Prepare a quote from a client email
From the client’s rough email to a structured quote priced with your rates, ready to review.
Beginner 20 min
The tools in this recipe
- ClaudeApp
Extracts the need from the email and turns it into quote lines
Freemium · from 18 €Data with the vendorSecurity: one caveat, see the card
See the card → - Gemini dans SheetsPlugin
Prices the lines in your rate grid (or Copilot in Excel)
Paid · from 12 €Data with the vendorSecurity: nothing to flag
See the card → - Gemini dans GmailPlugin
Summarises a long email thread before extraction (optional)
Freemium · from 21.99 €Data with the vendorSecurity: nothing to flag
See the card →
Step by step
- 1
Isolate the request
Copy the client’s email (or the thread summary if the exchange is long). Remove signatures, disclaimers and irrelevant attachments: less noise, fewer errors.
- 2
Extract the lines
Ask Claude for a four-column table: service, quantity, assumption made, question to ask the client. The “question” column is the most valuable one: that is where misunderstandings hide.
- 3
Price in your spreadsheet
Paste the table into your rate grid. With Gemini in Sheets or Copilot in Excel, ask for the formula that applies your rates and discounts, not for the amount itself.
- 4
Write the quote
Use your usual quote template. AI is only used here to rephrase line titles in the client’s vocabulary.
- 5
Ask the questions before sending
Send the column-4 questions to the client first, then the quote. A quote sent on a wrong assumption costs more than one extra email.
Real example
- Situation
- A 14-line email from a property manager asking for “an IT security upgrade of the office, with training”.
- What we asked / set
- Here is a request email. Build a table: service | estimated quantity | assumption you had to make | question to ask the client to remove the doubt. Do not price anything. If a service is not mentioned but usually needed, add it marked “suggestion”.
- What we got
- 6 lines including 2 “suggestion”, 5 questions (number of workstations, current provider, time constraints for training…). Final quote: 4 lines after the client answered.
Check by hand before using it
- ✓Every quantity comes from the email or is marked as an assumption.
- ✓Amounts are computed by your formulas, not written by the AI.
- ✓Terms (lead time, validity, deposit) are those of your template, read by hand.
Your data: precautions
- !The email contains personal data (name, address, phone): remove it before pasting into a consumer assistant.
- !Your rates stay in your spreadsheet; never hand your full grid to an online assistant.
- !A business account (Workspace, M365) gives contractual data guarantees the consumer version lacks.
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Each recipe was actually done. The tools cited are scored and rechecked every week; no placement is sold.