quoting form instructions

Quoting Form - Instructions

Copy and Rename the quoting form: make a copy of the document and save under your name as in " A2 Quote - YL" and make certain that it is shared with all of us so that we can access it when you are not available. DO NOT SHARE THE DOCUMENT WITH THE CUSTOMER;

Keep the document open: leave the new opened document live in one of the tabs on you browser. When a customer calls you will be able to click into it and begin using it.

Make certain you complete the fields required to quote:

Origin and Destination: for a US and/or Canadian shipments, the origin and destination postal codes are the most critical information. For an international shipment, very often the best the shipper will be able to do is the city and country. Sometimes the city and country will be the city of the port and terminal where the customer will pick up the cargo. Port or terminal could be an ocean or airport, an ocean or air cargo terminal, or a truck terminal.

Type?: costs and the availability of service are greatly affected by the type of location that the cargo is shipped from or to.

Equip ?: ask if the cargo is being picked up from a business with a dock or forklift, so we know if we need to supply a truck with a liftgate.

email & phone: always confirm the phone number so that we can call them if their email bounces. Advise the customer that we need their email because all quotes to be valid must be emailed so that the customer is fully advised of any contingencies.

weight: if they give the weight to you in KG or centimeters, use the Formulas Link to convert

All of the information highlighted in yellow, is not necessary to obtain a quote. What is essential is the city, state or zipcode and the same for the destination. if an international origin or destination, what is crucial is the city and country.

We have to have an email or phone number in order to share the quote with the shipper. That email or phone number will be added to the name of this document, such as "A2 Quote - 20120319YL1 - anycustomer@gmail.com". That is so we can search the the collection of quotes/docs for a customers email or phone number and see it in the name of the file. 20120319yl1 is the quote number and that is the date + your initials + 1 if this is your first quote of the day.

street addresses are important especially for first time shippers. Yes, we will need the street address to book and we will sometimes need to check the address on the satellite map to see if we can get a 48 foot truck trailer combination down that street. If the street is a residence on a cul-de-sac, it is going to be hard for a 48 ft freight truck to turn around, so we will have to use a carrier that can get a 26ft out there.