, and following up quotes that go quiet, are calibrated for you during onboarding.
- The bespoke 20% stays with your team, quoted in the same system, so your best people spend their time on the jobs that pay most.
What is sign quoting software?
Sign quoting software turns a sign's size, materials, labour and install into a price. There are two kinds.
Manual systems help your staff work out a price faster. Automated quoting lets the customer get that price on your website without anyone on your team touching it. Much sign estimating software is built for staff to price jobs, which makes it the first kind.
Either way, the price has to cover the same things: the material and the print, the fabrication time, any lighting or hardware, the install crew and the margin you need. The difference is who does the sum, and when. In a manual system it is your estimator, after the customer has asked. In automated quoting it is your own price tables, the moment the customer changes a size.
Manual quoting keeps the owner in the middle. Of 28 sign business owners, 14 were the only person who could price a job. While a quote waits for that one person, the customer keeps looking.
How do I automate quoting in my sign business?
Think of it as 80/20. Automate the routine 80% of jobs so your people spend their time on the 20% that brings the big dollars. That split is a benchmark, not a promise, and every business differs. The routine work comes in three ways.
Your website
Customers choose the sign, the size, the material and the options. Install can be priced in. The price moves as they change it. They upload artwork, pay by card or check out as a quote, and the order lands on your board. See instant quotes on your own website.
Your quote emails
Most quote requests still arrive by email, and someone has to price them. Pricing those from the same tables is calibrated for you during onboarding. So is follow-up of the quotes that go quiet.
Your tender packs
Your team drops the tender pack in and a priced quote comes back. See tender quoting.
Who quotes the bespoke 20%?
You do. The fit-out, the odd one-off, the job where your judgement wins it. Your team quotes those in the same system, from the same price tables. Nothing about the big work changes, except that your team finally has time for it.
How do sign companies price tenders and large signage projects?
Most still price them by hand. Someone reads the drawings and the schedules, counts every sign, prices each one and builds the quote line by line. It is careful work, and it usually falls to the owner or a senior estimator. A missed sign type comes straight out of the margin.
With SwiftSignQuote, your team drops the tender pack in and a priced quote comes back, priced from your own calibrated price tables. Your team stays in charge of it. Anything that needs judgement, they adjust before the quote goes out under your name. See tender quoting for how it works.
Is SwiftSignQuote sign shop management software?
Yes. A management system for a sign business runs jobs, production and staff. SwiftSignQuote covers that and runs the sale as well. Replace your current system with it, or keep yours and we connect the two: Xero and QuickBooks connect at go-live, and the bridge into the production system you run is calibrated for you during onboarding. We recommend letting us handle the switch: both side by side for a month or two, then the old one off. Either way, orders arrive on the board your staff watch.
What software do sign companies use for quoting and estimating?
Most use a manual quoting system, and sometimes that is the right choice. If almost every job is a one-off design, your estimators enjoy the work and your customers expect a phone call, a manual system is fine. Automated quoting pays when a big share of your jobs follow a pattern: the same materials, standard sizes, trade accounts reordering.
| If this is you | You need |
|---|---|
| Most jobs are bespoke, volume is low, staff quote happily | A manual quoting system. Any good one will do. |
| You are the only one who can price, and quotes wait for nights and weekends | Automated quoting for the routine work, your own quoting for the rest |
| Trade accounts reorder the same signs | Automated quoting plus a B2B portal |
| Tenders and plan packs eat days of your week | Tender-pack pricing |
Most sign businesses sit in the second row. Across the sign and print business books we have analysed, jobs under about $2,000 made up 59% to 99% of invoices and 8% to 86% of revenue, book by book. That is most of the quoting in every book, for a smaller share of the money.
What does automated sign quoting look like at a sign manufacturer?
Gigantic Signs is a full-service sign manufacturer. They supply and install, for trade and retail customers. Their customers price lightboxes and fabricated signs on the Gigantic Signs website, install included, and pay online.
“Customers price the whole job themselves, even lightboxes with install, and pay online. We just make it and put it up. No callbacks, no back-and-forth.”
We serve customers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, Germany and the US. Trade printers have their own page: print shop management software.
Frequently asked questions
What is sign quoting software?
Sign quoting software turns a sign's size, materials, labour and install into a price. Manual systems help your staff price jobs faster. Automated quoting, like SwiftSignQuote, lets the customer get the price and order on your website without staff touching it.
What is the difference between sign estimating software and automated quoting?
Sign estimating software is for your staff: someone opens it, prices the job and sends the quote. Automated quoting faces the customer: they price, pay and order on your website, and your staff see the order.
Is SwiftSignQuote sign shop management software?
Yes, and more. It covers jobs and production for your team as well as the sales side for your customers. Replace your current system with it, or keep yours: Xero and QuickBooks connect at go-live, and the bridge into your production system is calibrated for you during onboarding.
Can customers price custom signs, including install, on my website?
Yes. Customers choose size, material and options, the price moves as they change it, and install can be priced in. The prices come from tables calibrated for you during onboarding, and they are yours to adjust after go-live.
How do you quote tenders and large sign projects?
Your team drops the tender pack in and a priced quote comes back. The bespoke work that needs your judgement stays with your team, quoted in the same system.
What is the best sign shop software for a growing sign business?
It depends on what you want it to do. If you want staff to price jobs faster, any good manual quoting system will do. If you want customers to price, order and pay on your website so you can grow without hiring more estimators, you need automated quoting, which is what SwiftSignQuote does.
See your own jobs priced this way.
Or see it live on the demo store.
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