--- title: "How to write a B2B quotation customers say yes to" description: "The quotation format B2B buyers expect: a cover letter with Ref, Attn and Subject, a price schedule, VAT, validity, payment terms and an example layout." url: https://1flux.ai/blog/how-to-write-a-b2b-quotation last_updated: 2026-10-11 --- Selling to B2B buyers # How to write a B2B quotation customers say yes to A quotation format business buyers recognise: cover letter, price schedule, VAT, terms, bank details and signatories, plus approvals, revisions and an example layout. Sales and CRM 7 min read Updated 10 October 2026 Page 1 · Cover letter 1 Letterhead Legal name · VAT No. · C.R. 2 - Ref. QT-2026-00124/R1 - Date 7 October 2026 - To Customer A Contracting Co. - Attn Procurement Manager - Project Hospital Extension, Phase 2 - Subject Supply of valves and fittings 5–7 - Validity - Availability - Delivery - Payment 10 - Prepared by - Salesman - Approved by Page 2 · Price schedule 3 Sl. Item code Description Qty Unit price VAT Total 1 15% 2 15% 3 15% 4 - Sum total 17,900.00 - Discount (408.00) - Net total 17,492.00 - VAT 15% 2,623.80 - Total SAR 20,115.80 8 Bank details Account name · Bank · IBAN · SWIFT 9 Exclusions and notes Installation and testing excluded The quotation format, page by page. The numbers match the ten sections below. ## In short A good B2B [quotation](https://1flux.ai/glossary/quotation) is easy to compare, easy to approve and impossible to misread. The expected quotation format, in the Gulf and many project markets, is a formal cover letter (Ref, Date, To, Attn, Project, Subject), a numbered price schedule with VAT shown per line, then validity, availability, delivery and payment terms, bank details and named signatories. Approve it before it goes out, and revise it with a number and a reason rather than overwriting it. 1flux produces this format, with approval rules and numbered revisions built in. ## What makes a B2B quotation different? A B2B quotation is a formal commercial offer, and the buyer will put it next to two or three others. Retail buyers glance at a price. Business buyers check your quotation line by line against their request for quotation, run it past procurement and sometimes a consultant, then issue a purchase order that refers back to it. That changes what “good” means. A good quotation: - answers every line of the customer’s request, in the same order and with the same descriptions; - makes the price, the VAT and the total unmistakable; - says how long the offer stands, when the goods are available, where they will be delivered and when payment is due; - carries enough identity (registrations, bank details, signatures) to be accepted by a procurement department; - can be traced to one approved version. Most lost or disputed quotations fail on one of these points, not on price. ## The quotation format, section by section The quotation format below is the one most B2B buyers recognise, and the one buyers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia expect. Use the parts that apply to your trade, in this order. ### 1. Letterhead and issuer details Start with your legal name, logo, address, contact details, VAT [tax registration number](https://1flux.ai/glossary/tax-registration-number) (TRN) and [commercial registration](https://1flux.ai/glossary/commercial-registration) (CR) or trade licence number. If you trade through more than one legal entity, the letterhead must match the company that will deliver and invoice. A procurement team will check that the name on the quotation matches the name on the eventual invoice. ### 2. The cover letter: Ref, Date, To, Attn, Project, Subject The cover letter is the first page and does most of the persuading. Many business buyers, and most in the Gulf, expect a formal layout: - **Ref.:** your quotation number, including any revision suffix. - **Date:** the issue date. - **To:** the customer’s legal name. - **Attn:** the person, with their title. - **Project:** the project or site name, if you sell into projects. - **Subject:** one line describing the supply, for example “Supply of ball valves and PPR fittings”. Then a short paragraph that thanks the customer and refers to their enquiry by number and date, followed by “Price: As per attached schedule.” ### 3. The price schedule The schedule is a numbered table, one