Skip to main content

Efficient, accurate quotes can be the difference between winning new business or losing out to the competition. 

Quote too low, and you need to decide between taking a financial hit or upsetting a customer. Too high, and the customer might take their business elsewhere.

And then there’s tracking. Without an integrated ERP, you aren’t getting the complete picture of inventory, time, profit margin and in-demand products.

ERPs like Jobman bring your entire operation together, giving you a user-friendly quoting tool that does more than you might imagine.

How an ERP makes quoting easy

ERP (enterprise resource planning) software simplifies the way manufacturers run their business. 

By using data to make decisions, bringing information from across the operation into a single system, and automating time-consuming tasks, ERPs take quoting to a new level.

Better time and cost estimating

ERPs provide a 360° view of your operation, so you know how much time goes into every job. When you quote on similar jobs, you can use insights from the previous work to provide an accurate time estimate.

Jobman automatically tracks raw materials, so you are never caught short. Plus, the optional capacity planning module enables you to see the latent potential at a glance.

ERP’s end-to-end transparency simplifies time and cost estimating, enabling you to answer customer requests right away.

Track costs and margins

With your materials catalogue synced to inventory, and both of them flowing into quotes, you can take the guesswork out of costs and margins. 

An ERP tracks all costs associated with an item or process: 

  • Materials 
  • Labour
  • Transport
  • Equipment
  • Subcontractors

So when the customer inevitably asks if you can do it cheaper, you can quickly and easily identify actual job costs and decide which margins to trim.

More accurate forecasting

Rather than spending your time recording quotes in a spreadsheet, ERP software automatically tracks every quote. You can call up the data and use historical records to forecast cash flow.

This insight is crucial to making informed business decisions come tax time and for new investments or expanding your workforce.

ERP intelligence also allows you to identify production trends to proactively prepare for busy periods or invest in business development ahead of quiet times.

Automated quote management

Functionally, the most exciting ERP quoting feature is the automations that make quoting so simple.

For example, Jobman has a range of automated quote features that enable manufacturers to build and send a professional quote in minutes:

All these intelligent quote features do one crucial thing: they help cabinetmakers and manufacturers get paid faster.

Jobman’s quoting system is designed for cabinetmakers and manufacturers

Not all ERPs are the same. Jobman is a specialised manufacturing ERP with features designed to make quoting easier for carpentry, cabinetmaking, joinery and manufacturing work.

Click here to see what Jobman’s quoting module can offer your business.