line per item, ideally in the same order as the customer’s request. Typical columns: serial number, item code, description, unit, quantity, unit price, discount, VAT rate, VAT amount and line total. Use headings to group long schedules, for example “Valves” and “Fittings”. If the customer gave their own item codes or line numbers, repeat them. ### 4. Totals and VAT Show the sum before discount, the discount, the net amount, the VAT and the total, with the currency named. State the VAT rate clearly: for example, 5% in the UAE and 15% in Saudi Arabia at the standard rate. Never leave the buyer guessing whether a price includes [VAT](https://1flux.ai/glossary/vat). If you give a document-level discount, say whether VAT is calculated before or after it. ### 5. Validity Give a firm validity, as a number of days or a “valid until” date. On volatile materials such as copper or steel, keep it short and say so. “Prices subject to change” with no date is not an offer. ### 6. Availability and delivery Availability answers “when can you supply?”, line by line if needed: “ex-stock”, or “2–3 weeks after order”. Delivery answers “where and how?”: ex-warehouse, delivered to site, unloading responsibility, part deliveries allowed or not. For cross-border supply, name the Incoterms rule and the edition you mean. ### 7. Payment terms State the terms in a way nobody can stretch: the number of [credit days](https://1flux.ai/glossary/credit-days) and what they count from (invoice date, delivery date or month-end statement), any advance and any condition such as a signed delivery note. “As agreed” invites a dispute later. ### 8. Bank details Include the account name, bank, IBAN, SWIFT code and account currency, for the same legal entity as the letterhead. Treat bank details as a fraud risk: if a customer receives a quotation with changed bank details, they should confirm by phone with someone they know. ### 9. Terms, exclusions and notes List what is not included (installation, testing, civil works, unloading), any warranty and your standard terms. Exclusions written up front prevent “we assumed it was included” later. ### 10. Closing and signatories Close with “Yours faithfully” and named signatories: typically the person who prepared the quotation, the salesperson responsible and, for larger offers, a manager. Each block carries a name, title, email and phone. Named people make the offer feel accountable. ## Example quotation layout Here is a fictional Saudi example, in SAR with VAT at 15%. Copy the structure and replace the details. \[Letterhead] Example Trading Co. (fictional) · Riyadh · C.R. 0000000000 · VAT No. 300000000000003 Example Quotation - Ref. QT-2026-00124/R1 - Date 7 October 2026 - To Customer A Contracting Co. - Attn Procurement Manager - Project Hospital Extension, Phase 2 - Subject Supply of ball valves, gate valves and PPR fittings Dear Sir, Thank you for your enquiry RFQ-889 dated 2 October 2026. We are pleased to submit our offer below. **Price:** As per attached schedule. Terms and conditions - Validity 15 days from the date of this quotation - Availability Lines 1 and 2 ex-stock; line 3, 2–3 weeks after order - Delivery Delivered to site, Riyadh; unloading by the customer - Payment 60 days from invoice date, against a signed delivery note - Note Installation and testing are excluded. Yours faithfully, - Prepared by: \[name, title] - Salesman: \[name, title] - Approved by: \[name, title] | Sl. | Item code | Description | Unit | Qty | Unit price | Disc. | VAT % | VAT | Total | | --- | --------- | -------------------------- | ---- | --- | ---------- | ----- | ----- | -------- | -------- | | 1 | BV-050 | Brass ball valve, 2”, PN25 | PCS | 120 | 68.00 | 5% | 15% | 1,162.80 | 8,914.80 | | 2 | PPR-T25 | PPR equal tee, 25 mm | PCS | 600 | 2.40 | — | 15% | 216.00 | 1,656.00 | | 3 | GV-100 | Gate valve, 4”, flanged | PCS | 20 | 415.00 | — | 15% | 1,245.00 | 9,545.00 | The attached price schedule. Fictional example; amounts in SAR. | Totals | SAR | | --------- | ------------- | | Sum total | 17,900.00 | | Discount | (408.00) | | Net total | 17,492.00 | | VAT 15% | 2,623.80 | | **Total** | **20,115.80** | Bank details: account name, bank, IBAN, SWIFT and account currency, printed on the last page. ## How should quotation approvals work? Approvals should catch the quotations that carry real risk, and stay out of the way of the rest. Approving everything slows sales; approving nothing lets discounts and payment terms drift. Practical rules: - **Approve by value band.** For example, quotations above a set total need a sales manager; very large ones need two approvers. - **Approve exceptions, not routine.** Discounts beyond a set level, payment terms longer than the customer’s agreed credit days, or non-standard exclusions should trigger approval regardless of value. - **Approve before sending, not after.** An approval given after the customer has the PDF is a formality. - **Freeze what was approved.** The document the customer receives should be exactly the one that was approved. If anything changes, it goes back for approval. ## How should you handle revisions? Handle every change after sending as a new, numbered revision, never as a silent edit. Customers negotiate, quantities change and prices move. The danger is two versions in circulation and a purchase order that refers to the wrong one. - Number each [quotation revision](https://1flux.ai/glossary/quotation-revision): QT-2026-00124, then /R1, /R2. - Record why each revision was made: “customer asked for 4” gate valves”, “copper price increase”. - Keep every earlier version unchanged and on file. - Reapprove a revision if the rules require it. - Ask the customer to quote the exact revision number on their [customer purchase order](https://1flux.ai/glossary/customer-purchase-order). ## What are the most common quotation mistakes? - **No validity date,** or “subject to change”. - **VAT unclear:** the buyer can’t tell whether prices include VAT, or at what rate. - **Availability promised without checking stock,** so “ex-stock” becomes three weeks. - **Delivery point missing:** ex-warehouse and delivered to site are different prices. - **Vague payment terms:** “as agreed” or “standard terms”. - **Lines that don’t match the request:** different order, different descriptions, missing items. - **Wrong legal entity:** the letterhead, bank details and later invoice don’t match. - **Two versions in circulation,** with no revision number. - **Broken Arabic or other scripts:** customer names or titles that print as disconnected letters. - **No named signatory,** so the offer feels anonymous. For how a quotation hands off to the sales order, delivery and invoice, read the [quote-to-cash guide](https://1flux.ai/guides/quote-to-cash). ## How 1flux handles this 1flux builds formal quotations with the structure above and the controls around it. In 1flux 1. Draft (QT-2026-00118): Draft. 2. Approval: Pending approval. 3. Approved: Approved. 4. Sent: Sent. 5. Accepted: Accepted. The quotation lifecycle in 1flux: Draft, Pending approval, Approved with a locked PDF, Sent, then Accepted. - **A formal cover letter as standard:** Ref, To, Attn, Project, Subject, terms (validity, availability, delivery, payment), “Yours faithfully” and three signatories: Prepared by, Salesman and an optional third. - **A schedule that prices itself correctly.** Catalogue lines, custom lines and headings; line and document discounts; shipping with optional tax; availability per line, such as “Ex-Stock”; up to 500 lines. Prices come from the item’s list price on the quote date, tax from the item’s tax code at the rate in force, and money uses exact fixed-point arithmetic. - **The right company on every quote.** Each quotation is issued by one of your legal entities, with its own letterhead, registrations and bank details, frozen at issue so later edits don’t rewrite it. - **Approvals before sending.** **Submit for approval** applies your rules by total amount band and N-of-M quorum, and sending is blocked until the quote is approved. - **A locked PDF.** On approval, the PDF and its data are frozen. The same file is emailed, shown on the customer link and downloaded. - **Numbered revisions.** Revisions are numbered /R1, /R2 with a required reason, and earlier versions are kept. - **Delivery and response.** Email up to 25 To and 25 CC addresses with the PDF attached, or share a secure link through your own WhatsApp. The link can carry a password and an expiry, and the customer can accept or decline online by typing their name. - **Your layout, with Arabic that prints correctly.** Design Arabic/English quotation layouts in the [document designer](https://1flux.ai/platform/document-designer); Arabic prints correctly in the PDF. [1flux Quotations](https://1flux.ai/products/quotations) [Workflows and approvals](https://1flux.ai/platform/workflows-and-approvals) Related guide ### [The quote to cash process](https://1flux.ai/guides/quote-to-cash) From quotation and approval to sales order, delivery, invoice and payment, and how 1flux runs it without retyping a line. FAQ ## Questions, answered Still deciding? [Talk to sales](https://1flux.ai/contact) ### What is the correct quotation format for B2B sales? A B2B quotation usually opens with a letterhead showing your registrations, then a formal cover letter with Ref, Date, To, Attn, Project and Subject, the layout buyers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia expect. A numbered price schedule follows, with VAT per line and clear totals. It closes with validity, availability, delivery and payment terms, bank details and named signatories. Keep the line order and descriptions aligned with the customer's request. ### Should a quotation show VAT? Yes. Show the net price, the VAT rate, the VAT amount and the total, and name the currency, so the buyer can compare offers and plan payment. The UAE standard VAT rate is 5% and Saudi Arabia's is 15%. A quotation isn't a tax invoice: VAT is accounted for on the tax invoice you issue when you supply. Showing VAT on the quotation simply prevents surprises later. ### How long should a quotation be valid? Long enough for the customer's approval process, and short enough to protect you from price changes. Ask how long the buyer's internal approval usually takes, and keep validity shorter on volatile materials such as copper and steel. Whatever you choose, print a firm date or number of days, and track expiring quotations so a salesperson can follow up or reissue before the offer lapses. ### What is the difference between a quotation and a pro-forma invoice? A quotation is an offer the customer may accept or decline. A [pro-forma invoice](https://1flux.ai/glossary/proforma-invoice) is a preliminary bill, usually issued after the customer has agreed, often to arrange an advance payment, a letter of credit or import clearance. Neither replaces the [tax invoice](https://1flux.ai/glossary/tax-invoice) you issue when you supply. Use a quotation to win the order, and a pro-forma only when the buyer needs one to pay or import. ### How do you revise a quotation after it has been sent? Issue a new revision rather than editing the original. Give it the same base number with a suffix such as /R1, record the reason for the change, keep the earlier version unchanged and get it approved again if your rules require it. Ask the customer to quote the revision number on their purchase order, so the order, the delivery and the invoice all refer to the same offer. ### Can customers accept a 1flux quotation online? Yes. When you share a 1flux quotation through its secure link, the customer can open it, print it and accept or decline online by typing their full name, with an optional note. You're notified, and the response is recorded on the quotation. The link can carry a password and an expiry of 1 to 365 days, and you can revoke it at any time. ### Can 1flux print quotations in Arabic and English? Yes. In 1flux Document Studio you can design Arabic/English quotation layouts, and Arabic text such as customer names, titles and terms prints correctly in the PDF, with an embedded Arabic font, and stays selectable. You place the Arabic and English wording where your customers expect it, add the formal cover letter, and the approved PDF is locked before it's sent. Related ## Keep exploring ### [Quotations](https://1flux.ai/products/quotations) Quotes from your catalogue or a customer's PO, approved, locked and sent. ### [Document designer](https://1flux.ai/platform/document-designer) Design quotation PDFs by drag and drop, with live fields, tables that run across pages and Arabic that prints. ### [Workflows and approvals](https://1flux.ai/platform/workflows-and-approvals) Stage rules, approvals by amount and one approvals inbox, configured without code. ### [Quote-to-cash guide](https://1flux.ai/guides/quote-to-cash) The eight stages from enquiry to cash in the bank, with the documents, controls, KPIs and a checklist. Last updated 11 October 2026